Early Years Funding – The Leicestershire Perspective Jenny Lawrence Finance Business Partner – Children and Family Services

Leicestershire…….. Largely rural authority, but significant pockets of Deprivation Sparsely populated and urban areas No maintained nursery schools 666 Providers; 362 childminders taking FEEE (20% more than last year), 304 pre-schools and day nurseries 96% Ofsted rated good or outstanding

Our Financial Position Receive the Lowest DSG hourly funding rate for Early Years; 3 & 4 year olds £4.30 2 year old disadvantaged £5.20 Hourly Rates Paid to Providers; 3 & 4 Year Olds 2 Year Olds Base Rate £4.03 £4.93 Deprivation £0.04 - £0.08 - SEN Top Up £6.99

Pilot authority for 30 hours extended provision What We Deliver Pilot authority for 30 hours extended provision 88% of pre-schools 97% of day nurseries and 56% childminders delivered 30 hours in Spring term Take up rates; 15 hours 3 & 4 year olds 100% 30 hours 3 & 4 year olds 92% 15 hours 2 year old disadvantaged 87% autumn term 2017 77.1 % spring term 2018

Provider Cost Pressures No increase in funding rates, real terms reduction Largest cost to providers is staffing Providers being squeezed by cost increases – National Living Wage, Pension Costs

Our Current Provider Market Providers reporting financial viability issues In 2017 31 closures, largely smaller providers. In 2018 so far 9 further closures Limited capacity for existing providers to expand 19 new providers established in 2017 and a further 9 in 2018 – net decrease overall

Our Current Experience Providers are; Keeping staffing levels at absolute minimum Unable to release staff for training - no cover, unable to meet cost Unable to maintain financial contingencies to ensure long term viability

Our Success 4,590 Children access 30 hours of Early Learning On average children access an additional 11 hours of educational funding Parents are choosing a blended offer of childcare We gained recognition by DfE for the communication with providers and parents to deliver the offer

Our Concerns Funding rates, decreasing in real terms are a barrier to delivering the Free Entitlement Future quality, impact on school readiness Reducing number of providers Ability to meet sufficiency duty Less choice Parents who have children with SEND are apprehensive to use the additional hours that they may be entitled to. Leicestershire have been successful with a DfE grant to encourage parental uptake and upskilling the workforce

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