Guidance

Early years entitlements data return: guidance for completion of the digital form

Updated 20 October 2025

Applies to England

Introduction

From April 2024, eligible working parents of 2-year-olds were entitled access up to 15 hours of childcare per week for 38 weeks a year, and from September 2024, this was  extended to eligible working parents of children from 9-months of age. From September 2025, eligible working parents of 9-month-olds to 3-year-olds are entitled to access up to 30 hours per week for 38 weeks a year.

This data return will enable the Department for Education (DfE)  to record the take-up of the government-funded entitlement hours for the 2-year-old working parents entitlement, 2-year-olds and under working parents entitlement and 2-year-olds and under in receipt of early years pupil premium (EYPP), as stated in the dedicated schools grant (DSG) conditions of grant. This data will be used to determine the early years DSG funding allocations for the new working parents entitlement in the financial year 2025 to 2026.

This return will also collect additional data about the number of children using the early years entitlements for families receiving specific forms of additional support (formerly known as the two-year-old disadvantaged entitlement) and children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) accessing entitlements for age 2 and under. This data will be used for policy monitoring purposes only.

You should only include children from early years providers which are normally included in the early years census. For school nurseries (with registered pupils), maintained nursery schools and academies (with registered pupils), the relevant data will be collected through  the 2025 autumn term school census, therefore local authorities should not include these children in their data return. The full guidance for the termly data collection is available at early years data collection for the 2025 to 2026 financial year.

Who is this guide for?

This guide is for local authorities.

For more information, and instructions on completing your returns, read this guidance document. If you need more help with completing your returns, visit early years funding: 2025 to 2026 or contact us through the Customer Help Portal.

When to complete your submission 

The deadline for submitting the 2025 autumn term early years entitlements data return is on or before 5.00pm on Friday 5 December 2025. You can change and resubmit your return up until this time.

Accessing the form 

Please read the below sections before accessing the early years entitlements data return digital form  to complete your submission.

Before you start  

This service is for local authorities.

To access the form you need to have an active DfE Sign-in account that is linked to your local authority. If you have not used DfE Sign-in before, you will need to create an account.

DfE Sign-in

Sign in to your DfE Sign-in account

Follow the below steps to access the form:

1. Access the early years entitlements data return digital form and select ‘start now’. When prompted, enter your DfE Sign-in credentials (your account email address and password) for authentication.

2. If multi-factor authentication (MFA) is enabled on your account, you’ll need to enter a verification code to login. To send the verification email with code you need to click on ‘Email code to [your email address]’ on the ‘Verify your identity page’ you were directed to after entering your email and password.

3. After clicking on ‘Email code to [your email address]’ you’ll progress to the next page ‘Enter code’. Copy the code from the verification email and paste it into the box. Then select ‘Verify’.

4. Choose the organisation you are completing the form for – this is only required if your account is linked to several organisations.

5. The next page will display the details we hold about the organisation you selected when you signed in. This will show the name, address and unique identifier of the organisation, as well as the name and email address of the person who signed into the form.

6. If these details are correct, select ‘Continue’ to go to the next page.

7. If you believe these details are incorrect, please contact us through the Customer Help Portal and we will investigate. However, you can still proceed with your submission.

To complete the form, your account must be connected to the organisation you are completing the form for. You do not need to add any services in DfE sign-in; it is used only for authentication.

If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account 

If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account, you will need to create one by completing steps 1 to 7 below: 

1. Access DfE Sign-in page and select ‘Create a DfE Sign-in account’.  On the next page, select ‘No account? Create one’.

2. Enter your name and email address. You must use a valid professional/business email address that contains your name. To note, we are unable to accept generic emails, such as ‘admin’ or ‘info’. You are also unable to use a personal email address.

3. We will send you an email to verify your email address. Copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page.

4. Create a memorable password that is a minimum of 8 characters and contains 3 of the following: lowercase characters, uppercase characters, numbers, symbols. Enter your given name and surname.

5. Sign in using your new credentials. Request your MFA verification email by clicking on ‘Email code to [your email address]’ on the ‘Verify your identity’ page.

6. We will send you an MFA email to verify your identity. Copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page.

7. Follow the ‘Next step’ instructions outlined in ‘Adding an organisation to your DfE Sign-in account’ below.

Once your request to access an organisation has been approved, you can follow the steps outlined under sign in to your DfE Sign-in account to complete the form.

