Last month, the Department for Education (DfE) confirmed it would be funding councils in England based on the January 2020 census rather than the January 2021 headcount as would have been normal practice. It said this was to ‘reflect the fact that the number of children in childcare might not have returned to normal levels by early January.’
It also stated that local authorities should continue to fund providers that are open at ‘broadly the levels they would have expected to see in the 2020 autumn term had there been no Covid-19 outbreak. Also, that ‘local authorities might, for example, use the numbers of children in places in the previous autumn to inform funding levels for this autumn.’
However, the Alliance says over recent weeks it has received numerous reports of councils not adhering to the DfE’s recommendations, resulting in providers receiving far less funding in the autumn term than they had been led to expect.
Case study
One provider, Collette Fairfax, chair of Rixton with Glazebrook Pre-school, said, ‘We have received the funding arrangements for the 2020 autumn term from our local authority. They have informed us that they are not funding us based on our 2019 estimates as they cannot afford to, despite this being the Government guidance.
‘Instead they are offering us a 20 per cent uplift to our 2020 estimate, which is substantially lower than the figure we had calculated based on our 2019 autumn estimates – a reduction of nearly a quarter.
‘We are a small village charity pre-school and our budget was already stretched before we heard about this reduction in funding – I’m sure there are many others in the same situation.’
Within the Alliance’s FOI request, it asks all local authorities in England whether they will be funding providers during the autumn term using ‘the numbers of children in places in the previous autumn to inform funding levels’, as suggested by the DfE guidance. If not, what alternative approach they will be using, and if it will mean that local authorities are still being funded ‘as if autumn term 2020 were as normal’, as per the same guidance.
Comments
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Alliance, said, ‘The Department for Education’s decision to continue funding the sector based on 2019 levels in the autumn term was a welcome step – but it’s clear that much more must be done to ensure that this support reaches the frontline.
‘The Government has described the move as ”block-buying” childcare places for the rest of the year – but if councils are allowed to just disregard DfE guidance and refuse to fund providers at autumn 2019 levels, then this simply isn’t the case.
‘We have received numerous reports of councils who are choosing not to follow the DfE’s recommendations, which is putting even more financial pressure on local providers at an already incredibly difficult time.
‘It is vital that the Government places tighter requirements on local authorities on this issue, and we hope that the information that we are gaining through our FoI investigation will provide the evidence needed to ensure that this happens.’
