| Dear Service Provider,
We are pleased to announce that the AIM Level 7 Review functionality is available on the Early Years Hive from today, 25 September 2026.
As previously communicated, there are two type s of reviews available:
1. Child Needs Reviews
Child Needs Reviews relate to the direct needs of the child. To submit a Child Needs Review:
· Select the relevant AIM Level 7 Confirmation Form.
· Use the yellow drop-dow n arrow and select ‘Child Need Review’.
· Where a Child Need Review is approved, service providers are no longer required to withdraw their existing AIM Level 7 confirmation form and submit a new form. The new functionality will manage this process automatically.
2. Service Needs Reviews
Service Needs Reviews relate to circumstances affecting the service provider. These reviews can be submitted under one of the foll owing categories:
Additional resource
A service provider may request additional AIM Level 7 funding where the standard shared-support allocation is insufficient to meet the service’s needs.
Stop resource
A service provider may request to discontinue AIM Level 7 fundi ng where the allocated supports cannot be implemented within the funding provided.
Adjust hours
A service provider may request an increase or decrease in AIM Level 7 funding where the current allocation is either greater or less than the level of support required by the service.
Change to use of capitation
A service provider may request to use AIM Level 7 funding to support a Maintenance of Reduced Ratio arrangement instead of employing an AIM Level 7 resource.
Where a Maintenance of Reduced Ratio review is approved, the service provider must reduce the room ratio by a minimum of three children. O nly one Maintenance of Reduced Ratio arrangement can be approved and used within a room at any one time. AIM Level 7 resources may also be used in the same room; however, only one Maintenance of Reduced Ratio arrangement can be in place.
How to submit a Service Needs Review
To submit a Service Needs Review:
1. Select ‘Programme’.
2. Select ‘Better Start/AIM’.
3. Select ‘AIM Level 7 Capitations’.
4. Click ‘View’ on the relevant capitation.
5. Under the Reviews section, click ‘Create’ to submit the review.
Service Providers should submit all Child Need Reviews and Service Need Reviews through the Early Years Hive from 25 September 2026, as outlined above.
Please note that, from this date, reviews should no longer be submitted through the Requests page on Early Years Hive. Reviews submitted on or before 24 September 2026 through the Requests page will continue to be worked on. Service do not need to submit duplicate requests.
Important reminder
We would like to remind all services of the requirement to submit a Service Need Review where a child does not require AIM Level 7 support during their National Childcare Scheme (NCS) hours, including NCS Wraparound and NCS Only hours.
Following the redesign of AIM Level 7, support is now automatically awarded during NCS hours for children with a confirmed NCS claim once their AIM Level 7 Confirmation Form has been confirmed. As a result, the process has changed from an opt-in model to an opt-out model.
Live training sessions
To support the launch of the AIM Level 7 Review functionality, live training sessions for service providers will take place on the following dates:
· Tuesday 29 September at 10:30am.
· Tuesday 29 September at 6:30pm
· Wednesday 30 September at 2:30pm
Contact us
If you have any queri es regarding the AIM programme, please contact the Early Years Provider Centre (EYPC) by raising a request on the Early Years Hive using the following categories:
· Programme: Select the relevant AIM level
· Request Type: Application
· Request Type Detail: How To
We want to hear from you
We would like to invite you to complete our AIM Level 7 communications survey. Your responses are completely anonymous and will help us improve future communications and stakeholder engagement.
Click here to complete the survey
Regards,
The Early Years Team |
