From April 1st, 2025, early years providers across England will need to meet new requirements for delivering government-funded childcare. These changes are designed to improve transparency, increase flexibility for parents, and ensure all families can access their free hours fairly and consistently.
At Nursery In a Box, we’re here to help you stay ahead of the curve and make these changes easy to manage. Here are the three core ways we’re supporting nurseries and preschools through this transition:
1. Transparent, Compliant Invoicing
New funding rules mean invoices must clearly show what’s included in the free hours – and what’s not. That’s why we’ve made transparency simple and automatic.
With Nursery In a Box, every invoice is:
- Fully itemised: Clearly show funded hours, private hours, meals, snacks, consumables, and optional extras
- Parent-friendly: Invoices are emailed and instantly accessible on the Parent App
- Compliant: Structured to meet local authority requirements for the changes in April 2025 and by the January 2026 deadline
This reduces parent queries, builds trust, and gives your admin team time back every month.
2. Easy Funding Management
Whether you’re delivering 15 or 30 free hours, term-time or stretched across the year, our funding tools make it effortless to stay in control.
With Nursery In a Box, you can:
- Apply funding automatically to booking patterns, in bulk or individually
- Track funding usage by week, age, term, or revenue to avoid missed claims
- Handle funding gaps and extras with clear charging for meals and optional services
And because invoices show a clear breakdown between funded and paid services, you stay compliant and transparent at all times.
3. Flexible Booking & Revenue Control
The changes also promote flexibility – allowing parents to access hours over more weeks, at different times of the day, or across multiple sites. We help you meet this demand without losing visibility or control.
Our platform gives you:
- Flexible booking pattern management (weekly, monthly, fixed or flexible)
- Stretch funding support (e.g. 11.18 hours over 51 weeks)
- Smart automation for extras: Apply and track meals, discounts, and products
- Forecasting tools to help you plan ahead and maximise occupancy and revenue
You stay adaptable, responsive to parent needs, and financially resilient – all in one place.
Be Ready with Nursery In a Box
These new requirements bring big changes – but with the right tools in place, they’re a huge opportunity to simplify your fees and booking pattern structures, improve trust with parents, secure funding, and streamline how your nursery runs.
If you’re ready to simplify your admin, stay compliant, and make the most of every funded hour, we’re here to help.
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