Early Years Setup

The Early Years | Early Years Setup menu option from the Focus menuFocus menu  This path may be different if the Menu has been customised enables you to setup the following Early Years information:

Payment Setup Options

This page is displayed when the Early Years Setup | Payment Setup Options menu route is selected. It enables you to define Payment Types, Single Funding Formulas, Hours Remaining Options and Mid-Term Funding.

Click the Save button to save your changes.

• Payment TypesPayment Types

  The Payment Types panel displays the Payment Types that have been defined. There are three standard (seeded) payment types for each term, INT (Interim), ACT (Actual) and ADJ (Adjustment). 

  In addition a seeded payment type of MINT (Manual Interim) enables this type of manual payment to be entered against an individual funded service via the Search for Funded Provider | Payment Details link. 

  Non-seeded payment types can be set up to make payments to an individual funded service. Click the Add button to add a new non-seeded payment type. A Payment Code and Fund Code can be recorded.

  Click the Edit button to update the details of a non-seeded payment type or to update the description of seeded payment type.

  Click the Remove button to remove the highlighted payment type. 

  You cannot remove a seeded payment type or a non-seeded payment type that has been used in a payment.

• Payment DetailsPayment Details

  This page enables you to view payment details for an individual funded service. It is displayed when you click on the Payment Details link on the Funded Services page.

  A list of all payments made to the selected funded service is displayed with the most recent payments first. The order can be changed by clicking on any of the column headings. Search parameters of Year and Payment Type may be entered. Click the Search button to display a list of payments matching these criteria. Double-click or highlight one of the payments in the list and click Open or Open in New Window to display the details in the Payment Details panel. If a payment has been generated or authorised, you cannot make any amendments apart from adding a memo. Click the Memo button to add a memo against a payment. If a memo already exists, the button displays red and can be clicked to update it. Click the Save button to save changes.

  Click the View Pupil Premiums button to display a list of children who have had their EYPP increased or decreased during the term.

  To add a new payment or generate a manual payment, click the New button to display the New Payment screen. This can be done for both seeded and non-seeded payment types, including a seeded CFA (Carried Forward Adjustment) payment, which can be either a positive or negative amount.

  Payments which have been generated but have not been authorised can be deleted. Highlight the payment and click the Delete button.

  If an Interim payment has been generated but not authorised and the corresponding actual payment has been generated and authorised, neither payment can be deleted. If you attempt to delete a payment that has been authorised, a message will be displayed:
              Payment has been authorised and cannot be deleted.

  New Payment 

  A seeded payment type of MINT (Manual Interim Payment) is available if the Manual Payments checkbox is selected against the term definition (Early Years Setup | Define Early Years Payment Period). In this case the amount entered is against the funded service for that period and is not broken down by age groups. The amount of MINT payment generated will be subtracted from the grand total rather than by age.

  If a seeded payment code is selected, the payment due per group and the overall total are displayed. If the Manual Payments checkbox against the period definition (Early Years Setup | Define Early Years Payment Period) is checked and an interim payment is selected, the amount fields are enabled (otherwise they are disabled). 

  Total (Carried Forward & Manual Interim) displays the amount of any MINT and CFA (Carried Forward Adjustment) that will be added or subtracted from the Total Amount.

  You can generate payments for particular age groups by selecting the age group check boxes (not available if payment type is MINT). 

  Enter the payment details and click the Save button to generate the payment. 

  If a new Interim Payment is added and there are zero Interim Hours recorded, the message “Amount not valid” will be displayed when you click the Save button.

  After successfully saving the payment details, the Authorise button will be enabled. Click the Authorise button and the Authorised On Date will be updated to the system date.

  If a MINT payment has been made against a funded service it is not possible to pay an INT payment for the same funded service and period. Similarly if an INT payment has been made, a MINT payment cannot be made for the same service and period. 
  
  

• Single Funding FormulasSingle Funding Formulas

  This panel enables you to set up the Single Funding Formulas (SFF) that can be associated with a funded service for specific periods and age groups via Early Years Setup | Payment Parameters.

  Click the Add button to set up a new Single Funding Formula.

