DfE removes fee for overseas qualification checks

Nurseries no longer have to pay £250 to check whether overseas qualifications allow early years practitioners to count as qualified in staff/child ratios.

The Department for Education (DfE) removed the fee for the service, which is delivered by education service provider Ecctis, at the end of last year.

“We hope that this will make the service more accessible to applicants, and in turn support the growth of our early years workforce, which is a priority for us ahead of the rollout of expanded entitlements to funded childcare by September 2025,” said a DfE spokesperson.

The Early Years Statement service maps the detail of an early years qualification gained overseas against the DfE criteria for a “full and relevant” qualification which allows a practitioner to count as qualified in the staff/child ratio at a nominated level.

When completed, the Early Years Statement will confirm whether the qualification is relevant to the early years sector, the comparable level of the  qualification to the UK frameworks, to what extent the qualification meets  the DfE’s “full and relevant” criteria and recommended next steps, if not all of the criteria have been met.

If a qualification is assessed as meeting 50% or more of the criteria, the practitioner may be required to complete an adaptation period or standalone modules in order to be counted in Level 3 staff:child ratios.

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