Guidance

Early years teacher degree apprenticeship: employer support grant funding manual

Updated 2 July 2026

Applies to England

The employer support grant provides financial support to employers who employ Early years teacher degree apprenticeship (EYTDA) apprentices in their setting.

The grant is paid to training providers who must distribute it to eligible employers.

Subject to availability, employers will receive a grant for each EYTDA apprentice in their setting. There are 400 grants available. This manual covers the 2026 to 2027 academic year, but the grant will be available throughout the 33-month programme.

Amount of funding and costs

For academic year 2026 to 2027, eligible employers will be able to access a grant worth £8,236 per apprentice.

Payments will be made on a monthly basis, with no payment in August.

Proportion of payment to be made each month for academic year 2026 to 2027, based on a September 2026 start

Month	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug
% split	9%	9%	9%	9%	9%	9%	13%	9%	9%	9%	6%	0%
Monthly payment	£741	£741	£741	£741	£741	£741	£1,070	£741	£741	£741	£494

Payments in the first 3 months may be lower than the example above whilst we verify the numbers of apprentices who start the course.

The employer support grant is paid directly to the apprentice’s training provider, who will distribute it among eligible employers. The grant is a contribution towards costs that employers incur as a result of employing an apprentice and must not be used for other purposes.

Examples of permitted spend include:

• supply cover while the trainee is attending EYTDA training
• employment costs incurred by the employer in connection with the employment of an EYTDA apprentice
• additional training costs and other overheads related to the employment of the apprentice

The employer incentive cannot be used for:

• sick pay
• maternity or paternity pay
• assets, for example, books, toys and equipment
• internal training costs that do not relate directly to EYTDA training, such as additional continuing professional development
• staff costs that are not related to supply cover for the apprentice or for supervising the apprentice
• costs that have occurred outside of a trainee’s training period
• costs the apprentice may incur outside of training, such as travelling to work or placements
• employment costs and cover for other members of staff who are not covering the apprentice
• bonuses or incentives

If there are any claims for the employer support grant that are not covered by this list, or if you are unsure whether is appropriate to claim, contact eytda.enquiries@education.gov.uk for further advice.

The employer support grant is not paid to apprentices and must not be passed on to apprentices (except as part of permitted spend).

Training providers will receive a grant offer letter from the Department for Education (DfE), which must be signed and returned in order to receive the grant funding.

Training providers must pass all employer support grant funding on to the apprentice’s employer.

Eligibility

To receive the employer support grant, employers must:

• employ at least one EYTDA apprentice in their Ofsted-inspected setting
• agree to and keep accurate records of their apprentice’s qualification and progress towards the EYTDA

DfE may ask to see these records at any time.

Providers must:

• deliver EYTDA
• notify employers in writing that they are eligible to receive the employer support grant
• sign a grant offer letter provided by DfE and complete all reporting as required by DfE
• ensure grant assurance processes are in place with employers, including having grant funding agreements with employers to ensure that the requirements set out in the grant offer letter and this guidance are met
• ensure that employers continue to be eligible for the employer support grant for the duration of the course

Most early years settings, regardless of size, are eligible to receive the employer support grant in respect of an apprentice employed by them. The employer or the apprentice may be required to provide their contract of employment to confirm eligibility.

People who are self-employed are not eligible to undertake EYTDA. This is because apprentices must be working under a contract of employment and have a separate identifiable line manager. This means they are also not eligible to receive the employer support grant. However, if a self-employed person employs an apprentice who is undertaking the EYTDA, the employer can obtain the employer support grant.

Level 5 qualified staff

Staff who have already completed a Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner apprenticeship (EYLP) are able to step onto the EYTDA at the beginning of learning stage 2, provided they meet all other entry criteria, and their training provider can sequence the course delivery appropriately. Employers of Level 5 qualified staff who are stepping onto the EYTDA will be eligible for the employer support grant. The overall grant amount will be lower as staff who have already completed a Level 5 EYLP will complete the EYTDA in 2 years rather than 3.

Part-time staff

Employers of part-time staff who are undertaking the EYTDA will be eligible for the employer support grant. Prospective apprentices, employers and providers are responsible for deciding whether the EYTDA is a suitable course for part-time staff based on individual circumstances. They will need to ensure that the apprentice can still meet the 1,531 hours off the job training requirement set by the Apprenticeship Standard. This remains a requirement even if the individual is working part time, as apprentices who do not meet the minimum amount of hours during the course duration cannot successfully complete the EYTDA.

Number of grants

Subject to availability, employers will receive a grant for each EYTDA apprentice in their setting. There are 400 grants available and these will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

We will aim to notify providers when 75% of the 400 grants have been allocated.

Grant funding agreement (GFA): June to July 2026

All providers who wish to receive the employer support grant, with permission to recruit to funded apprenticeship courses, must enter a GFA with us. We will only pay grant funding when a GFA is in place.

We will contact all providers before the start of the academic year to ask for the appropriate documentation. We will send the provider a GOL, which includes the terms and conditions of the 2026 to 2027 grant.

You must:

• fully complete all the highlighted sections in the GOL
• sign it, from your accounting officer
• email the completed document to eytda.enquiries@education.gov.uk

After you have done this, our responsible officer will countersign it and we will return it to the provider.