  Enter the following information:

  Field	Description
  Formula Code	Mandatory. A maximum of 6 alphanumeric characters
  Description	Mandatory. A maximum of 30 alphanumeric characters
  Active	Select this check box to enable the SFF to be selected on the Payment Parameters page.
  Pupil Premium	If SFF relates to EY pupil premium, select this check box to display a tick and select a Funding Basis.
  SFF Universal	If SFF applies to universal hours, select this check box to display a tick.
  SFF Extended	If SFF applies to extended hours, select this check box to display a tick.
  Single Funding Formula Rates	Each rate must have a Start Date and Funding Amount. End Date is optional.

  Click the Edit button to edit the highlighted SFF or the Remove button to remove it. You cannot remove an SFF code if it has been used on the Payment Parameters page.

• Hours Remaining OptionsHours Remaining Options

  This panel enables you to define whether or not children can be paid additional hours to their yearly entitlement. There are two options:

  • The default option is Cap Payments Negative Hours Remaining. If this option is selected, children will not be paid additional hours to their yearly entitlement. The paid hours are reduced by the deficit. e.g. if Hours Remaining is -50, the paid hours are reduced by 50, Hours Remaining is set to 0 and Unpaid Hours is set to 50.     
  • Select Allow Payments with Negative Hours if children can be funded for more than their yearly entitlement of hours. A warning message is displayed:
                Selecting this option will allow children to be funded and paid for more than their yearly entitlement of hours. Do you wish to  continue?
    Clicking the Yes button only affects newly generated payments.
• Mid-Term FundingMid-Term Funding

  This panel enables the Local Authority to control whether or not they fund children who are found to be eligible for extended childcare in the middle of a term. If mid-term funding is enabled, extended hours can be entered for such childen on the Funded Service page and via the Headcount portal.

  To enable mid-term funding, select the Allow Mid-Term Funding check box to display a tick.

  To disable mid-term funding, select the check box to display a cross and select a term from the Mid-Term Funding Unavailable From drop-down.

Define Early Years Payment Period

Define Early Years Payment Period is selected from the Early Years Setup menu. It displays the Payment Period Definition Summary page.

• Payment Period Definition SummaryPayment Period Definition Summary

  Start Year defaults to the current year. To select a different Start Year, click on the browse button to open the Year Definition Summary window and choose a different year.

  For the selected Start Year, the periods are shown below. For each period, the Period Start date, Period End date, Eligibility Start Date, Eligibility End Date, Hours Per Week and Hours Per Period for each age group are displayed.

  To display the Payment Period Definition Detail for a particular period, select it and click either Open or Open In New Window. To add a new period, click on the New button.
  

• Year Definition SummaryYear Definition Summary

  To define a new Year for a particular Business Process or update an existing one, the Year Definition Filters panel is used to select the required Business Process e.g. Early Years. The Year Type can be either Financial or Academic.

  The Start Year defaults to the current year. To select a different year, click Search to see a list of Years that have been defined. Highlight the required Year and click Select to return to the Term Definition Summary screen.

  To define a new Year, click New and to amend the details of an existing Year, highlight the Year and click Open In New Window. This will open the Year Definition Detail.

• Year Definition DetailYear Definition Detail

  Select the Business Process e.g. Early Years and the Year Type e.g. Financial. Enter the Start Year e.g. 2010. The Start Date (e.g. 01/04/2010), End Date (e.g. 31/03/2011) and Date Range (e.g. 2010/2011) will be automatically completed with the defaults. You can change the Start or End Date and click Save. The dates will be validated and, if valid, a message is displayed to confirm that you wish to save the year with these amended default dates. Click on Yes to save or No to cancel the changes.

• Payment Period Definition DetailPayment Period Definition Detail

  The Payment Period Definition Detail page is displayed when a period is selected from the Payment Period Definition Summary or when you select to define a new period.

  When adding a new period, a Period Description must be entered. The Start Year, Period Number, Period Start and Period End are mandatory. The Period Number must be unique and will determine the order in which the periods will be processed and displayed. 

  The Eligibility Start and End Dates are the dates between which a child’s date of birth must fall in order to be eligible for funding for this period. Eligibility Start Date applies to 4 year olds and is the earliest date that a child can be born. Eligibility End Date applies to 2 year olds and is the latest date that a child can be born i.e. there should be a 3 year range in the dates entered. The dates are automatically calculated but can be edited.
  

