Guidance

Early years funding benchmarking tool

Information on indicators of local authority early education services, and ways to compare an individual local authority to other local authorities.

Applies to England

Documents

Early years funding benchmarking tool

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Early years funding proforma

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Details

The early years funding benchmarking tool and the early years proforma covers all local authorities in England. These funding tools show projected spending in the 2023 to 2024 financial year to provide early entitlement places for 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds.

Local authorities can use these tools to compare their local systems and outcomes against other local authorities. They can use these comparisons to support improvements in fairness and increase value for money.

Early years providers, parents and others can use these tools to:

  • understand the early education system in their area
  • understand decisions taken by local authorities
  • compare these to other local authorities

The technical note and user guide explains the methodology behind the data, and how to use the tools.

The documents ‘Early years funding benchmarking tool’ and ‘Early years funding proforma’ are not accessible because they include macros. This means they do not meet web content accessibility guidelines success criteria 1.3.2, on meaningful sequence, or 1.3.1, on info and relationships.

Published 14 March 2014
Last updated 29 November 2023 + show all updates
  1. Routine annual update to the 'Early years funding benchmarking tool', 'Early years funding proforma' and 'Early years benchmarking: technical note and user guide'.

  2. Routine annual update to the 'Early years funding benchmarking tool', 'Early years funding proforma' and 'Early years benchmarking: technical note and user guide'

  3. Routine annual update to the 'Early years funding benchmarking tool', 'Early years funding proforma' and 'Early years benchmarking: technical note and user guide'.

  4. Made routine annual update to the 'Early years funding benchmarking tool', 'Early years funding proforma' and 'Early years benchmarking: technical note and user guide'.

  5. Updated technical note, user guide, benchmarking tool, and proforma documents to reflect information on projected local authority spending in the 2018 to 2019 financial year.

  6. Updated technical note, user guide, benchmarking tool, and proforma documents to reflect information on projected local authority spending in the 2017 to 2018 financial year.

  7. Updated 'Early years funding benchmarking tool'; 'Early years funding proforma'; 'User guide' and 'Technical note' documents with information for the 2016 to 2017 financial year.

  8. Updated technical note, user guide, benchmarking tool, and proforma documents to reflect information on projected local authority spending in the 2015 to 2016 financial year.

  9. Updated user guide and technical note with accessible versions.

  10. Updated early years benchmarking tool, user guide and technical note.

  11. Updated guidance documents, early years funding benchmarking tool and the early years proforma.

  12. First published.