Flying Start & Funding

Providers

The Funding tab in Settings walks you through setting up Flying Start (Dechrau'n Deg) step by step, so funded hours come off invoices correctly. It's also where you choose whether parents pay for the days they come or the same amount every month.

Finding the Wizard

Go to Settings, then the Funding tab. The first card, Flying Start / Dechrau'n Deg, is the wizard. You can also open it from the Set up funding step in Get Started on your dashboard, from the Flying Start section on a child's profile, or from the Flying Start warning on a contract.

It asks one question at a time. Use Next and Back to move between the steps. Once you've saved it once, the wizard opens on the summary, with a Change link beside each answer.

The Steps

Do you take Flying Start children? Answer No if you don't. That's enough to complete the step in Get Started.
Hours and rate. The standard hours (2.5 a day, 12.5 a week) are filled in. Leave Hours per day empty if children get the full weekly hours whatever days they come. Enter your council's rate per hour. Leave it empty and each funded hour comes off at the session's own hourly price.
Sessions. Tick the sessions Flying Start can cover.
Children. Tick the children who get Flying Start, and whether their parent works (a working parent's child can use the weekly hours over fewer days, up to 5 hours a day). Enter the Eligible from and Eligible until dates: from the term after the child's 2nd birthday to the term after their 3rd. Outside these dates, the full price is charged.
Term dates. Add the school holidays from your council's term dates. Flying Start doesn't come off in the holidays. These are the same holidays as under Opening Times. Adding a holiday credits any invoices already sent for those days, unless you bill through holidays.
How parents pay. For the days they come each month, or The same amount every month with the number of weeks a year you charge for. See below.
Parents Contract. The manager's name, the setting's phone number and the contract length (39 or 42 weeks) for the Flying Start Parents Contract.
Check and save. Check your answers and click Save Flying Start.

The Same Amount Every Month

With The same amount every month, parents pay an equal amount each month instead of paying for the days in each month:

Monthly fees: a normal week × the weeks a year you charge for ÷ 12, whatever holidays fall in the month.
Flying Start: the child's term weeks × their weekly funding, shared equally over the months from when funding starts to August. A child who starts in November has it spread over 10 months.
The parent pays the monthly fees less that month's share. From September, the parent pays the full monthly fee.

Example: a child who comes 4 days a week at £80 a day, in a setting that charges for 50 weeks: 4 × £80 × 50 ÷ 12 = £1,333.33 a month. They're funded 12.5 hours a week at £7.50 for 31 term weeks from 2 November: £2,906.25, which is £290.63 a month over November to August. The parent pays £1,042.71 a month.

A child's first or last month, if it isn't a whole month, is billed for the days they come.
Children with Childcare Offer sessions are billed for the days they come, unless you tick Childcare Offer children pay the same every month too. Then a normal week's Childcare Offer funding × 48 weeks (or your weeks, if fewer) ÷ 12 comes off every month.
A month that is all holiday, usually August, is still invoiced, shared over the days the child usually comes.
Each invoice still lists the days, with the monthly amount shared between them.

You can also turn this on under Settings → Invoicing → Monthly payments, which shows what each family pays a month.

Other Funding

The Funding tab also holds the settings for the Childcare Offer (see Childcare Offer for Wales (CCOW)) and Foundation Phase.

Childcare Offer for Wales (CCOW) CIW Tools