• Payment LimitsPayment Limits

  Payment Limits can be set up for each age group for the period. These will be the default settings for all services unless they are changed within Payment Parameters for a specific service. Hours Per Week is mandatory and defaults to 15 which is the maximum limit defined by the government. 

  The Hours Per Period is mandatory and must not exceed Hours Per Week multiplied by Weeks Per Period. When a value is entered for one age group this value will automatically display for  the other age groups (if these are blank), but these values can be changed. These Payment Limits (Caps) are checked when performing calculations to ensure that these limits are not exceeded. 

  You are advised to use ‘positive’ values when entering Payment Limits. If ‘negative’ values are used this will impact the generation of payments.

• Interim PaymentsInterim Payments

  You can select from the drop-down to set the Interim Payment by to either Funded Service or Children. 

  If a payment has already been generated for the selected financial year and this selection is changed, a warning message will be displayed.

  Manual Payments check box applies to the manual overwriting of the interim payments for the period. If selected (tick), manual changes are allowed to the amount fields for interim payments. Otherwise, no changes can be made. It defaults to false (displays a cross).

• Interim Payment ProportionsInterim Payment Proportions

  In this panel you define the percentage of the payment made to children in each of the age groups as an interim payment. These apply to both Interim Payments by Funded Service and Interim Payments by Children. This enables you to make two payments. If the percentage is set to 0, no interim payment is made and the final payment is for the full amount.

  Changing the Interim Payment Proportions affects all providers for the whole year.

  If the Interim Payment Proportions are changed part way through the year, this may affect apportionment and, if necessary, manual adjustments will need to be made to any overpayments. In this case, a Warning Message is displayed.

• Record Update HistoryRecord Update History

  This panel is updated each time a record is saved. It records the Last Updated date and time and the Updated By person.

Payment Parameters

This page is opened when you click on the Parameters link from the Funded Services page. In this case, the service displayed on the Funded Services panel  is the one from which the link is accessed.

This page can also be accessed via Focus | Early Years | Early Years Setup | Payment Parameters. In this case, when the page is first displayed, all open funded services, i.e. services that are flagged as being funded for NEG (Nursery Education Grant) are listed in the Funded Services panel. At the bottom of this panel there is a count of the number of funded services found and the number selected.

This page provides both a bulk update facility and a facility to update payment parameters for an individual funded service. It enables you to set the default parameters required for the payment process. You can set Interim Weeks per Period and Actual Weeks per Period for each service for an unlimited number of periods per year. You can record the Hourly Base Rate for different age groups and any SFF (Single Funding Formula) that apply. It also provides the facility to set the payment values for the children at the selected service.

• Search ParametersSearch Parameters

  The Search Parameters panel provides filters. The Start Year defaults to the current financial year but can be changed using the drop-down. You can filter by Service Type, Provider Name, Service Name, Payment Bands and one or more Stretched Offer(s). 

  To select a Service Type you can either type directly into the field, or click the drop-down to obtain a list of possible service types for Early Years. Partial names can be entered into the Provider Name and Service Name search fields. 

  To select a Payment Band click the adjacent browse button to display the payment band Item Selector (lookup table 1161), select one or more bands and click the OK & Close button. To select a Stretched Offer, click the browse to open the Stretched Offer(s) Selector (lookup table 1178), select one or more of the check boxes and click the OK & Close button.

  When the search parameters are entered, the list of matching funded services is automatically updated in the Funded Services panel. If a Service Type is selected, the list will display funded services linked to this service type. If a Payment Band is selected, the list will display funded services that are linked to the selected payment band. 

  If multiple payment bands are selected, the list will display funded services that include one or more of the payment bands.

  After entering any information into the filters, the Clear Filters button is enabled. Clicking the Clear Filters button will remove any information entered onto the Search Parameters panel and the Funded Services panel will automatically update to display all open funded services (any already selected will remain selected).

• Funded ServicesFunded Services

  Select one or more funded services for which you wish to apply payment parameters, by selecting the adjacent Select check box. Alternatively, click the Select All button. To deselect all the Select check boxes, click Clear All.

  Checking the Show Selected Only check box changes the list to only show those services with the check box selected.

  Click the Refresh button to refresh the list of services to include any that have been added whilst the Payment Parameters page has been open. Once the data has been refreshed a message is displayed:

           Refresh Data Complete. 

