Agenda item

Report of the Head of Legal and Governance

Naomi Skelton, Early Learning Specialist, and Catherine Smith, Early Years Programmes Manager, presented a report on the current position relating to the take-up of early years funding in Nottingham. The following points were discussed:

(a)  currently, 15 hours of free childcare or early education for two-year-old children is available per week for 38 weeks for families in England receiving some forms of support. The same provision is available to all families with three and four-year-old children, rising to 30 hours per week for certain working families. The latest participation rates for this provision across the City (for the Autumn Term 2018) reflect the old ward structure, so the data is being re-formatted for the new ward configuration. Take-up of the provision for two-year-olds was 73.4%, which compares positively with the national figure, but uptake at a national level has decreased;

(b)  Early Years is working with the Department for Work and Pensions to make contact with the families of all two-year-old children eligible for the free childcare by phone, by letter, through the Council’s Ask LiON website, and face-to-face.  This is to ensure that all parents with eligible children know about the scheme, and to discover why some families do not wish to take up their entitlement (or whether they do take advantage of the scheme with a provider based outside the City area). The Families Information Service (FIS) reviews the applications for the scheme and returns data on how and when families apply for places;

(c)  the fact that the provision is free will be advertised more strongly, with an emphasis that placements represent early education – not just childcare. ‘Small Steps, Big Changes’ (SSBC) family mentors are carrying out engagement work in some wards, while the FIS does outreach at activities and sessions at Children’s Centres and distributes information leaflets. A balanced level of detail needs to be provided on the leaflets to ensure that they are both informative and engaging, and work is underway to ensure that the most important information relating to the schemes is available on a single leaflet. Children in care or with special educational needs and disability are reached through their care providers, including social workers and family support;

(d)  currently, a marketing project is focused on the Clifton wards (where take-up is comparatively low) and a number of stakeholder events are underway. New training processes are being put in place and a review is underway on what information is marketed, and how. A consultation will be held with councillors to identify the best places to advertise the provision and eligibility criteria in a given ward, and colleagues can join councillors at ward events to circulate leaflets and information. Ward maps will also be produced to identify the current location of providers;

(e)  the Committee suggested that advertising could be set up at bus and tram stops, including through scrolling text on the associated electronic information boards. The literature distributed through the FIS should be circulated to libraries (including in languages other than English) and provided to families as part of information packs on pregnancy from midwives. Although some migrant families may not qualify for certain forms of financial support, their children will still be eligible for this scheme, so the family support workers need to ensure that these parents are reached, supported and informed. Outreach should also be carried out with the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Refugee forum, to help these vulnerable children. It is vital that any information on websites is kept up-to-date;

(f)  the Council has a statutory duty to ensure that there is sufficient childcare provision in place, so there are systems for assessing sufficiency, planning and intervention, to make sure that the provision is sustainable. Provider scoring is carried out every six months and reviews are carried out to assess where providers are located across the City, how much space they have and what the take-up is. Data is fed back through the FIS on whether parents who want a place for an eligible child are able to find space at a provider that is sufficiently local and accessible. Engagement is underway to encourage providers to work together in partnership across a locality to support parents, so that a provider that is full can refer a parent to another local provider that has space, rather than putting the family on a waiting list. Where providers have closed, as has been the case in the St Ann’s Ward recently, they need to inform the Council, so that additional support can be offered to families in the area seeking places;

(g)  schools funding claims are being transferred onto the Early Years Portal so that all claims can be managed on one system, and schools are being encouraged to check the eligibility of all of their attending children. Improved cross-service working has been introduced as part of the ‘Best Start’ initiative and the SSBC programme, while ongoing improvements are underway on the use of information systems to ensure that the data collected reflects accurately actual participation. To ensure sustainable provision and to address national issues affecting providers as businesses, support and guidance is available through the Council’s Provider Support Framework.

RESOLVED to:

(1)  encourage all councillors to attend the Early Years funding sessions, and to review and offer feedback on the new programme information leaflets;

(2)  request that provider details, including their locations on ward maps, is forwarded to councillors for sharing in their wards, and that this information is advertised accurately on the Ask LiON website;

(3)  encourage the exploration of cross-service working with adult education, to support and offer community learning to the parents of children taking advantage of the free childcare and early education provision;

(4)  encourage outreach with foreign national families and the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Refugee forum, to ensure that any eligible children in these communities have access to the available provision.