Local authorities to share £1m to trial EYPP

Six local authorities will start implementing the EYPP early from January, ahead of its nationwide rollout across England in April 2015.

Stoke, Blackpool, Cambridgeshire, North Yorkshire, Bristol, and Hackney have been chosen to take part in the £1m pilot of the scheme.

Early years settings and schools will receive £300 a year for eligible three-and four-year-olds, which aims to help to ensure that children are prepared to start school and narrow the gap  in attainment between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers.

Ministers say that there can be as much as a 19 month gap between the most and least advantaged children.

The Government has also published its response to the consultation on the EYPP, as well as local authority funding allocations for the EYPP and the hourly rates for funded places for two-year-olds for 2015 -2016.

Mr Laws is speaking at 4Children’s conference in London today on how he envisages that the EYPP will support children from low-income families.

The Government’s response confirms that nurseries and childminders will be able to choose how they use the funding, for example to employ better qualified staff or use speech and language specialists.

In its capacity as strategic partner for the early years and childcare sector, 4Children is also launching a call for evidence, on behalf of the DfE, to collect ideas on how the EYPP funding can best be used.

This is in response to calls from the sector for more practical guidance on how to use the funding.

Chief executive Anne Longfield said, 'The consultation highlights the importance of the early years in supporting the most disadvantaged children. We know a child’s early years are crucial and if they have fallen behind their peers when they start school, their chances of catching up are small. That’s why the pupil premium is vital and it is so important that the implementation is right.
 
'The response to the consultation highlights the Early Years Pupil Premium will be targeted at the children who need it most, whether or not they live in a disadvantaged area and how vital it is to get maximum value from the funding for the children who need it.
 
'A key point made in the consultation responses was that the early years sector are seeking practical guidance on how to make the best use of the Early Years Pupil Premium. We are pleased to be asked to launch a call for evidence to gather together the most innovative ideas on how to use the funding to close the gap between disadvantaged children and their peers. Sharing best practice with others across the early years sector is a crucial part of this work which can be done in a range of ways including online, through social media and at events.'

The Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill will be amended to enable the Eligibility Checking Service to be used for the EYPP and the Government will publish guidance for local authorities on how to administer the funding and eligibility checking for the EYPP before the end of this year.

The mandatory deprivation supplement in the Early Years Single Funding Formula will be retained, as ministers want to encourage local authorities to use this to boost the rate of the EYPP above £300 per child.

Ofsted will update its inspection frameworks so that inspectors will assess the effective use and impact of the EYPP under the leadership and management judgement.

The Study of Early Education and Development (SEED) research will be extended to include an assessment of the impact of the EYPP on the quality of early years settings included in the study. An interim report will be published in summer 2016.

Funding for twos

Details of the funding rates by local authority area for two-year-olds for 2015-16 have also been set out. Funding will remain at the current average rate for England of £5.09.

Funding for boroughs in inner London is £6.07 per child per hour (except the City of London at £7.08) and for outer boroughs this is either £5.53 or £5.28.

In other areas examples of funding include £4.89 in Birmingham, £4.95 in Manchester, £5.07 in Bristol, and £4.85 in Leeds.

• Read the full breakdown here