The Neighbourhood Nursery Initiative – Policy into Practice? Eddie McKinnon, Principal Researcher Pen Green Research, Development and Training Base EECERA Conference Reykjavik 2006

SOCIAL POLICY BACKGROUND TO THE NEIGHBOURHOOD NURSERY INITIATIVE Labour government’s aim of halving child poverty by 2010 and eradicating it by 2020 Range of policy initiatives Early Excellence Centres Sure Start Local Programmes Extended Schools Neighbourhood Nurseries Children’s Centres

PERNICIOUS UNEMPLOYMENT AND ITS EFFECTS Key causes of child poverty identified as unemployment and low-paid/part-time work Poverty and disadvantage rooted in the same communities over long periods of time Government’s “dual aims” to “tackle worklessness and make work pay” (DWP, 2006)

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD NURSERIES INITIATIVE Neighbourhood Nurseries, located in the most disadvantaged communities, would; o Provide 45,000 new high quality childcare places o Increase opportunities for parents to get jobs, return to work or take up training or adult education o Costs of NNI places offset by up to 70% by Working Families Tax Credit (now Working Tax Credit) o Local Authorities granted £128m capital funding and £240m revenue funding

THE BABY AND TODDLER NEST AT PEN GREEN Baby and Toddler Nest opened at Pen Gren in July full-time equivalent places Places prioritised for families in the catchment area Catchment area includes areas of deep deprivation (4 Super Output Areas in the top 10% most disadvantaged in the UK) Remaining places open to applications from families outside the catchment area

GATHERING THE RESEARCH EVIDENCE Staff in the Baby and Toddler Nest and the researcher co-constructed the research 12 parents interviewed who were structured to represent, o Current-, Past- and Non-Users o Reason for using the Baby and Toddler Nest Research staff used data on families’ use of the Baby and Toddler Nest to create a socio-spatial map showing reasons for usage and status of attendance  The researcher interviewed a senior member of staff in the Baby and Toddler Nest and had access to documentation

FINDINGS FROM THE INTERVIEWS Of 12 parents interviewed; o 5 returned to own jobs after maternity leave o 2 to new jobs after maternity leave o 2 intending to seek work o 2 staying at home with children o 1 going into higher education  Juggling of work and family life, ‘tandem’ parenting  Managing ‘coordination points’ in the day (Skinner, 2003)  ‘Time-off’ from child – respite or choice  4 Non Users raised issues about sessional care, costs and lower age limit of 12 months

MEETING THE NEEDS OF THE MOST VULNERABLE FAMILIES Must meet needs of “disadvantaged families at greatest risk of social exclusion” Beverley Hughes (2006) Two-thirds of Children’s Centres not targeting and tracking excluded groups (NAO, 2006) Toolkit for Reaching Priority and Excluded Families guidance on data sources and checklists for settings (TfC, 2007)

PRIORITIES, SUSTAINABILITY AND DATA How to inform the most vulnerable families in the catchment area about the Baby and Toddler Nest, engage with them and give them places? How long to keep places ‘in reserve’ for the most vulnerable families when demand outstrips supply and empty places cost money? Catchment area has ‘pockets’ of affluence and areas of poverty side-by-side (Sylva et al, 2007) Complication of provision based on post-coded multiple deprivation data Use Socio-Spatial Mapping data to establish better understanding of family needs Not ‘hard to reach’ but ‘difficult to access’