Adding an organisation to your DfE Sign-in account

To add a new organisation to your DfE Sign-in account, follow steps 1 to 6 below:

1. Login to your DfE Sign-in account.

2. Select ‘Organisations’ from the tab at the top of the page.

3. Select ‘Request access to an organisation’ from the ‘Related actions’ on the righthand side of the page.

4. Enter the name of the organisation you wish to add.

5. Select the organisation.

6. Select ‘Confirm’.

Your request will be sent to the approver(s) of your organisation. If you do not already have an approver, your request will be actioned by the DfE Sign-in support team as soon as possible.

Once your request to access an organisation has been approved, you can follow the steps outlined under ‘Already have a DfE account’ section to complete the form.

You may have noticed the term ‘approver’ when setting up your account. An approver is someone at your organisation responsible for controlling who has access to DfE Sign-in and the services within the system. It is usually a senior person, such as a manager.

For security reasons, you will need authorisation from one of your organisation’s approvers before you can access the form.

 If you need further assistance

If you need help with DfE Sign-in, use our DfE Sign-in help service where you will be able to request further assistance. When raising a support request, select ‘Other.’

If you are having problems accessing the form(s), you can contact us through our Customer Help Portal.

 Completing the form 

Access the early years entitlements data return digital form and select ‘Start now’.  When authenticated through DfE sign-in, you will find a ‘Save and continue’ button on each page of the form. If you have to sign out of a form, or your form is opened for an extended period before submitting it, you can resume your submission when you sign back in.

Once you have submitted the form, you will be advised of the next steps and will receive an email confirmation of your submission. This email will contain a link to download a PDF copy of your submission – the link will expire after 6 months.  We recommend you download a copy as soon as possible.

You can edit and resubmit your form until the submission deadline. 

Selecting ‘Save and continue’ on each page will take you through the form.  You must click ‘submit’ on the final form page to send your completed statement to us. 

To complete your return, you will need to know the total number of children and the total number of hours taken during count week (see below) for the following early years funding streams:

Early years entitlement for working parents and EYPP

You will need to know the total number of children and the total number of hours taken during count week for the following early years funding streams:

Up to a maximum of 30 hours per child:

• entitlement for 2-year-olds of eligible working parents
• entitlement for children from 9-month-olds up to 2-years-old of eligible working parents

Up to a maximum of 15 hours per child:

• 2-year-olds in receipt of EYPP accessing the 2-year-old working parents entitlement
• 2-year-olds in receipt of EYPP accessing the entitlement for families of 2-year-olds receiving specific forms of additional support (formerly known as the 2-year-old disadvantaged entitlement)
• 9-month-olds up to 2-year-olds in receipt of EYPP accessing the working parents entitlement

Early years entitlement for families receiving specific forms of additional support (formerly known as the two-year-old disadvantaged entitlement) and children with SEND

You also need to know the total number of children taking up the government-funded hours for the following:

• entitlement for families receiving specific forms of additional support
• children with SEND accessing the entitlement for families receiving specific forms of additional support
• children with SEND accessing the entitlement for 2-year-olds of eligible working parents
• children with SEND accessing the entitlement for 9-month-olds up to 2-year-olds of eligible working parents

You must only include children from early years providers that are normally included in the early years census. For school nurseries (with registered pupils), maintained nursery schools, and academies (with registered pupils), the relevant data will be collected through  the 2025 autumn term school census. Therefore, local authorities should not include these children in their data return. 

The 2025 autumn term data must be captured during count week, commencing Monday 3 November 2025.

 Your details

We will show you the information we hold about the organisation you selected when you signed into your DfE Sign-in account. 

Early years entitlement for eligible working parents of 2-year-olds

Once signed into the form, you will be asked to enter the total number of children taking up the 2-year-old working parent entitlement and the total hours they had taken up in the 2025 autumn term count week.

These figures should be calculated based on:

• eligible 2-year-olds who were born between 1 September 2022 and 31 August 2023  (inclusive)
• who have valid eligibility codes
• who have taken up the government-funded hours, up to 30 hours per child during the 2025 autumn term count week (commencing Monday 3 November 2025)

We will use the ‘total number of children’ and the ‘total number of hours’ to calculate the part-time equivalent (PTE) hours to determine the funding allocations for local authorities. 15 hours is considered as 1 PTE and 30 hours is considered as 2 PTEs.

The early years entitlement hours for working parents is up to 30 hours a week, across 38 weeks a year. However, some children may ‘stretch’ the usual standard 30 hours a week, by taking up fewer hours each week across more than 38 weeks a year. You can calculate the hours to convert to term time.

