Agenda item

6.1 The Childcare Sufficiency Assessment is a standing item within the work programme to ensure that the Commission has oversight of the capacity, quality and uptake of local childcare services.  Due to Covid 19 and the closure of many child care establishments a full Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA) has not been possible this year.   A report providing a snapshot of the position in March, along with the current position was presented to the Commission by the Head of Early Years.

6.2 The Head of Early Years presented a summary of the childcare sufficiency report to the Commission highlighting the following key findings:

·  The snapshot of childcare provision was undertaken in March 2020 which at that time indicated that there was sufficient capacity to meet the needs of local parents.  Just a few weeks later, many of the childcare settings were required to close in response to the Covid 19 outbreak and many of these settings remained closed.  Some settings have remained open throughout this time to support vulnerable children and the children of key workers.

·  Payments for the provision of free childcare provision (15 hours and 30 hours) has continued which has helped sustain those settings who rely on this source of income. Those childcare settings which are dependent on income from parental fees have however faced significant financial challenges as parents have not been utilising their services over lockdown. 

·  Those settings which have reopened have done so at much reduced capacity (40-60%) to comply with social distancing requirements and the need to maintain children in ‘bubbles’.  This has affected the income of these settings.

·  A number of settings remain closed because they do not have sufficient children wanting to attend to make operations viable.

·  There is much uncertainty around future provision and availability of childcare for parents as the real picture will not be known until the autumn when schools and settings return and parents return to work.  Additional business support has been provided by HLT to the sector to help them assess the viability of individual settings and claim government Covid-19 funding. Daily briefings have been provided to keep the sector up to date with government requirements and guidance.

6.3 The Cabinet member for Early Years, Family and Play thanked the Early Years team for providing oversight of childcare settings and the support they have continued to provide to parents throughout the lockdown period.  The Early Years team has supported the private sector to get financial support available including the Discretionary and Business Grants.  In terms of the next steps, the Early Help Review was ongoing and would consider the impact of Covid 19.  The service was developing an Early Years Strategy which may extend its scope to include rates relief, fees and charges and take up targets for specific settings.

Questions

6.4 Given the fragility of the childcare sector and its impact on parents being able to return to work, is there any additional funding in the pipeline for settings to help them through this challenging time to September?

·  Monitoring of attendance has shown that those parents who had previously wanted full-time place in a childcare setting now want a part-time place.  Also parents who were offered a place in June have deferred take up until September.  Informal data would suggest that demand has been lower because parents are now working from home, or they have been furloughed.

·  Like many schools, childcare settings have continued to operate and where some have developed home learning resources, reading, toy libraries, food distribution packs.

·  A survey to parents in April 2020 revealed a range of unmet needs including technologies, resources, food and financial resources.  The service continues to provide direct support where it can and to signpost parents on to other agencies (e.g. benefits advice).

·  The service is now moving into the recovery phase and is focusing support with both childcare providers and parents themselves to provide training, advice and guidance for September.

6.5 What support is available to engage and support parents who are anxious about returning their child to childcare, or who are especially vulnerable themselves or affected by Covid 19 (e.g. no access to IT facilities, in poverty or unemployed).

·  There were about 600 children attending early years settings during the lockdown, but this has grown substantially since 1st June and there are now over 4,000 children attending local childcare settings. The service has provided guidance on how to make settings safe and how to communicate with parents to reassure them that their child is safe to return.  The council website has also been updated to reflect the help that parents may need to support their child returning to the childcare setting.

·  Throughout this period referrals for early help in the early years sector have been maintained with approximately 59 referrals between March and June.  The teams have worked hard to maintain contact with vulnerable families, through whatever means were safe to do so.  Early years services and children’s centres have remained open to support vulnerable children and those children of key workers.  Food parcels have been provided for a wide range of families in need.

·  The service had provided emotional support for vulnerable parents where key workers have made contact up to 3 times a week.

6.6 Child care is important for the development of an inclusive economy and helping parents back into work. What support is there from across the council to support working families?

·  A recent DfE briefing suggested that new funding available for schools would not be available for Early Years. A further briefing was expected however detailing additional exceptional funding for the Early Years Sector.

6.7 What work is being done to improve awareness of the inclusion fund to support children with SEND in early years settings?

·  The Inclusion Fund is a resource to allow 3 and 4 year olds to access early years provision who have emerging SEND.  The fund is not intended for children with an EHCP.

·  The fund is available to all settings and has been extensively promoted.  Area SENCO’s are linked to every setting in a geographical area and are aware of the fund and how to support the setting to access funds.  It is encouraging to note that applications to the fund have risen, which would suggest increased awareness and uptake to support children in need to access childcare services.

6.8 The Commission was concerned about the financial impact of Covid 19 on the viability of local children’s centres.  What measures were being taken to mitigate the impact on this vital early years support service to help maintain the network of local provision?

·  Children’s Centres have lost over £1.1m of income since the start of lockdown and this has been tested to ensure that all such losses are Covid related (e.g. loss of income from fees).  This has been shared among senior officers and political leaders.  Those children centres operated by HLT will have losses treated the same way as other council services.  Governors of School based children’s centres have requested that Covid related loss of income is treated the same as for maintained children’s centres. Whilst additional central government funding will be made available to the council to offset the loss of income from Covid 19, this will not be sufficient to meet all those losses.  Senior officers have commissioned a debt recovery plan for the school based children centres to give those settings confidence that they can continue to operate without the level of debt as part of their schools' finances.

6.9 What business support is available through the early years service to help independent nurseries to survive the financial challenges presented by Covid 19?

·  Independent childcare settings have been provided with regular support from the Early Years Business Support Officer. 

·  The Sutton Trust report suggested that in disadvantaged areas up to 35% of nurseries in the independent sector would close before the end of the year.  The report also suggested that 69% of nurseries were expected to be running with a financial deficit by autumn of 2020.  Whilst the Sutton Trust indicated that the outlook for the sector was challenging, the service has worked with settings to help them apply for grants. The service has also supported settings in trying to renegotiate rents which has had variable success.  Those settings which have not managed to secure a rent reduction have had to maintain all the overheads of the childcare business without any income.

·  To date settings have been funded for the children who were expected to attend which has provided them with a base income. From September 2020 it is expected that settings will only be funded for children that are actually attending as opposed to should be attending but have chosen not to take up their place due to Covid.  Because of Covid 19, settings have not been able to recruit the number of children that they may have anticipated for September which may further exacerbate financial difficulties.  Parental reassurance would be critical to effective marketing of childcare provision.  This would require a council wide approach.

6.10 Given that the real impact of Covid 19 on childcare provision would not be known until September or October 2020, it was suggested that a further update be provided to the Commission later in the work programme. 

Agreed: That a further update on childcare provision be taken later within the work programme in November or December.