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NEWSLETTER: 30 HOURS FREE CHILDCARE

Dear School / Childcare Provider

Welcome to the first edition of a newsletter which primarily aims to provide updates and information on the 30 hours free childcare place entitlement for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds.

From September 2017 working families that meet the criteria will be entitled to 30 hours free childcare per week for 38 weeks of the year. This is an increase of 15 additional free childcare hours on top of the current 15 hours of free childcare / early education. It is expected this will apply to around 390,000 children and the 30 hours of free childcare are worth around £5,000 per year per child. It is estimated that 42% of 3 and 4 year olds will be eligible to the new entitlement of 30 hours of free childcare when it is introduced.

The 15 additional free childcare hours are to help working parents manage their childcare costs and support parents into work, to work successfully, or to work more hours should they wish to do so. It will also support the family to make positive choices for their employability and economic situation whilst children experience a caring and happy early year’s environment that supports their development and prepares them to thrive at school and in later life.

For some of you this will be a starting point to think about your current provision for 3 and 4 year olds and to consider whether you want to, or are able to provide places for the rollout of the 30 hours entitlement in September 2017. For others it will be the next building block for you to put in place to achieve the next level of service you want to provide. Either way, you all need as much information as possible so you can make informed decisions about the type of places / service you will provide going forward.

In addition to the 30 hours information, at the end of the newsletter are some general updates which you will also find of interest.

To ensure subsequent newsletters meet your expectations, please send your views and wishes for future content to Michelle Dobbs or Michelle Wagstaff whose contact details are on the last page. Regards

Andy Crabtree Head of Service, Access to Learning

Andy Crabtree Head of Service, Access to Learning

CONTENT

Childcare Entitlements Universal Credit

Eligibility Criteria Department for Education Update

30 Hours General Information Service Area General Updates

Sufficiency of Places Contact Details

Tax Free Childcare

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FREE CHILDCARE ENTITLEMENTS

There are three entitlements with three different aims:

1. 15 hours per week of free early education for all three and four year olds – a universal entitlement which seeks to support child development and school readiness.

2. 15 hours per week of free early education for 40% (nationally) most disadvantaged two year olds – to close the gap between disadvantaged children and their richer peers.

3. Extended entitlement to 30 hours per week (planned from September 2017) for three and four year olds from working families - to support working parents or parents wishing to increase their hours.

These only apply to England

Extended entitlement of 30 hours of free childcare for working parents

• An additional 15 hours of free childcare for eligible working parents of 3 and 4 year olds is due to roll out nationally from September 2017.

• The additional 15 hours will extend the current universal entitlement of 15 hours of early education for all 3 and 4 year olds

Eligibility Criteria to Access the Additional 15 Hours of Free Childcare:

Working parents includes: employed, self-employed and workers on a zero hour’s contract. To take up the additional 15 hours of free childcare from September 2017 families need to meet the following criteria:

• Each parent earns less than £100,000 per year • Both parents are working 16 hours a week (in a lone parent family the sole parent must work) • Each parent works 16 hours a week or earns on average a weekly minimum amount that

is equivalent to 16 hours a week at either the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage

There are exceptions to both parents having to work. Families where one parent does not work (or neither parent works) will not usually be entitled to the additional 15 hours of free childcare, however, they will be eligible where:

• both parents are employed but one (or both parents) is temporarily away from the workplace on: parental, maternity or paternity leave; adoption leave; or on statutory sick pay

• one parent is employed and one parent: o has substantial caring responsibilities based on specific benefits received for caring o is disabled or incapacitated based on receipt of specific benefits

Information for Parents

Schools and childcare providers will at some point have parents asking questions about the 30 hours free childcare entitlement. Parents will need to know a range of information from their perspective so they can understand how this might impact them and their future choices for work and childcare for their child.

To support you with the roll out of information to parents, a ‘Parent Information Sheet: 30 Hours Free Childcare’ has been produced and sent with this newsletter.

There are a number of ways you can use the information sheet for parents:

It can be used in its current format to put on notice boards / distribute

You can replace the header and footer with your name, logo and address

You can alter the content or choose to use only sections of the information

Don’t use the information sheet at all and produce your own version

Your feedback on the content or suggestions for additional questions / answers would be appreciated. Please send these to Michelle Dobbs / Michelle Wagstaff whose contact details are on the last page.