For example, a child takes 25 hours a week over 45 weeks in the year, totalling 1,125 hours; and a working parents entitlement is 1,140 hours (30 hours multiplied by 38 weeks). To convert the stretched entitlement to the number of hours a child would attend each week if they were taking it over 38 weeks, divide 1,125 by 38 to get 29.60 hours.

You must count each child only once, and the total number of hours must not exceed 30 hours per child.

Early years entitlement for eligible working parents of children from 9 months up to 2-years-old 

Enter the total number of children from 9 months to 2-year-old working parent entitlement and the total hours they had taken up in the 2025 autumn term count week.

These figures should be calculated based on:

• eligible 2-year-olds and under who were born between 1 September 2023 and 30 November 2024 (inclusive):
  • who have valid eligibility codes
  • who have taken up the government-funded hours, up to 30 hours per child during the 2025 autumn term count week (commencing Monday 3 November 2025)  

We will use the ‘total number of children’ and the ‘total number of hours’ to calculate the PTE hours to determine the funding allocations for local authorities.

The early years entitlement hours for working parents is up to 30 hours a week, across 38 weeks a year. However, some children may ‘stretch’ the usual standard 30 hours a week, by taking up fewer hours each week across more than 38 weeks a year. You can calculate the hours to convert to term time.

For example, a child takes 25 hours a week over 45 weeks in the year, totalling 1,125 hours; and a working parents entitlement is 1,140 hours (30 hours multiplied by 38 weeks). To convert the stretched entitlement to the number of hours a child would attend each week if they were taking it over 38 weeks, divide 1,125 by 38 to get 29.60 hours.

You must count each child only once, and the total number of hours must not exceed 30 hours per child.

Part-time equivalent

We will use the ‘total number of children’ and the ‘total number of hours’ to calculate the PTE hours to determine the funding allocations for local authorities.

Based on the information you provide on the number of hours delivered, your PTE for each funding stream will be shown for your information only.

You can read more about PTEs in the early years data collection for the 2025 to 2026 financial year guidance.

If your calculated PTEs seem inaccurate, you may wish to re-check the figures for the number of hours for your funding streams before continuing to submit your return. To do that, select ‘Go back to review your input’ button.

2-year-olds with EYPP accessing the working parents entitlement

These pages relate to 2-year-old children with EYPP. Enter the total number of children and the total number of hours for children in receipt of EYPP accessing both the 2-year-old working parents entitlement and children with EYPP accessing entitlement for families receiving specific forms of additional support (formerly known as the 2-year-old disadvantaged entitlement) in your local authority during the 2025 autumn term count week. 

You must count each child only once and the number of hours must not exceed 15 hours per child.

9 months to 2-year-olds with EYPP accessing the working parents entitlement

Enter the total number of children and the total number of hours for children in receipt of EYPP accessing the 9 months to 2-year-olds working parents entitlement in your local authority during the 2025 autumn term count week. 

You must count each child only once and the number of hours must not exceed 15 hours per child.

Entitlement for families of 2-year-olds receiving specific forms of additional support

Provide the figures for the total number of children for the government-funded childcare delivered to children for families of 2-year-olds receiving specific forms of additional support in your local authority during the 2025 autumn term count week. 

You must count each child only once.

Children with special educational needs and disabilities

Provide the total number of children with SEND that are accessing early years entitlements from providers in your local authority area during the 2025 autumn term count week, using the definition set out in legislation and used throughout the SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years (see page 15 onwards). This definition should also be the same as that which is used when reporting for early years census purposes.

Declarations page

Once you have completed all relevant data entries you must complete all mandatory declarations. You will not be able to submit your form without fully completing this section. You will need to tick each statement box to confirm your agreement.

Submission summary

The summary page allows you to check your answers before submitting your form.  You can change your answers using the ‘Change’ link that appears next to each data entry.

You can also save this summary by selecting ‘Save Summary as PDF’ button before you submit.   

You must select ‘Submit’ at the bottom of this page and receive a unique reference number for your submission to be processed. 

Confirmation 

The final page confirms your form has been submitted successfully. You will receive a unique reference number against your submission, followed by an explanation of what happens next.

You will also receive an email confirming successful submission. This will contain a link to download a PDF of your submission which will expire after 6 months from the date of your submission.

Make a note of your unique reference number as we will not include this information in your confirmation email.

Amending your submission

You can make changes to the form and resubmit until the deadline. To do this, you will need to sign back in to access your form, make your amendments and resubmit it.

You cannot amend your data after the submission deadline.

We will take the details of the most recently submitted form and disregard previous versions. You will receive a new unique submission reference for an amended submission.

If you need further assistance  

If you have read this guidance and have questions, contact us through  our Customer Help Portal.

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