Agenda item

Members to review the councils local childcare sufficiency assessment undertaken in 2022.

6.1  Each Local Authority has a childcare sufficiency duty to ensure that there are sufficient childcare places to meet the needs of local parents and carers.  Local Authorities are required to undertake a childcare sufficiency audit not only in relation to the number of childcare places available, but also on the quality and cost of local provision.  Full audits are undertaken every two years and presented to local Councillors and this year's audit was enclosed in the agenda pack.  This is a standing item on the Commission’s agenda.

 

6.2  To support this item, the Chair noted that ahead of the meeting the Commission had held a focus group with local childcare providers to better understand the issues and challenges providers faced across the sector.  Issues arising from the consultation were used to inform member questioning.  The Chair also wished to publicly thank all those childcare providers who participated in this consultation.

 

6.3  The Cabinet Member for Families, Early Years Parks introduced the report.  Although the report provided a snapshot of local services, at this time the sufficiency report demonstrated that there was enough childcare provision across the borough for all age groups.  The Cabinet member was also encouraged that high levels of quality childcare provision were being maintained across Hackney.  The new administration had a number of commitments in relation to childcare services:

To continue to support local Children's Centres and ensure that they continue to provide a wide range of services and that these linked to new Family Hubs;

Accessibility of childcare would be assessed through the establishment of a local affordable childcare commission.

 

6.4  Officers made a short presentation to the Commission  highlighting key issues from the report.  A summary of key issues is provided below:

There are two types of free entitlement: 30 hours of free childcare for 3 and 4 year olds (if both parents are working) and 15 hours free childcare for 2 year olds (for low earning families).

Free childcare provision in Hackney is provided through: 163 childminders, 108 private/voluntary nurseries (inc children’s centres and playgroups), 21 independent schools and 54 nurseries in maintained primary schools and 2 maintained nurseries.

To support the sufficiency report, audit data was provided by child care providers - 50% of childminders responded and 90% of PVI sector and 100% of schools responded - which suggests that data in the report is an accurate reflection of local provision.

Whilst there was sufficient provision, it was noted that the cost of provision had increased over the past two years.  The average cost was not £323 for a child under 2 years of age.

 

Questions from the Commission

6.5  From the consultation with providers, it was clear that there is a recruitment crisis in which childcare providers are struggling to find appropriately qualified staff.  Providers noted problems with the training of potential staff recruits where there was a possible ‘mismatch’ in the training and curriculums of local colleges and what was appropriate for the local childcare sector. This has resulted in fewer recruits having Early years Foundation Stage qualification or them having practical experience in childcare settings.  In its role as an education and training provider/ commissioner what can Council do to increase the number of suitably qualified staff for childcare providers in Hackney?

It was acknowledged that some local settings were experiencing challenges around recruitment at present, but different types of settings were experiencing different problems. Thus whilst childminders and the independent and maintained sectors may not be experiencing the same recruitment problems as private and voluntary sector providers, they were experiencing other problems (such as not having enough children).  Recruitment and retention was an issue across the sector because childcare professionals were finding better paid employment with less responsibility elsewhere.  Childcare was also a difficult and demanding job and Covid had added to these pressures, therefore workers were leaving for better paid jobs with less pressures. 

Hackney Education was supporting a volunteering strategy with local childcare settings to help parents and other adults gain appropriate training and qualifications as a means into work and further employment.  In addition, HE is seeking to work with Hackney College to develop a placement strategy as it had been identified that people were leaving college without the necessary practical childcare experience.

Whilst funding to support Level 4 funding for early years has now ceased, the Department for Education (DfE) was looking to develop a new qualification offer.  It was suggested that whilst private sector providers were training and developing new staff, many had moved to schools and the maintained sector upon qualification as the pay and hours were better.

It was acknowledged that there was a perfect storm of recruitment problems emerging for providers and in response, HE was looking to develop a strategy to support providers.

 

6.6  Were all early years providers routinely included in all dedicated early years training available and other universal training offers (e.g. unconscious bias etc)?

HE offers a universal training programme available to all child care providers.  This is available on-line and is routinely sent to all settings, this covers health and safety, paediatric first aid, food hygiene, safeguarding as well as early years learning and childhood development.

Bespoke training is also available to all settings on a wide range of issues which might be needed.

HE has a core belief that all settings should understand childhood attachment and trauma and how these issues impact on children’s behaviour, learning and development.  This training is also free of charge to all settings.

Dedicated training was also provided for the Charedi community run from Interlink offices.

 

6.7  What engagement has there been around the SEND Green Paper and the implications for local services supporting children with additional needs?

