Working with children in Barnet

Free Entitlement to Early Education funding

Barnet funds the free entitlement to early education (free entitlement) for all eligible three and four year olds in the maintained, private voluntary and independent (PVI) sectors, accredited childminders and Children’s Centres. 

This funding is governed by the Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities on the Delivery of Free Early Education for Three and Four Year Olds and Securing Sufficient Childcare September 2012.

Barnet Council has produced the Barnet Council handbook for the free entitlement to early education (September 2012). The handbook provides guidance on how the funding is delivered in Barnet. It is important that all early years providers are familiar with this handbook as they must follow this to deliver the free entitlement.

The offer

Important dates for the 2013/14 financial year are as follows:

Funding adjustments for late starters or leavers

Should you have any changes in attendance, leavers or new arrivals at your setting after the headcount date, you will are required to submit an adjustment form to amend to your funding.

The adjustment form can be download here and completed within four weeks of a child starting/leaving/changing hours.

The completed form must then be sent to Claire Gray, Schools Funding Team via the USO-FX system. Please do not send children's details by email.

Submitting data securely - USO-FX Secure File Exchange System

Due to a corporate review of Barnet Council’s data security arrangements we are unable to accept personal data on memory sticks or CDs. This includes the free entitlement claim form and adjustment forms. To enable the secure transfer of the free entitlement forms we are using a secure web-based file transfer system called USO-FX. USO-FX is a secure method by which sensitive data can be transferred across schools’ LGfL links or internet into the council or other infrastructure.

Instructions for use 

You can access USO-FX from the following link: https://support.lgfl.org.uk/secure/default.aspx.

Read our instructions for using the USO-FX Secure File Exchange System.

To use this system all providers will need to have an account set up for a named person in each setting. If you have any problems please contact Jane Elliott on 020 8359 7621 or jane.elliott@barnet.gov.uk.

Useful Contacts

For queries about the payments contact the Schools Funding Team by email at school.funding@barnet.gov.uk.

For any queries only related to data returns via USO-fX, you can contact Jane Elliot on 020 8359 7621 or email jane.elliot@barnet.gov.uk.

For all other queries around the delivery of the free entitlement such as:

• absences or erratic attendance
• changes in flexibility levels
• parental contracts
• increases or decreases in pupil numbers.

Please contact either Johanna Goslin on 020 8359 7520 or email johanna.goslin@barnet.gov.uk or Lyn Gallacher on 020 8359 7619 or email lyn.gallacher@barnet.gov.uk.