The doling out of £60m of grants to Voluntary and Community Sector organisations by the DfE has led to some winners and some losers, especially with the appointment of one 'strategic partner' to take the lead in each theme, such as early years and childcare or families and relationships.
Overall, many childcare organisations have seen their funding reduced in what is a clear change of direction. Year two grants will depend on outcomes being achieved in year one, and going forward, organisations will be expected to become free from dependency on Government grants. The DfE says it wants them to 'compete in open markets for services and diversify their sources of income, including for example, accessing funding through the new Early Intervention Grant to local authorities'.
So, life for childcare bodies will alter greatly. It is true that receiving core funding from Government is a mixed blessing for charities. A degree of stability is weighed against the pressure that can be exerted from the source of funding. But competing for funding in a squeezed market, including from the endlessly elastic Early Intervention Grant, will not be easy.
Scrutiny of the guidance for the bidding process for early years and childcare grants is very interesting in terms of seeing likely priorities for Government policy. Improving business skills among providers in disadvantaged areas to improve sustainability will be tricky unless other factors change substantially too.
Peer-to-peer support to increase the quality of early years provision - eg materials drawing on the expertise of sector leaders and reflecting latest knowledge of pedagogy - is presumably to make up for the legions of early years advisors being laid off. How about a Nursery World subscription for all?
