Bristol Council Early Year’s Service Statement: COVID-19, closures & entitlements

“We have been contacted by several settings asking about the funding for the Free Early Education Entitlement if you need to close due to the coronavirus (COVID-19).

Bristol City Council is following the advice from the Department of Education and Public Health England Health Protection Team which is that no childcare or education setting should be closed without direct instruction from Public Health.

The current guidance from the Department for Education can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-educational-settings-about-covid-19

We can confirm that if a setting is instructed to close by the Public Health England Health Protection Team, Bristol City Council will not ask the setting to return the funding they have been paid for the Free Early Education Entitlement.

However, should a setting choose to close without an official instruction from Public Health, any funding will need to be repaid.”

Posted on Thursday, 12th March 2020