Sandra Hammond, Access to Learning Manager

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Q. Do all schools and childcare providers have to offer the 30 hours free childcare places? No, it is up to each individual school and childcare provider to decide if they will offer additional hours over and above the universal 15 hours entitlement. Schools only: The decision on whether to provide the additional 15 hours free childcare would need to be agreed, considered and ratified by the Governing Body or depending on the legal entity of the school at the appropriate level. Q. How do we decide if we will provide the additional 15 hours of free childcare? There are a lot of elements that need to be taken into consideration to inform your decision making. As a starting point think about:

Do you have any spare capacity in your current nursery / 3 and 4 year old room?

Could new places be created in your existing premises? o Is there an area or room that is currently not in use? o Could the layout be re-configured to provide a larger area for 3 and 4 year olds?

Q. If the answer is yes to either of the above, what else do we need to consider? Sustainability / Costs / Resources:

If you provide additional hours places to fill up your spare capacity there will be no extra staff costs, although the provision of places over and above current staffing will incur a cost.

Lunch and snacks if a child stays all day, lunchtime cover may be required depending on your model of delivery

Administration time to manage the additional hours Q. How will the admissions process for the additional 15 hours free childcare be managed? The school / childcare provider will manage this process themselves and how this is implemented will be included in their own admissions policy.

Schools only: The Councils Schools Admission procedure for the universal 15 hour nursery place that is available to every 3 year old will remain the same, in that the parent submits an application form for a nursery place to the Council, who will then write to the parent informing them which school nursery their child will have a place at. The Admissions Team will allocate places up to the schools PAN. When the school is managing their own admissions for the 3 and 4 year olds taking up additional hours please give consideration to leaving some capacity for in term movement of children. Q. Can parents split the 30 hours across more than one school / childcare provider? Yes, parents will be able to take their 30 hours entitlement across more than one provider. This could be through choice or circumstances because they cannot get the full hours with their first choice of provision. This in reality is no different to how it is now. For working parents who require more that the current 15 hours early education place, they already use a combination of providers. For example, breakfast club, school morning nursery with pick up by childminder or PVI nursery / sessional care and there is a whole range of other combinations. Consultation with Parents: To support the planning of future places consider putting together a mini questionnaire for parents. Through this consultation you might be able to identify:

How many children would be eligible for the additional 15 hours of free childcare

How many children if they were eligible would they take up all, part or none of the additional 15 hours

How parents might prefer to take up the hours – flexible options

If parents would split the hours across more than one provider

30 HOURS: GENERAL INFORMATION

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Delivery Models: There are a range of delivery options for your consideration and they could for example be based around: capacity; best fit for sustainability reasons; the environment and quality aspects. Delivery options you may consider (but are not restricted to): a combination of full and half days; 5 x 6 hour sessions; all full days; ‘stretched offer’ which would mean taking less hours over more weeks i.e. approx. 22 hours a week over 51 weeks of the year Partnership working with other schools and childcare providers in your local area: Whether you provide the additional free childcare places, or not, all schools and childcare providers will receive queries from parents about the entitlement and where places are available. This is an opportunity to consolidate transition arrangements across providers, share information and work together to ensure across your local area parents receive a consistent message and have access to the free childcare hours they are entitled to. This will support parents make the best choices for the family and for the child to be ready to thrive in school and in their future life. Quite a number of schools and an increasing number of PVI nursery / sessional providers attend their local area Collaborative meetings. There may be an opportunity for sufficiency of 30 hours places to be discussed or a separate meeting to be arranged which invites all the local providers and feeds back to the Collaborative. The Application Process The full application process for parents is included in the attached Parents Information Sheet. HMRC will manage the application process and deal directly with parents on confirming they are eligible and reminding them they have to re-confirm eligibility every 3 months. The online application process will be on the www.gov.uk website from March 2017. The application process for the 30 hours free childcare and Tax Free Childcare (see below for information on Tax Free Childcare) will be aligned together so a parent need only apply once for both schemes. There is no direct link between the schools and childcare providers and the online eligibility checking service. Therefore, schools and childcare providers should signpost parents to HMRC and the online application system and not become involved in this process. The role of the local authority is to undertake validity checks on the eligibility codes and confirm to the school or childcare provider that they are acceptable. They also have to undertake regular audits of eligibility codes in use, to identify any parents that fall out of eligibility at reconfirmation. Again, they would inform the school or childcare provider when a code falls out of validity and at what date this will apply. This date will include the ‘grace period’ so the childs place does not end abruptly. Until the LA statutory guidance is published, it is not known how the ‘grace period’ will be applied. It is anticipated if the codes validation ends from half term onwards the place will run to the end of the school term. For the local authority to initially check the validity of an eligibility code, they will require three pieces of information from the school or childcare provider: the eligibility code to be checked; claimants’ national insurance number; and the child’s date of birth. So the process is:

