Early years organisations responding to the Government's consultation on early years funding have called for a standardised method of calculating the entitlement for three- and four-year-olds across all sectors.
Steve Alexander, chief executive of the Pre-School Learning Alliance, said he was 'concerned that there is parity in how budgets are calculated for both PVI and maintained settings'.
Many PVI providers suffer because of fluctuating levels of funding during the year, made worse by schools changing their entry point age, he said. 'PVI providers often lose children, and therefore funding, at odd points of the year or at short notice.'
Mr Alexander said that setting free entitlement budgets for PVI providers in advance for the year would ensure greater stability to plan training and development - 'otherwise the disparity in stability and funding threatens to create a two-tier system not in the interests of parents, providers, Government or children.'
The Alliance favours a model based on pupil-led funding set at national level but allowing for regional variations, and to take account of whether it is private or voluntary and sessional or full daycare.
It supports a combination of place-led and pupil-led counting for under-fives, with 50-60 per cent of a setting's places to receive guaranteed funding, a similar number to current average occupancy in PVI nurseries.
The National Day Nurseries Association proposes setting up early years sub-groups with a veto on funding for the entitlement to feed in issues to the main Schools Forums and help to oversee local commissioning arrangements.
Chief executive Purnima Tanuku said the NDNA would prefer funding based on headcounts, separately identifying the funding for the free entitlement, increased representation on Schools Forums and formula- based funding.
She said, 'While in principle a standard model for calculating unit funding is a welcome move, this cannot successfully be achieved without strong guidance from the DfES and consultation with PVI provision about what such a formula should include.'
Andrew Fletcher, director of communications at the National Childminding Association, said it was disappointing that the consultation focused almost exclusively on group-based provision, and that Government guidance was crucial on how the free entitlement would be accessed in light of the duty on all practitioners to deliver the EYFS from September 2008. To recognise the diversity of provision, bodies such as the National Council of Voluntary Child Care Organisations could sit on school forums, he said.
Funding in the PVI sector
The Alliance:
- parity in how budgets are calculated for both PVI and maintained settings
- a combination of place-led and pupil-led counting for under-fives
- 'sceptical' about whether early years presence on schools forums would represent such a diverse sector
NDNA:
- funding based on head counts
- separately identify funding for the free entitlement
- increased representation on schools forums
NCMA:
- funding a guaranteed minimum of pupils preferable
- alternative could reimburse parents directly for places they use as a more equitable funding system, with money following the child via the parent
