30 hours expansion: DfE commits £100m in funding to expand provision and EYFS regulatory changes
Katy Morton
Friday, October 27, 2023
The Government has announced £100m in capital funding for early years providers to expand their provision ahead of the 30 hours extension, along with regulatory changes to the EYFS to provide more 'flexibility for settings'.
Within the announcement, which has been made today by the education secretary Gilian Keegan, the Department for Education (DfE) has also confirmed applications for the childminder start-up grant of £600 for independent childminders and £1,200 for those who join childminder agencies, will open by Thursday 10 November.
Capital funding
The DfE says it anticipates the £100m capital funding, which will be distributed by local authorities to settings, will add thousands of new childcare places across the country.
The money is on top of £289m being made available to expand wrap-a-round care for primary school children, ‘plugging gaps in the existing provision’. Local authorities are due to receive details of their allocation of the fund today.
The sector has argued that while additional funding is welcome, the DfE has failed to acknowledge how providers will find the additional staff needed to meet increased demand for places with the 30 hours expansion.
The Labour party said that without more detail about the money, including how many places it will provide and how these will be staffed, the pledge ‘isn’t worth the paper it’s written on’. The sentiment was echoed by the union, Community (previously known as Voice).
EYFS consultation
The DfE has also published its response to the consultation on regulatory changes to the EYFS.
Changes being introduced include:
- Allowing managers to decide whether students and apprentices can count in ratios where appropriate.
- Removing the requirement for Level 3 practitioners to hold a GCSE maths qualification, or equivalent, to count within ratios, and placing it on managers instead.
The proposal to change staff: child ratios outside of core hours has been shelved as the DfE says it would not help ‘achieve the Government’s aim of removing unnecessary burdens’.
The National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) said it welcomed the changes around the maths requirement which ‘historically have made it difficult for some people who are very good practitioners from entering or progressing in the workforce.’
However, the Early Years Alliance (EYA) said it was ‘incredibly concerned about the direction of travel for early years policy’, and that ‘lowering standards as part of a desperate attempt to build capacity in the sector, under the guide of increasing flexibility, is not acceptable.’
A similar concern was raised by Early Education's chief executive Beatrice Merrick, who called the announcements a 'mixed bag'.
'We are pleased to see that the proportion of Level 2 qualified staff in ratios will not be changed, and that they will not change the qualifications and ratios outside so-called “peak hours”,' she added.
Education secretary, Gillian Keegan, commented, ‘Flexibility is at the heart of our plans to transform childcare for families, whether it’s offering quality childcare out of school hours or making sure there are more early years places where they’re needed most.
‘This is the largest investment in childcare in our history, so I encourage people with young children or those thinking about starting a family to visit the Childcare Choices website to find out what they’re eligible for.’
