Network Whispers

THE TWILIGHT ZONE Early years staff have long felt their status is overlooked – but now it seems that this lack of recognition is explicit. The Government census – an annual stocktake of funded children in the PVI sector, collected by local authorities and given to the DfE – is not capturing all qualifications levels: beyond Level 3, the only options are EYT, EYP or QTS. Social media has been buzzing with aggrieved participants. One said: ‘Our early years workforce has worked hard to upskill only to find we are totally disrespected.’ DfE was unable to comment.

HMRC !@$£ Some parents have found that when accessing the Childcare Choices site they have then been directed to the Tax-Free Childcare scheme, which wrongly indicates they must stop using vouchers if they want to be eligible for the 30 hours. HMRC has found an interim fix and is updating its website and helpline to make it clear how to reconfirm eligibility without leaving a voucher scheme. An HMRC spokesman said, ‘A small number of parents saw some confusing text when reconfirming their details for 30 hours free childcare. It didn’t prevent them reconfirming.’