Funded hours
The Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) entitlement a child receives at no cost to the family.
What it means
Funded hours are the ELC a child is entitled to by law, at no cost to the family. In Scotland the entitlement is currently 1,140 hours a year for all three- and four-year-olds and eligible two-year-olds.
A council pays for the hours wherever they are delivered: in its own settings or with a partner provider. Hours a family buys beyond the entitlement are extra hours, and are kept apart.
Working out funded hours is where admissions and finance meet. The figure depends on the child’s eligibility dates, their attendance pattern, and whether the hours are split across settings. It changes whenever any of those change.
Also called 1140 hours, statutory entitlement, funded ELC or free hours.
How Admit handles it
Admit calculates every child’s funded hours automatically, from their entitlement and their attendance pattern. Split placements are divided across the settings involved. When a pattern or a setting changes, the hours are worked out again.
Staff, parents and partner providers see the same figures, so there is one set of numbers to work from.
Funded hours
Worked out from each child's attendance pattern, split placements included.
Extra hours
Parents book hours beyond their funded entitlement.
1140 hours
The yearly amount of funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) an eligible child in Scotland is entitled to.
Split placement
A child’s funded hours delivered across more than one setting.
Partner provider
A private, voluntary or childminding setting that delivers funded hours on the council’s behalf.
All glossary terms
Every term, with the names councils use for it.