This operational guidance is to help local authorities and providers understand in more detail the Department of Education’s expectations about how the free entitlements should be delivered.

This guidance seeks to assist local authorities and providers through case studies of how the free entitlements are being delivered, and supports greater consistency across the country by making clear:

• what local authorities should do to fulfil their statutory responsibilities

• what providers should do to fulfil their agreement with the local authority

• what local authorities and providers may wish to do to support parents and children

Anyone who is delivering funded places should read this alongside the Statutory Guidance

Operational Guidance

Statutory Guidance