Parent

School or Childcare Provider

Local

Authority

Local

Authority

School or Childcare

Provider

Eligibility Code NI number Childs DoB

Validity Check

Confirm valid code to School or Childcare Provider

Confirms to parent free childcare place

secured

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Sufficiency of Places for the 15 Additional Hours of Free Childcare

The table below indicates the position with regards to the sufficiency of places for the number of 3 and 4 year olds from working families that will be eligible for the additional 15 hours. This has taken into account:

Eligible Children: Number of children (by DOB) eligible for an early education place less Number of two year olds from workless families; number of FTE take up of additional 15 hours (paid for hours that currently ‘wrap around’ the 15 hours early education place); parent consultation outcome showed 10% would not take up a place / full hours

Places Available: Number of 3 & 4 year old places available as shown from the schools summer term headcount and the school and childcare provider supply audit – summer term 2016 less Number of places lost from schools / childcare providers who choose not to use any spare capacity for the additional 15 hours places, as shown from the school and childcare provider 30 hours consultation

Sufficiency of places: The places available figure has been taken away from the eligible children figure to give the balance of places required. This makes a presumption that all the current vacant 3 and 4 year old places with childcare providers will be filled. There are two outcomes shown in the table below: one is based on the current % take up of early education places, which has been applied to the balance of eligible children, the other outcome is based on all eligible children taking up their additional entitlement.

Sub-locality Area Balance of places

based on current % take up

Balance of places based on 100%

take up

Adwick -105 -138

Armthorpe -89 -102

Askern -19 -48

Balby 10 2

BEAK* -44 -51

Bentley -75 -77

Cantley and Bessacarr -8 -32

Central 22 -92

Denaby and Conisbrough 59 25

Dunscroft and Hatfield 23 23

Edlington -54 -81

Great North Road -123 -144

Intake and Belle Vue -41 -63

Mexborough -69 -97

Moorends 10 3

Rossington & FTV** -59 -63

Sprotbrough -1 -4

Stainforth -3 -34

Thorne -64 -87

Wheatley -20 -67

Grand Total -650 -1127

BEAK Barnby Dunn, Edenthorpe & Kirk Sandall**FTV Finningley & Torne Valley

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TAX FREE CHILDCARE Tax Free Childcare is a new government scheme to help working parents with the cost of childcare. Parents will be able to open an online account, from which they can pay their registered childcare provider directly. For every £8 a parent pays in, the government will pay in an extra £2. Parents can receive up to £2,000 per child, per year, towards their childcare costs, or £4,000 for children with a disability. Parents could be eligible if they are in work, and each expecting to earn at least £115 a week. Each parent must not have income over £100,000 per year. The scheme will be available for children up to 12 years old, or 17 years for children with a disability. Tax Free Childcare will be launched from early 2017. The scheme will be rolled out gradually to families, with parents of the youngest children able to apply first. Parents will be able to apply for all their children at the same time, when their youngest child becomes eligible. All eligible parents will be able to join the scheme by the end of 2017 Childcare Providers Childcare providers need to sign up with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to receive payments from parents. You can only sign up for Tax Free Childcare if you’re a childcare provider registered or approved by a UK regulatory authority i.e. Ofsted You should receive a letter from the Government asking you to sign up online for Tax Free Childcare. Please make sure Ofsted has your current postal and email address. The letter will contain your unique ID which you will need to start the online process. Once you are in the secure site you will need to:

Insert your 10-digit Unique Tax Reference (UTR) number. This is the number that HMRC gave you when you first told them that you were working for yourself. You can find your UTR on any HMRC communications, for example, your tax statement or payment reminder, or by logging onto your Personal Tax Account. If you can’t find your UTR number, HMRC can send this number to your address. For more information call 0300 200 3410.

Provide bank details for the account you wish to receive Tax Free Childcare payments into. Parents will then be able to send you payments directly from their Tax Free Childcare account to your bank account (via BAC’s).

Each child will have a Tax Free Childcare reference number so you’ll be able to identify which payments cover which children. The Government top-up will be added into the parent’s online account on the same day, and the total amount will be available to pay for childcare. The accounts will use the BAC’s system, so payment should only take two to three working days to arrive in your bank account. When you receive a payment from a parent, it will include both their payment and the Government contribution.

While parents can’t use Tax Free Childcare at the same time as childcare vouchers, childcare providers who are signed up to Tax Free Childcare can receive payments from both schemes.

