A golden ticket is sent to parents/carers if their child is eligible for 2-year-old funding

For Ofsted graded ‘Good’ and ‘Outstanding’ childcare providers:

The Golden Ticket is evidence of a parent/carer’s eligibility for 2-year-old funding therefore no further eligibility checks need to be done. They will automatically qualify under the economic criteria.

The parent/carer will need to complete a Parent Authorisation Form (PAF). You will need to check that the parent/carer’s name on the PAF matches the parent/carers name on the golden ticket. Please attach the golden ticket to the PAF and retain as your evidence for financial audit purposes. Complete an assisted application on the Provider Portal, selecting the Golden Ticket option, to claim using a Golden Ticket. Guidance on this process is available in the Provider Portal Registered Users section.

Split Funding – If a parent/carer chooses to split their funding between 2 providers, the first provider should sign the back of the golden ticket, indicating the provider name and how many hours they will be claiming. The first provider should then take a photocopy of the golden ticket, signing and dating the photocopy to verify its validity before returning the original to the parent/carer. A note of the second provider can be made on the photocopy if this is known. The second provider can then keep the original golden ticket, checking on the back how many hours are available to claim.

For childcare providers with a ‘Requires Improvement’ or ‘Satisfactory’ Ofsted judgement:

You are still able to take funded 2-year olds if this is the parents’ choice, but the golden ticket will not be redeemable at your provision. This is because the golden ticket is a fast track option for parents to access Good or Outstanding provision. If a parent decides to claim their funded hours with a childcare provider who are judged as ‘Requires Improvement’ or ‘Satisfactory’ by Ofsted they will need to complete the full eligibility checks by completing a PAF and providing a code generated from the online parent checker.

Parent/Carers may still be eligible for 2-year-old funding under the economic criteria even if they did not receive a Golden Ticket. Eligibility can also be checked online.

If you have any further questions, please email [email protected].