  Any search parameters entered or changes made to payment parameters that have not been applied are retained.

  You can update the payment parameters for the selected services. Any payment limits held against the service will take precedence over the generic limits set up on the Payment Period Definition Detail screen (Early Years Setup | Define Early Years Payment Period).

• ParametersParameters

  If a single funded service is selected, the heading below the Parameters panel heading is:

              Service Defaults for followed by the service name. 

  Existing parameter values set for the selected service for the Start Year and payments periods are shown.

  If multiple Funded Providers are selected the heading is:

              Bulk Update Parameters to selected Funded Providers for followed by the Start Year. 

  If all selected services have the same value for a field (e.g. Actual Weeks per Period, 2Yr Hourly Base Rate, 3Yr Hours per Period) that value is highlighted in yellow to indicate it is a shared value. Calculated values (e.g. 2Yr Hourly Rate) are not highlighted.

  One or more payment periods must have already been set up for the selected Start Year. If periods have not been set up you will receive an error message:

             Unable to select Funded Service, no Periods defined for Start Year selected.

  You can set default payment parameters per period for the selected funded services. Enter Interim Weeks per Period, Actual Weeks per Period and Hourly Base Rate (for ages 2, 3, 4 and over 4). 

  Values entered in Hours per Week and Hours per Period override the defaults defined in Early Years Setup | Define Early Years Payment Period). 

  Universal Hourly Rate is automatically calculated for each age group (Hourly Base Rate plus SFF Universal).

  Extended Hourly Rate is automatically calculated for each age group (Hourly Base Rate plus SFF Extended).

  If required, select the Retain existing SFF values during apply check box to prevent existing SFF values from being overwritten during the update process.

  If required, select the Retain existing Interim Weeks Per Period during apply check box to prevent existing interim weeks per period values from being overwritten during the update process.

  If required, select the Retain existing Actual Weeks Per Period during apply check box to prevent existing actual weeks per period values from being overwritten during the update process.

  Two buttons are displayed enabling you to either apply the changes only or to apply changes and update the children at the services.
  

  Child rates will not be updated if an Actual payment has already been generated for the selected funded service and period. If an Interim payment only has been made, the rates will be updated.
  If the child level hourly rate has been manually changed prior to running Apply and Update Children, it will not be overwritten with the new payment parameter values. Also, any recorded SFF spot payment amount for the child will not be affected.

  When you click Apply changes to selected Funded Services or Apply and Update Children to selected Funded Services, if the system encounters any errors a window will be displayed showing a list of the services that were not processed successfully. Click the Reprocess All button to re-run the process for all such unsuccessfully processed services. Alternatively, click the Close button to return to the Payment Parameters screen.

• SFF (Single Funding Formula)SFF (Single Funding Formula)

  Click on the Browse button adjacent to the required age group to display the Single Funding Formula Chooser displaying all the Single Funding Formulas that have been defined. A Search facility is provided. Enter a Formula Code and/or Description (partial entries are allowed) and click Search. Select one or more of these by clicking the Select button. The selected formula are listed in the bottom panel and may be removed if required by highlighting and clicking the Remove button. Click OK to update the Parameters panel with these Single Funding Formula. If more than one is selected the Parameters panel is updated with the total of these.

• Apply changes to selected Funded ServicesApply changes to selected Funded Services

  Click the Apply changes to selected Funded Services button to apply these payment parameters to the selected services. The following message will be displayed:

  Changes will be applied to the selected Funded Services. Do you wish to continue?

  Click the Yes button to apply the changes. 

  After the changes have been applied they are automatically saved. Any new children added to this service following this process will use the new parameter values by default. The individual child rates can be manually updated if required.

• Apply and Update Children to selected Funded ServicesApply and Update Children to selected Funded Services

  Click the Apply and Update Children to selected Funded Services button to apply the parameter values to the selected services and then update the existing child rates. A list of the selected services is displayed with the message:

  Changes will be applied to the selected Funded Services. Do you wish to continue?

  Click the Yes button to continue applying the changes and updating the children.

  After the changes have been applied they will be automatically saved.

Yearly Cap

This page is displayed when you select Yearly Cap from the Early Years Setup menu.

It enables you to manage the yearly cap entitlement for selected funded services and age groups. By default, all funded services are listed.