TAX FREE CHILDCARE

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Schools Schools that are offering childcare outside of the usual school day and do not have a separate Ofsted childcare registration will also be able to sign up for Tax Free Childcare. This will enable a parent who pays for an after school club, breakfast club or holiday playsheme which is provided by the school and on the school premises, to receive Tax Free Childcare support towards the costs. HMRC are currently finalising the implementation of a new IT system and process to support the Tax Free Childcare Scheme. The intention is that the sign up process for schools will be the same as for childcare providers. However, They are currently working through a few issues that have arisen and will be sending information out as soon as possible about the route for schools to sign up to the Tax Free Childcare system. More information about Tax Free Childcare will be available later this year on the www.gov.uk website.

Any further updates and information we receive will be passed on to schools and childcare providers as soon as possible

Q. What is the disability criteria for Tax Free Childcare, and why is additional funding being provided for children with a disability? HMRC response: Tax Free Childcare is a work incentive scheme. Where both parents are not working due to disability or caring responsibilities, neither can use Tax Free Childcare. However, in certain circumstances parents that are disabled or have caring responsibilities can be classed as being in paid work. This applies when these parents are in receipt of appropriate disability or caring benefits from DWP (including the Northern Ireland equivalents). Receipt of these benefits acts as a passport to Tax Free Childcare. When the Childcare Payments Act 2014 was going through Parliament, debates highlighted that, in some cases, disabled childcare provision is more expensive. As a result, Ministers decided to double the financial support for disabled children from £2,000 per year to £4,000. Disabled is defined in the Tax Free Childcare legislation as being in receipt of one of;

Disability Living Allowance

Personal Independence Payments, or Armed forces independence payments, being certified as severely sight impaired or blind.

Essentially, the disability element allows parents to have more of a top up to reflect the potential for more expensive specialist care being needed.

Universal Credit Universal Credit replaces six means-tested benefits, transforming the benefits system to make work pay, encourage people to increase their hours of work and eventually move off benefits: jobseekers allowance; income related employment and support allowance; income support; child tax credit; working tax credit; and housing benefit. The childcare element which will give support with childcare costs can be received when:

the child with childcare is an eligible child

the eligible child is being cared for by a registered or qualifying provider

the adult, or both the adults if a couple claim, are in paid work or have accepted a job offer that is due to start before the end of their Assessment Period

Households are entitled to be reimbursed up to 85% of eligible childcare costs which will be paid within their Universal Credit single award. The maximum amounts that can be received for childcare costs in Universal Credit are: £646.35 for one child; and £1108.04 for two or more children.

Tax Fee Childcare and Universal Credit Claimants can only receive support from one scheme:

but they can choose the scheme which best meets their needs;

and they can move between schemes when they experience a change in circumstances.

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DEPARTMENT for EDUCATION UPDATE

In the Summer 2015 the DfE launched the 30-hours Early Implementers programme. This is about generating real learning and the intention is to harness this quickly and translate it into transferrable solutions that will support all local authorities to prepare and implement effective strategies for the rollout in September 2017

There are eight ‘early implementer’ areas delivering childcare places a year early went live

on the1st September 2016

24 ‘early innovator’ areas to create new solutions to issues such as SEND and flexibility.

Next Steps for DfE:

The regulations need to be approved through debates in both Houses of parliament later in the Autumn

The statutory guidance will be updated and published before the end of 2016

Develop departmental guidance – for later this year or early next year

Open the online system for parents to confirm their eligibility for the additional hours in the spring

Funding consultation: complete the analysis of responses and publish a response before the end of 2016

The government has published its response to their consultation, confirming the early years national

funding formula, changes to local level formulas, and reforms to further support children with special

educational needs and disabilities https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/childcare-and-early-education

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Key reforms:

A new early years national funding formula from April 2017 that will increase Government funding rates in 80% of local authorities

A minimum funding rate of at least £4.30 per hour for every local authority

The requirement for local authorities to pass 95% of their funding to providers

A new Disability Access Fund worth £615 per child per year to support disabled three- and four-year-olds to access their early years entitlement; and

The requirement for all local authorities to have Inclusion Funds to channel additional support to children with Special Educational Needs.

The government’s commitment to an increase in the average funding rate means that the vast majority of councils and childcare providers will see increases in their average hourly funding rates as a result of the changes

National Support Contract: The DfE has awarded the national support contract for the 30 hours free childcare to Mott MacDonald and Hempsall’s. This is the same company that successfully lead on the Achieving Two Year Old programme.

The contract is to work with schools, childcare providers and local authorities on the implementation of the 30 hours free childcare for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds.