This countersigned GOL document combined with the terms and conditions, forms the GFA. You must keep it.

If a GFA is delayed, grant funding payments will be made in the following month.

EYTDA employer support grant - provider application form: July to August 2026

In order to access the funding providers are required to complete the Provider Application Form with the details of their eligible apprentices.

This must be submitted during the first two weeks of August (we will contact you with precise dates) in order to receive funding in September, for apprentices starting in September 2026 – we require providers to complete this form on a monthly basis where there is a change in the status of apprentices (if there is no change in status providers should notify DfE by email to confirm as this will help support our assurance processes).

Providers are required to share all data on apprenticeships with us. This includes data on:

• applications
• recruitment
• employment outcomes

Information submitted through the provider application form must be:

• accurate
• complete
• submitted on time

Failure to meet these conditions is likely to result in the suspension of funding.

First payment: September 2026

First payments of the grant will be paid to providers to pass onto employers - subject to submission of the grant payment form and GOL during the first two weeks of August (we will contact you with precise dates).

We will calculate the payments from September 2026 to November 2027 using apprentice recruitment data available at that time. This funding may be at a preliminary rate. We will issue any arrears that may be due or recover funding as appropriate when we make this adjustment.

Data requirements

Data requirements from early years settings

When a candidate has been recruited, we require settings to provide their provider with accurate apprenticeship data.

Settings must tell providers promptly of any changes, such as withdrawals and deferrals.

Data requirements from providers

Failure to comply with requests for data in an accurate or timely manner may lead to the withdrawal of accreditation for the ITT provider. Full details of the process are included in Register, for higher education institutions (HEIs) and non-HEIs.

Providers must also provide apprentice data to us as part of their Annex G assurance return. There are more details in the assurance and audit section.

Assurance and audit

We will recover grant funding which we identify as recoverable as a result of this exercise.

In most of these cases, we will offset funding to pay to the provider in future years.

If this is not possible, we will invoice the provider for the outstanding amount.

We may recover grant funding because:

• apprentices do not start the course
• apprentices leave before getting EYTS, including apprentices who accept a place and later withdraw
• we identify errors in apprentice data which settings and providers submitted, which we have used to calculate the grant funding, resulting in an overpayment
• the grant funding is miscalculated, which results in an overpayment to the provider
• a grant payment is made to an incorrect recipient
• a grant payment is made in error
• if the grant has not been used for the specified purposes (in this manual or in the grant offer letter)
• the employer decides not to claim the grant

We may also recover grant funding if you do not comply with the GFA. This includes, but is not limited to, failure to submit an Annex G in accordance with the requirements of the grant funding letter, or any subsequent communication from us.

If we need to recover grant funding, we may do this in the same or future academic years.

Evidence you need to keep or submit: apprentice records

Employing settings and associated providers must hold full records of all apprentices who get grant funding, including evidence of the apprentices’ academic qualifications achieved before they started their training.

Providers should make sure that all apprentice records on the grant payment form are complete. This includes amending the records of apprentices who:

• withdraw or defer from their apprenticeship
• start later in the academic year

We may:

• delay or withhold payments to the provider, if data is inaccurate or incomplete
• request this evidence from providers, as we monitor quality and funding assurance

Annex G

Providers must submit an Annex G return by 31 December 2027.

As part of the grant assurance process, you must submit an audited breakdown of grant expenditure and corresponding apprentice details.

If these apprentice details differ from those submitted through the grant payment form, we may ask for more information or evidence to confirm these details. We may do this before we make any additional recovery or reimbursement payments.

We will send you details of the Annex G process after the 2026 to 2027 academic year.

If you fail to submit accurately completed and signed off assurance and audit documentation on time, we are likely to:

• withhold future grants
• recover funding we have paid

We will seek more assurance in the following academic year for apprentices who:

• deferred their training to that year
• extended their training into that year

You need to keep all appropriate records for the next audit - for example:

• the date when the apprentice resumed their apprenticeship
• the apprentice’s current status

Failure to fully comply with the data reporting and assurance requirements set out in this manual may result in:

• the withdrawal of funding
• non-compliance by the provider, which may lead to the withdrawal of accreditation

Types of evidence that should be retained

Evidence area	Primary evidence
Registration on programme	Registration evidence, which includes start date, Early Years route and full or part time status. For returners, the registration evidence should confirm: (i) the date they started the programme in a previous academic year and (ii) recommenced the programme in the present academic year
Qualification – Degree (Graduate Entry trainees only)	Degree certificate. For overseas qualifications, copies of transcripts and correspondence which support the equivalency decision
Training Bursary payments (Graduate Entry trainees only)	Extract of transaction report, which confirms bursary amount paid to trainee, and date paid
Employer Incentive (Graduate Employment Based trainees only)	Copies of all invoices forwarded by the trainee’s employer, or copy of agreement between EYITT provider and employer if monthly or termly amounts paid
Withdrawal or deferral	Documentary evidence which clearly shows the date of withdrawal or deferral. This includes a withdrawal or deferral form signed by trainee, or written correspondence from the trainee confirming their withdrawal or deferral if form was not completed
Evidence of completion	Copy of correspondence to trainee, which confirms completion