• Search ParametersSearch Parameters

  The Search Parameters panel enables you to filter by Provider Name, Service Type, Service Name, Payment Bands and  Stretched Offer(s). 

  To select a Service Type, either type directly into the field or click the drop-down to obtain a list of possible service types for Early Years. Partial names can be entered into the Provider Name and Service Name search fields. 

  To select a Payment Band, click the adjacent browse button to display the payment band Item Selector (lookup table 1161), select one or more bands and click the OK & Close button. To select a Stretched Offer, click the browse to open the Stretched Offer(s) Selector (lookup table 1178), select one or more of the check boxes and click the OK & Close button.

  When the search parameters are entered, the list of matching funded services is automatically updated in the Funded Services panel. If a Service Type is selected, the list displays funded services linked to this service type. If a Payment Band is selected, the list will display funded services linked to the selected payment band. 

  If multiple payment bands are selected, the list displays funded services that include one or more of the payment bands.

  After entering any information into the filters, the Clear Filters button is enabled. Click the Clear Filters button to remove any information entered onto the Search Parameters panel and update the Funded Services panel to display all open funded services (any selected funded services remain selected).

• Funded ServicesFunded Services

  The Funded Services panel displays the Provider Name, Provider Address, Service Name, Service Type, DCSF URN and Yearly Cap for each age group for that funded service.

  Select funded services for which you wish to update yearly caps, by selecting the adjacent Select check box. Alternatively, click the Select All button. To deselect all the Select check boxes, click the Clear All button.

  Select the Show Selected Only check box to change the list to only show those services with the check box selected.

  Click the Refresh button to refresh the list of services to include any that have been added while the Define Yearly Caps page has been open. Once the data has been refreshed a message is displayed:

           Refresh Data Complete. 

  Any search parameters entered or changes made to yearly caps that have not been applied are retained.

  The Number of Funded Services selected and the Number of Funded Services found is displayed.

• Manage Yearly CapsManage Yearly Caps

  Type your dropdown text here

  If a single funded service is selected, the heading below the Manage Yearly Caps panel heading is:

              Yearly Caps for followed by the service name. 

  The current Yearly Cap for each age group for this funded service and the date that this cap is Effective From is displayed.

  If multiple funded services are selected the heading is:
  Bulk Update Yearly Caps to selected Services. 

  If all selected services have the same Yearly Cap values, the values are displayed, otherwise they are blank.

  Update the Yearly Cap values as required and select an Effective From date. The Effective From drop-down displays period start dates that have been set up via Early Years Setup | Define Early Years Payment Period and are for the current period or later. Click the Apply Changes button .

  To add a new yearly cap record, click the Add Row button to create a new row with the current Yearly Cap values for each age group. Update the Yearly Cap values on the new row as required and select an Effective From date.

  Click the Apply Changes button to apply the new yearly cap to all selected funded services and each child at the funded service. If a child attends multiple funded services and the yearly cap differs between the funded services, the Yearly Cap Apportionment dialog is displayed. This dialog displays an Apportionment panel for each age group with details of the children that need to have their yearly cap values apportioned. Enter a Resolve Value to be applied and select an Effective From date. Click the Save button to display the Manage Yearly Caps panel with the new yearly caps applied. 

  The following message is displayed when the changes have been successfully applied:

              Yearly Cap changes applied successfully.

  If a child’s Yearly Entitlement is manually changed on the Funded Service | Children panel, this is not overwritten when the Apply Changes button is clicked on the Manage Yearly Caps panel.

Income / Income Setup

This page enables you to allocate specific types of income to specific types of funds or budgets. The Income Type(s) must be setup before you can define an Income record.

• Income TypesIncome Types

  The Income Types panel displays the Income Types that have been defined. 

  Click the Add button to add a new Income Type. Record the Income Code and Description. You can optionally enter the Fund and Budget Codes to be associated with the Income Type. Fund and Budget Codes are alpha-numeric values up to 8 characters which must be in upper case.

  Click the Edit button to update details of the highlighted Income Type.

  Click the Remove button to remove the highlighted Income Type.

