EYSFF local authority pathfinders for 2010 revealed
Melanie Defries
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
The DCSF has named 56 local authorities that have been approved to implement the Early Years Single Funding Formula from April by becoming second-wave pathfinders (see box).
The move to a formula based on participation rather than places was delayed until April 2011 in December, following widespread concern that the EYSFF was a threat to maintained nursery schools (News, 9 December 2009).
However, local authorities that wanted to implement the EYSFF this year were told that they could apply to do so via the pathfinder programme.
The 56 local authorities will build on the work of the original nine pilot areas that introduced the EYSFF last April.
Children's minister Dawn Primarolo said, 'Many local authorities are doing excellent work with early years providers to prepare for the new formula, and I'm really pleased that a third of local authorities are ready to implement from 2010. The new formula is not designed to disadvantage maintained nurseries or to enable private nurseries to make large profits. Local authorities have a duty to ensure that provision in their area meets the needs of families, and we will continue to support local authorities which may need extra help.'
However, early years settings in Poole were relieved to hear that their local authority's application to become a pathfinder had been rejected by the DCSF.
More than 30 private and voluntary childcare providers in the area had signed a statement against the council's application, saying that they stood to lose thousands of pounds a year under the proposed single funding formula base rate of just £2.74 per hour (News, 11 February). Part-time settings would have been particularly badly hit, as some of their funding was to be provided on a pro rata basis.
Annette Brooke, MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole and shadow children's minister for the Liberal Democrats, wrote to Dawn Primarolo urging her to intervene after meeting with local childcare providers from both the private and voluntary sectors.
Ms Brooke told Nursery World, 'Nearly 80 per cent of the private and voluntary childcare providers in Poole felt that the base rate was too low. The council's proposed deprivation supplement was one of the highest I've seen in the country, but only two wards in Poole would have benefited from it. Making a really low base and giving most providers no chance to access the deprivation formula was just distorting the whole process.
'There was also a tremendous difference in the base rate between Poole and Bournemouth, which was approved as a pathfinder. I hope the local authority does now appreciate that there was something wrong with the formula.'
Anthony Macrow-Wood, from St George's Pre-school in Poole, said, 'I am delighted that the formula is not going ahead. I think it is a victory for common sense.'
The second wave of pathfinder local authorities are:
Bath and North East Somerset, Bournemouth, Bracknell Forest, Brent, Brighton and Hove, Bromley, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Cumbria, Darlington, Devon, Dudley, East Riding of Yorkshire, East Sussex, Enfield, Gateshead, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Harrow, Hartlepool, Herefordshire, Islington, Kingston-upon-Thames, Lancashire, Lewisham, Medway, Middlesborough, Norfolk, North Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Oldham, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Redbridge, Richmond-upon-Thames, Salford, Sheffield, Slough, Solihull, Somerset, South Gloucestershire, Southend, Southampton, Stockport, Stockton, Swindon, Suffolk, Telford and Wrekin, Thurrock, Torbay, Tower Hamlets, Wakefield, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wiltshire
