LONG READ: What funding and regulatory changes mean for the sector

New analysis of the £100 million capital funding to prepare for the 30 hours extension suggests that local authorities will receive a share of just £650,000 each to pass on to settings to extend their provision.

Announced at the end of October, the Department for Education (DfE) said it anticipated that the funding, which is for early years and out-of-school settings, will add ‘thousands’ of new childcare places across the country.

However, the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), which carried out the analysis for Nursery World, said when ‘looking at the numbers, it can’t see how the funding will support many nursery expansion plans’.

Chief executive Purnima Tanuku explained, ‘If you split the money evenly across 150 local authority areas, it’s only around £650,000 for each. This will not buy a great deal for many providers. It may not be evenly distributed, so some areas could end up with very little or nothing.

‘Any capital funding given to providers will be subject to VAT, reducing the amount they can invest in their projects.’

The NDNA also argued that the capital funding has come too late to make a ‘positive impact’ for the first phase of the extended 30 hours in April, as any building works would need to be well under way already.

EYFS regulatory changes

On the same day as the announcement of the capital funding, the DfE published its response to the consultation on regulatory changes to the EYFS.

Changes being introduced include:

• Bringing in two versions of the EYFS – one for childminders and one for group and school-based settings.
• Replacing the requirement for childminder ‘applicants’ to have completed training on implementing the framework with a requirement to demonstrate knowledge and understanding. This will ensure those already with the knowledge, such as existing nursery practitioners or childminder assistants, don’t undertake unnecessary training.
• Removing the requirement for practitioners to hold a GCSE in maths to count in Level 3 ratios. This requirement will be transferred to managers, but will only apply to new managers or managers who move to a new role after these changes are implemented. Setting managers employed on or after 4 January 2024 must hold a Level 2 maths qualification, or they must achieve one within two years of starting in the position. For managers already in post, and who remain in the same post, there will be no action to take.
• Introducing an experienced-based route to qualification for those who hold a qualification which is not recognised as being full and relevant or for those working in different sectors. The DfE will work with awarding organisations, stakeholders and practitioners to develop the criteria and process for a new experienced-based route. The change will not come into force or be referenced in a January 2024 EYFS framework.
• Allowing students on placements and work-experience to count in staff:child ratios at the level below their study if their manager deems them sufficiently competentand responsible.
  
  

Childminders

Charitable organisation Childminding UK said it was ‘particularly concerned’ about the removal of the requirement for prospective childminders to complete EYFS training.

‘Many consultation concerns were around changes that were felt could lower the quality of the workforce and we feel this change could contribute to this. While we understand that many prospective childminders do have the required knowledge of the EYFS, childminder introductory training covers much more than this. Childminders must complete every role that is carried out in a group setting including cook, cleaner, key person and manager and running their own business. Working in a group setting or as a childminding assistant won’t necessarily fully prepare people for the complex and demanding role of a childminder. We need those entering the childminding workforce to be fully prepared and not set them up to fail’, said executive director Tina Maltman.

She also said that with a childminder-specific EYFS document, there must be ‘clear messaging from the Government that there is not a two-tier system of quality of provision’.

Maths changes

Removing the requirement for practitioners to hold a GCSE maths pass to count in ratios at Level 3 has sparked widespread debate among the sector, with some hoping it will help solve the recruitment crisis, while others have concerns it will make the workforce less qualified.

NCFE’s sector manager for education and childcare, Janet King, called the change ‘hugely significant’.

She said, ‘NCFE has been pushing for change since the requirement was initiated, with the Save Our Early Years campaign successfully adding functional skills at Level 2 to the GCSE requirement back in 2017. We are delighted the Government has now made this decision.

‘Throughout the consultation, the sector was vocal on the Level 2 maths requirement being a barrier to utilising qualified and experienced staff to their full potential. The feedback was also clear that a Level 2 maths qualification does not provide practitioners with the skills they need to effectively teach early years maths to young children. We believe the change will support practitioners to move more easily into early years roles as educators at Level 3, which in turn will help to ease the ongoing recruitment crisis – potentially supporting the delivery of initiatives such as the government’s extension of the “free” childcare hours.

‘We’d like to now see the same requirement also removed from the apprenticeship rules, as it has already been with the T-Level and other vocational full and relevant qualifications.’

The Out-of-School Alliance said the Government had ‘missed an opportunity’ to remove ‘regulatory complexity and confusion’ by not creating a register exclusively for out-of-school providers.

Director Rebekah Jackson Reece argued, ‘Calls from the wrap-around childcare sector to address the confusing and complex mismatched requirements across multiple registers have not been recognised. Creating a separate framework for wrap-around care and clarifying and streamlining the qualification requirements for children who have not yet started school could have gone a long way to reflect requirements that are matched to real-world delivery challenges.’