The Cabinet member for Families, Early Years, Parks & Play noted that two professional engagement sessions had been held for local settings to discuss the implications of the Green Paper.  A SEND Inclusion Conference would also be held, and part of this day would be dedicated to the Green Paper.  The Cabinet member indicated that the Council would be happy to stage further events for other sectors if needed.

 

6.8  From the Commission’s consultation with childcare providers it was evident that there were significant problems in getting early help to children with SEND in an effective and timely manner. 

Providers reported a 10 month waiting list for Portage (home support children with SEND to enable them to access childcare);

Providers reported significant delays in getting assessment appointments at Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) or other paediatric assessments to support EHCP application process;

EHCP assessment processes were reported to be complex, lengthy and time consuming process which can take up to 12 months to get support and for which providers are not compensated;

Final packages of support did not fully recognising the staffing costs and resources required in supporting children with SEND in childcare settings;

Childcare settings supporting local vulnerable children with high needs (e.g on a Child Protection Plan or Children in Need) were doing so with limited access to additional resources.

It was noted that there was an annual early years conference and next years focus would be on anti-racist practice.

 

  From the above the Commission had  a number of questions:

 

 

 (i)   The Inclusion Fund is used to support children with SEND in childcare settings.  Given the scale of SEND needs in early years settings can officers set out. What is the current  total budget for the Inclusion Fund and has this been increased to reflect demand?

Officers noted that this was a fund to support children to access their early years educational entitlements where there is an emerging special educational need (but not a diagnosis).  The setting is required to gather evidence to support the application and submit this to a SEND Panel.  If successful additional funding is provided to help resource additional staffing or training to support the child to access early years education.  Applications are collated termly and financial allocations to settings are also termly.  The setting can progress the application to an EHCP if required.

It was noted whilst there is support available through the Area SENCO, it was acknowledged that this was a very small team.  It was reiterated that it was the responsibility of settings (alongside parents) to make applications.

Funding has increased year on year as more applications for the Inclusion Fund are received.

It was noted that the level of resource provided to settings through the Inclusion Fund was above that provided by other neighbouring authorities and greater than grant funding through the EHCP itself.  A review of funding levels was in progress to ensure greater consistency.

The budget for the Inclusion Fund was just under £1m which is up from £900k from 2 years ago.  Officers noted that all applications, providing they are sufficiently evidenced, are funded.

 

(ii)  What can the Council do to develop and improve access to local childcare specialists (e.g. SLT, education psychologists) to help speed up assessment processes for EHCPs and other SEND assessments?  Does the service have any data on the delays and the length of time that parents are needing to wait and what actions have been taken to minimise such waiting times? 

It was acknowledged that post pandemic, considerable delays were being experienced by families needing to access services including CAMHS, SLT, OT and other therapeutic support.  Whilst waiting lists were minimal before Covid, there were now waiting lists of between 18-24 months for some of these services.  This issue is being discussed across the strategic partnership.  It was also noted that Covid continued to impact staffing and broader service provision.  Services recognised that delays in accessing services was having an impact on children and families and were developing strategies to reduce the backlog, including ‘no-meeting days’ where practitioners focused solely on meeting, assessing and supporting children and families.

 

(iii)   The Area SENCO role plays a key role in supporting the SEND needs of children in local childcare settings.  How many area SENCO support local childcare settings? What can be done to increase capacity and support provided to childcare settings?

Officers noted that questions (ii) and (iii) should also be picked up with Inclusion and SEND service directly.

 

ACTION: The Commission to write to the Hackney Education team for a more detailed response to (ii) and (iii) above and strategic plan to reduce waiting lists.

 

(iv)  It was noted that in other local authorities, childcare providers are compensated for the time it takes to complete SEND assessments and monitoring?  Could such a similar scheme be developed in Hackney?

HE was not aware of any part of the budget which could be used to offset the costs of providers in making applications for the Inclusion Fund or an EHCP.  Officers would look into this however, to see what additional support might be provided to help settings make applications on behalf of children and families.

 

Action: Hackney Education to investigate whether any financial compensation could be provided to offset settings costs in the preparation and evidencing of SEND support applications.

 

(v)  Childcare providers, many in the voluntary sector and operating from very limited budgets are supporting numerous vulnerable and disadvantaged children.  What additional funding can be made available to support vulnerable children in these settings (above the childcare funding rate)?

There was an Early Years Children in Need Panel chaired by a local provider. It was hoped that every child with a social worker in Hackney was supported to access early years provision.  The early help service will work with settings to support the needs of these children in local settings, but it was acknowledged that in many cases the needs of these children exceeded what could be supported by those settings.  In this context, parents were encouraged to place children with local children’s centres which had additional resources to support them.

