Agenda item

4.1     The Head of Early Years presented a report which set out the proposed use of the Early Years Teachers Pay Award Grant, and the use of the carried forward Early Years balances (2022/23).  The report also confirmed the hourly rates distributed to Early Years providers, following consultation on options agreed at the January Forum.

4.2     It was reported that Gloucestershire County Council had received £124K for 2023/24 for Early Years Teachers Pay Award Grant.  The funding had been provided to local authorities to address increases in teacher pay from 1 September 2023; however, as there was no maintained Early Years provision in Gloucestershire, the local authority had been advised to consider how the funding was targeted to take account of the additional pressures that Early Years providers faced.

4.3     Members were informed that the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) Early Years block funding was calculated using the numbers from the claims submitted in the January census multiplied by a nationally set hourly rate.  Funding was not used equally across the academic year, partly due to variation in the length of academic terms and partly due to variations in take-up of the Early Years entitlement.  This could lead to a surplus when the lagged effect was adjusted in June/July of the following year.  The reconciliation for the academic year 2022/23, identified a balance of £612K.

4.4     The Forum agreed that the surplus Teachers Pay Award Grant of £124K (2023/24) be added to the Early Years balance of £612k (2022/23), and the total amount of £736k be used as follows:

Ø   Retain 200K (27%) for contingency. 

Ø   Allocate £536K (73%) to providers proportionately, based on the full academic year hours 2022/23.

4.5     The Early Years block for 2024/25 provided an hourly rate of £10.33 for under two-year-olds, £7.60 for two-year-olds, £5.47 per hour for three- and four-year-olds.  The local authority consulted with the Early Years sector on the two options set out in the report for devolvement of the hourly rate to providers.  The Forum noted that option 1 was selected by the majority of providers and had subsequently been agreed.  Further consultation with the Early Years sector was now taking place to agree the payment schedule, including consideration of moving from termly to monthly payments.

4.6     In response to a question on how the Forum could get involved in the Early Years funding campaign, officers explained that many local authorities had been providing robust feedback to the DfE on the challenges being faced by the sector, particularly around the need to ensure that the funding rate was sufficient to enable implementation of government’s childcare reforms.  Early Years was a core focus of the f40 Group’s campaign work, and a member of the Early Years Alliance was involved in the f40 Group representing Early Years providers.  The f40 Group’s key message to government was that if there was future investment in Early Years, then the focus should be on investing in the sustainability and quality of Early Years education.  There had been record levels of investment in Early Years over the last few years, but this had predominantly been focused on the expansion of the offer.

4.7     A question was raised on whether there would be a sufficiency of Early Years provision in areas of deprivation within the county.  In response, the Head of Early Years explained that sufficiency was difficult to predict, the local authority was continuing to work with providers to identify areas where more places were needed.  In areas which had been identified as requiring more places, the local authority was working with the existing providers to increase the number of places being offered.  If the local authority was aware that a setting was at risk of closure then the setting would be offered assistance in the form of a business support plan, to try and keep the setting open.  The Head of Early Years emphasised to members that the local authority would continue to assess the supply and demand of Early Years places to ensure there was a sufficiency of childcare provision in the county.

4.8     The Head of Early Years reported that currently most of the new claims that were coming through as part of the extended childcare offer for eligible two-year-olds from April 2024, were for children already in a setting but would now have that place funded instead of being paid for by parents.  However, if the funding rate was lower than the figure that parents had been paying, this would place financial pressure on the setting. 

4.9     Roz Nelson, Forum member representing Early Years, reported that the sector was currently under significant pressure, and any additional funding would be welcomed by providers, alongside any additional lobbying that could be done.  A number of settings were reporting that they were at risk of closure in Gloucestershire.  Work was on-going with the local authority to get provision up and running where there was a shortfall; however, there were significant challenges around recruitment and retention of staff.  It was hoped that there would be announcements on investment in Early Years in the lead up to the general election.