Controversial Early Years Single Funding Formula delayed by a year

Giving evidence to the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee Ms Primarolo said, ‘I am minded to postpone, under certain circumstances and conditions, the implementation of the funding formula until April 2011.'

The announcement comes amid concerns that the move to a formula based on take-up rather than places threatens the sustainability of maintained nursery schools (News, 7 October).
While there was a consensus that the idea of a formula was right in principle the minister said some local authorities were ‘ready to go' while others were ‘struggling'.

However, she said that the Government would invite those local authorities who are ready to implement the funding formula to take part in pathfinders and use their experiences to share good practice with other areas.

The minister said that the funding formula was announced in 2007 as a way of bringing ‘greater transparency and accountability to the system' but that ‘2007 was a different time economically'.

She said the recession had brought a number of challenges for local authorities.
Feedback from local authorities, providers and parents to Government showed there were increasing concerns about the impact of the formula on providers, and the complexities of introducing it alongside the extension to the 15-hour entitlement.

In response to these concerns, she said the DCSF had carried out additional data collection from local authorities in November to find out how ready they were to implement the formula alongside a risk assessment.

She said this had revealed ‘a huge variance in approach and practice' and that only around one third of local authorities were ready to go ahead with the implementation from next year.

Last month South Gloucestershire local authority also said that the formula threatened nursery classes in some primary schools (25 November).