 

(vi)  The Commission noted that the Let's Get Hackney Talking initiative to improve access to SLT was moved to an appointment only basis from a drop-in service during the pandemic. Are there plans to restore the drop-in, and if not, why not?

This service did move on-line during Covid, but is now moving back to face to face drop-in sessions again.  These sessions were not all back as yet, but the intention was that these would all eventually be restored to drop-in services.  It was pointed out that the recruitment crisis faced by early years and childcare providers was also being experienced across the entire system of children's services.

 

6.9  The consultation with providers highlighted the severe financial constraints on child care providers which were impacting on the sustainability and viability of many of their businesses.  Providers noted that free childcare funding did not cover their costs, and that paid for childcare was used to subsidise ‘free’ provision. Providers also noted delays in notification of funding levels from the Council.  What more can the Council do to support struggling childcare providers?

Officers apologised for the late notice in which providers were notified of their funding rate for free childcare this year.  Prior to Covid, the funding rate for providers was calculated annually for providers, but during the pandemic the DfE moved to termly calculations.  This had impacted on the accounting workloads of local authorities as more time was needed to close-off and restart new accounts to adjust to new funding levels. 

It should be noted that the base rate for providers in Hackney was £4.99 per/hour per child, but this could rise up to £7.49 with the application of qualifying allowances (area of deprivation where child lives, staff qualifications, children in receipt of free school meals (FSM)).  Officers indicated that other adjacent local authorities had a ‘protected funding’ rate which resulted in higher childcare funding.  This issue was being challenged with the DfE.

Sustainability of childcare settings is being challenged by the financial crisis.  The problem of financial sustainability was made worse by the fact that some settings would not take children wishing to take up their free entitlement, which meant that in other settings up to 80% of children were those accessing their free entitlement and this was financially challenging.

 

6.10  Understanding that this is a very challenging working environment (work demands and levels of remuneration) what  mental health advice, help and support is available for early years staff?  The Commission noted that there was a significant staff turnover in some early care settings, what impact does this have on children in their care?

The Early Years Service recognised the mental health issues and other challenges that settings were facing, and there were a range of meetings and other support mechanisms across each locality cluster to support staff.  These meetings provided an opportunity for local childcare managers to meet, discuss and share issues of concern and help to identify solutions. It was important to ensure that managers felt adequately supported across all these settings so that they can in turn support their own staff.

The government was intending to lower the staffing ratio from 1:4 to 1:5 as a way of easing cost pressures in childcare settings. It was noted that this proposal was not welcomed across the sector as this would impact on the quality of childcare services which could be provided. 

High staff turnover does impact on children, particularly where agency staff were being used.  The turnover does not provide a stable care and support which is important for child development.

 

6.11  Hackney has recorded a decline in the uptake of this free funded 2-year-old childcare (15hrs) - which is directed at children who are most in need.  Accepting that this is part of a wider regional and national trend, what more can Hackney Education and the wider council do to effectively target and support this cohort of families to increase uptake? Is there any analysis of the barriers to local uptake?  It was concerning to note that the number of childcare settings which offer the funded free childcare for 2 year olds has reduced from 134 to 120 - does Hackney Education understand what the reasons might be for this?  Is there any possibility of extending free childcare to 2 year-olds?

There has been a decline in the number of eligible children for free childcare for 2 year olds as notified by the Department of Work and Pensions.  Eligibility is set by the DfE and funding allocations of approximately £6.60 p/h is passported directly to providers. 2022 census data had just been released which demonstrated that there were 1,766 2 year olds eligible for free childcare which was substantially less than 2018, where there were 2,300 eligible children.  This has an impact on settings with fewer children accessing services which leads to a reduced income from this cohort.  This was part of a national trend.  The take up of free childcare by those eligible had increased to 66%, which was amongst the highest in inner London.  It was acknowledged however that 34% of 2 year olds were not accessing their free entitlement and the service was developing more innovative ways to reach these children and families.  From 2021, DWP provided telephone numbers of children eligible for free entitlement which enabled the families of every child not taking up their free entitlement to be contacted and for officers to assess what support might be needed to help them access childcare.

 

6.12  The Commission thanked officers for attending and responding to questions from the Commission.  It was agreed that the Commission would write to the Cabinet Member and Service with some of the suggestions and recommendations which came out of its consultation with childcare providers.

 

ACTION: The Commission to write to Cabinet Members for Families, Early Years, Parks and Play setting out the outcomes and recommendations from its consultation with child care providers.