Council scraps plans for free hours funding withdrawal

The council had wanted to implement a new policy after the Easter holiday that would have stopped children with a relative employed in the setting they attend from being able to access their early education funding.

Nurseries had reacted angrily to the move, which would have caused disruption to thousands of children across the county.

Nurseries had received an email on 27 March giving them just two weeks’ notice of the change, which could have left nursery staff without a funded place for any child they were related to, whether as a parent, a blood relative or by marriage.

Their choice would have been to either forgo the funding to keep the child in the same nursery, leave their jobs, or try to find alternative childcare before the start of the summer term.

The council started to back down yesterday, with an email stating that the initial plan had been put on hold and that a final decision would be made on 10 April, after clarification from the Department for Education.

The DfE had confirmed to Nursery World that the council’s proposal ran counter to its policy for group settings.

Now the council has emailed all providers today to finally confirm that it will be dropping the plans and will not be changing the way that it funds places.

An email sent out to early years providers from Alison Kenny, learning support group manager, said, ‘We can now confirm after seeking further advice from the DfE that Lancashire will not be proceeding with the approach that was outlined in the correspondence sent out on 27 March 2015 and that the funding of places will continue as under previous arrangements.’

Bob Stott, director of children's services, said, 'This situation has arisen following advice from the DfE which suggested that there was a need to change our funding arrangement with providers.
 
'Following clarification with the DfE we will continue to provide funding except where the early years provision is being delivered directly by the Ofsted registration holder for a child that they are related to.
 
'There is only an issue if the Ofsted registration holder of the setting is also directly providing day to day provision (teaching and supervision) for their own child or a child of a member of their family. There is no issue for any staff members who are teaching or supervising their own child or a child of a member of their family as long as they are not the registration holder.
 
'The DfE have accepted though that the guidance is not straightforward with regard to group settings, for example nurseries.  
 
'We informed our providers as soon as we had clarification that there will not be any change to the current funding arrangements.
 
'We are aware of the concerns that have been raised about this and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.
 
'The rules for childminders are clear though, in that they cannot be paid for looking after their children or their relatives' children.'

The National Day Nurseries Association has received numerous calls this week from concerned nurseries.

Claire Schofield, director of membership, policy and communications, said, ‘It’s great news that Lancashire County Council has decided not to pursue this course of action and that officials have been able to tell the nurseries this before Easter. It means that they can take a well-earned break without worrying about what could happen next.’