How to become a funded provider

The Department for Education provides local authorities with funding for eligible children aged two, three and four.

It enables parents and carers to access up to 15 hours of free early education and childcare with childcare providers, who are approved by Salford's Starting Life Well service and are eligible to be added to the Directory of Funded Providers.

Providers are free to decide their session lengths; the start and end times of those sessions and the weeks in which they offer free entitlement sessions within the three terms. In doing so they must take the needs of parents into account and ensure their session times make sound business sense. Providers must publish the start and end times of their free entitlement sessions together with the weeks in which they are offered.

• Providers should not ask parents to purchase additional hours or pay lunch time charges in order to secure free provision
• Providers must not charge a "top up fee" (the difference in cost between what a provider would normally charge and the funding they receive from the local authority to deliver the free entitlement) in relation to any free hours
• The free entitlement is free at point of contact and providers must not charge parents in advance for free entitlement hours

To become a funded provider, you need to read the Salford local guidelines and terms and conditions and also complete and return the consent form. Both of which are available to download below.