• Income DefaultsIncome Defaults

  The Slip Prefix and Slip Start No must be set up for the Income record. The value in the Slip Prefix box will appear on the generated receipt slips and the Bank Slip No. on the Income record(s). The value in Slip Prefix may be up to 4 characters and upper case. If Slip Prefix is defined then Slip Start No. must be entered. The Slip Start No. must not exceed 10 characters including the Slip Prefix. e.g. .if Slip Prefix is AAA then Slip Start No. can be up to 7 numbers long.

Monitoring

Use this panel to setup the Monitoring Codes. Fields on this panel are Internal Code, Description, External Code and flags to indicate whether or not this code is Active and/or Predefined.

Umbrella Organisation

This page is opened when the Early Years | Early Years Setup | Umbrella Organisation is selected from the Focus menuFocus menu This path may be different if the Menu has been customised. It allows you to view and update basic details of Umbrella Organisations.

To search for an Umbrella Organisation you can optionally enter one or more characters of the Name, Bank Account Name, Bank Account Number, Bank Sort Code or Creditor Number.

Clicking Search will return a list of all Umbrella Organisations matching the criteria. A message is displayed at the bottom left with how many records were retrieved. To perform a new search you will need to expand the Search panel if this has been set to Automatically Collapse.

A list of matching Umbrella Organisations is initially displayed in alpabetical order by Name. Click on another column heading to change the sort order. 

Click New to create a new Umbrella Organisation.

Double clicking on an Umbrella Organisation in the list or clicking Open in New Window will open the Details page for this Umbrella Organisation. 

Click Save to save the details.

• Umbrella Organisation - Basic Details and ProvidersUmbrella Organisation - Basic Details and Providers

  This page allows you to view and update basic details of Umbrella Organisations.

  Click New to create a new Umbrella Organisation record.

  Click Save to save your changes.

  Basic Details

  The Basic Details panel displays:

  Name	Mandatory up to 50 character
  Bank Account Name	Optional up to 50characters
  Bank Account Number
  Bank Sort Code	Optional. Up to 6 characters
  Creditor Number	Optional. Up to 10 characters.
  Insurance End Date	Optional Date. Select from drop-down.
  Account Validated Date	Optional Date. Select from drop-down.
  Contact	Optional. Select from Person Lookup.
  Payee Address	Optional. Select from Address

  Providers

  Click on Add to add a Provider to link to this Umbrella Organisation. The same Provider cannot be linked to more than one Umbrella Organisation. Linking one to this Umbrella Organisation will remove any previous links.

  Click Remove to remove the link for the highlighted Provider.

Income Schedule

This area is used to set up Income Schedules so that the system automatically creates income records whenever a Monitoring or Registration record is created.

To search for an Income Schedule, Schedule Type can be either Registration or Monitoring. If it is Registration, you can optionally select a Registration Code from the lookup (Table ID 0423) and an Income CodeIncome Code defined on the Income Type panel. Active is a tri-state checkbox that defaults to ticked (true). You can change this to search for inactive (crossed) or all registrations (blank).

If Schedule Type is Monitoring, you can optionally select Inspection Code (Table ID 0426) and Income Code.

Click Search to display a list of matching entries. In this list the Amount field is the amount of income that will be recorded against the registration or monitoring entry when the Income Schedule is created. The Payment Due After is the number of days after the registration or monitoring date when the income is scheduled to be received. If this is a negative value it indicates that this is an advance payment.

Click the New button to define new Income Schedule Details.

Select an existing Income Schedule and click the Open in New Window button to open the Income Schedule DetailsIncome Schedule Details.

ECS Configuration

Early Years uses the DWP Eligibility Checking Service (ECS) to check the eligibility of children for Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP).

The ECS Configuration page is used to configure the link to the Eligibility Checking Service, define which ECS system to use and to set up the parameters needed to access that system.

For more information, refer to the Setting Up One Early Years Pupil Premium for Local Authorities technical guide on the One Publications website (www.onepublications.com).

This page is accessed via Focus | Early Years | Early Years Setup | EY Pupil Premium ECS Configuration.

• ECS SettingsECS Settings

  Select Live from the ECS environment drop-down. 

  Enter the ECS local authority and ECS username. 

  Click the Save button.

  Click the Update ECS Password link to display the Update ECS Password dialog.

  Enter the new password and click the Save button.

  If the ECS environment has been updated, an IIS reset must be performed on the Provider portal web server.