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Approving & Managing Funding Forms

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Approving and rejecting forms

Once parents have submitted their form, you will be notified by email and the status in the funding form list will change to ‘Awaiting Approval’. From here you can click the ‘view’ (magnifying glass) icon on the form to view the form. View button on a submitted funding form The view page allows you to either reject or accept the form:
  • Approve: Finalize the funding form and sign for its completion. The Approve button only appears while the form is in the Submitted (Awaiting Approval) stage.
  • Reject: Return to parents with comments for corrections.
Approve and reject buttons on a funding form Once the form has been corrected and resubmitted by the parent, you will be notified by email and the form will be available for approval again.

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Rejecting an already-approved form

The Reject button also stays available on forms you have already Approved. If you reject an approved form, Pigeonhole shows a warning:
You are rejecting an already approved form. The form will need to be resubmitted and approved again.
Only reject an approved form if the funding data has changed and you genuinely need the parent to complete and re-sign it, because it returns the form to the parent and clears your approval.
The form data is used within our Chrome extension integration to provide live check data and also allow you to easily copy data into portals. It’s vital that the form data is correct to stop any issues submitting funding claims at a later stage.
Before submitting claims, you can cross-check your approved funding data against your council’s live register export using the Live Register Check. It flags funding code errors, data mismatches, and missing children.

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Manually updating forms

For various reasons, some parents might not be able to complete and sign a form online. A manual form covers both of these situations:
  • Print and upload — you generate a pre-filled form, the parent signs it on paper, and you scan and upload it. Covered in this section.
  • Sign in the office — the parent signs on your screen while they are with you, with nothing to print or upload. Covered in Signing in person on your device below.
Both use the same manual form, which accepts either an uploaded signed document or signatures captured on screen — so you can start one way and finish the other. See Ways to Complete a Form for choosing between them. In order to create a manual form:
  1. From the Funding Forms page: Go to the Funding Forms page and click “Add Funding Form”.
  2. Select the child and make sure ‘Manual Upload’ is selected. Manual upload option on the add funding form dialog
  3. The form will now show in the list with the manual icon. Manual form icon in the funding forms list
  4. Click the Edit (pencil) icon to edit the form
  5. Verify the funding hours and chargeable hours sections that have been pre-filled and click ‘Save’.
  6. You can also at this stage fill in any other information (Parents’ NI Numbers, DOBs, extended codes), and any proof of date of birth if required. This will then be pre-filled on any further form renewals.
For new forms, you only need to input the DOB type and number. You don’t need to upload the DOB if you have already seen it.
  1. You will now see a ‘Download Form for Completion’ button. This generates a personalised form for that child pre-filled with all the information. Download form for completion button
If the parent is with you rather than taking the form away, you don’t need to print or upload anything — they can sign straight on your screen. See Signing in person on your device.
  1. When you have received the signed form back, click ‘Upload Completed Form’ to upload the form that has been signed.
  2. Finally, submit the form for approval. You can then approve and sign for the form as you would on a normal funding application.

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Signing in person on your device

If a parent can’t access the online form but is physically with you — at drop-off, pick-up, or in the office — they can sign the form on your screen. The parent does not need a Pigeonhole account, an email address, or an invite.
  1. Go to the Funding Forms list and find the child’s form. If it is an online form, click More Actions (…) and select Convert To Manual.
  2. Click the Edit (pencil) icon to open the form.
  3. Check the funded hours, chargeable hours and terms are correct.
  4. Enter each parent’s Eligibility Code, NI Number and Date of Birth.
  5. Click Save. The Sign Form buttons only appear once you have saved — see the note below if you can’t find them.
  6. Click View/Download PDF and let the parent read the form and the parental declaration.
  7. Hand them the device and click Sign Form next to their name. They sign with a finger, stylus or mouse, and confirm the declaration.
  8. Repeat for every parent marked Has Parental Responsibility — both can sign in the same sitting.
  9. Click Submit For Approval, then approve and sign the form off as you would any other.
Can’t see anywhere to sign? Save the form first. The Sign Form buttons don’t exist until you have saved, because saving is what generates the personalised PDF and moves the form into In Progress. This catches people out straight after converting a form to manual. You stay on the form after saving, and the signature boxes appear in the Parent Details section.
The Parent Details section of a saved manual form, showing the Sign Form button that captures the parent's signature
There is nothing to print, scan or upload on this route. The signature captured on screen replaces the uploaded document.
The parent is signing a legal declaration to the council. Let them read the form and the declaration first, and make sure they sign for themselves — never sign on a parent’s behalf.
While the form is manual and not yet approved it won’t appear in the parent’s own portal, and the automatic “submitted” and “approved” emails aren’t sent. If the parent later wants to complete it themselves, convert it back to online.

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Converting forms to a manual form

You can easily switch a funding form between “manual” and “online” modes, depending on how the form will be submitted. Convert to manual option in the more actions menu To convert a form to a manual form:
  1. Go to the Funding Forms list and find the form you want to change.
  2. Click the More Actions (…) icon next to the form.
  3. Select ‘Convert To Manual’ To convert a manual form back to online:
  4. Go to the Funding Forms list and find the form you want to change.
  5. Click the More Actions (…) icon next to the form.
  6. Select ‘Convert To Online’
Switching between manual and automatic modes allows you to choose the workflow that best fits your situation. For example, use manual mode if a parent cannot access the online form.

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Renewing forms

When a funding form is due to expire, you can easily create a new form based on the previous data. Next to the approved form, select ‘Renew Funding Form’ under more actions (…). This will create a new form pre-filled with all the child’s details, with everything copied from the previous form. Renew funding form option in the more actions menu In the funding form list, you can use the ‘Expires’ filter to easily see which forms are expiring soon. Expires filter on the funding forms list

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Copying forms to other children

The Copy To feature allows you to duplicate an existing funding form to another child. This is particularly useful for siblings or children with similar funding arrangements, saving significant time on data entry. How to use Copy To:
  1. Navigate to the Funding Forms list page
  2. Locate the form you want to copy
  3. Click the More Actions (…) button next to the form
  4. Select Copy To from the dropdown menu
  5. Select the target child from the list
  6. A new funding form will be created for the selected child with all funding and charge data copied from the original
Copying a funding form to another child using the Copy To feature
The Copy To feature copies all funding and charge to the new childs funding form. This is useful if you are not using the Pigeonhole invoicing system and are managing funding forms manually.