The new support project is called Childcare Works with the aim of achieving the delivery of sufficient childcare places in which high quality childcare is accessible, flexible and affordable. The Foundation Years team will be led by Sue Robb at Action for Children who have joined the Hempsall / Mott MacDonald national delivery team. Sue’s focus will be to run a special programme of termly Learn, Explore, Debate (LED) events in regional locations. The audience for these events are all types of private, voluntary and independent childcare providers, children’s centres, schools, and childminders.

New reforms like the 30 hours free childcare will bring many challenges and the Childcare Works team are experienced in finding solutions to address the barriers to implementation and providing a data and intelligence led approach.

Childcare Works has developed a programme of practical and effective support, challenge and solutions for all types of providers and every local authority. There will be strong focus on sufficiency, flexibility, maintaining two year old places and ensuring access for children with SEND Toolkit – 30 Hours Mixed Model Partnership: The Family and Childcare Trust has produced, in conjunction with the Department for Education, a free toolkit to support mixed model partnership approaches to delivering the additional 15 hours free entitlement (30 hours offer) for three and four year olds. The interactive toolkit will help childcare providers:

Think about how to get started

Assess the likely supply of and demand for the 30 hours offer

Explore and maximise benefits of adopting a partnership approach

Set up or join a partnership

Explore how relationships with parents (mothers, fathers and other carers) might change

Learn from a number of case studies

Tackle the challenges joint working can bring.

The toolkit was developed following the 30 Hours Mixed Model Partnership project, in which the Family and Childcare Trust supported 16 local authorities to increase places for the 30 hours entitlement by creating partnerships between providers (including schools, childminders, private and voluntary childcare providers).

You can download the 30 hours mixed model partnership toolkit from this website:

www.familyandchildcaretrust.org/access-dfes-30-hours-mixed-model-partnership-toolkit

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SERVICE AREA UPDATES

Families Information Service

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

The Families Information Service website has relocated onto the Council website. www.doncaster.gov.uk/fis The benefits of this for service users are:

It is easier to navigate

It has a search engine

It has a facility to change the language

It has an audio facility

It has a ‘rate the page’ function which we encourage users to use to provide us with feedback

Please be aware the Local Offer information is yet to be migrated over.

We Will Advertise Your Open Days!

Families Information Service are happy to advertise childcare providers / schools open days on our Facebook pages! If you wish to advertise your open days please send a flyer to fis@doncaster.gov.uk

Natalie Pendleton Families Information Service Officer

Early Years Conference 2017

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Free Childcare for 2 Year Olds

Thank you! Over the past year the take up rates for two year old early education funding have increased

promisingly term by term. In Autumn 2015 we had reached a total take up level of 73%, a year later in Autumn 2016 early indications (excluding late starters) show we have reached a huge 81%.

By working together we have ensured that the use of the Golden Ticket letters and new design work have been a huge success! Through our strengthened partnership with children’s centres and the Starting Well initiative, families now have more guidance, encouragement and support when accessing their place.

A breakdown of the Autumn term take up shows:

Sub-locality Area No. on DfE List 2YO Accessed Take Up Rate

Adwick 108 97 90%

Armthorpe 62 38 61%

Askern 51 37 73%

Balby 152 136 89%

Barnby Dun, Edenthorpe and Kirk Sandall 55 42 76%

Bentley 137 122 89%

Cantley and Bessacarr 66 59 89%

Central 143 68 48%

Denaby and Conisbrough 89 55 62%

Dunscroft and Hatfield 67 51 76%

Edlington 74 59 80%

Great North Road 72 60 83%

Intake and Belle Vue 65 58 89%

Mexborough 110 81 74%

Moorends 67 69 103%

Rossington 120 111 93%

Sprotbrough 24 18 75%

Stainforth 80 72 90%

Thorne 61 52 85%

Wheatley 109 87 80%

Out of Authority - 13 -

Grand Total 1712 1385 81%

What next?

We have plans to increase take up rates even further and there is still a lot of exciting work to embed. We have recently rebranded the scheme and new materials have been produced and different resources are being trialled during the mail out process by comparing distribution of a glossy postcard with a printed enveloped letter based on a 50/50 split of localities. Trials have shown that the letter has been the more successful option and moving forward this will be the chosen method for the golden ticket eligibility, future distributions will also contain a glossy information booklet, highlighting the benefits of accessing their free place.

We have also been busy producing a suite of marketing materials for our funded providers. Providers eligible to deliver two year old funding will soon receive a marketing pack.

The pack will consist of: a registered funded provider certificate; customisable posters; and window stickers

If you have any questions about the funding, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 01302 862111 or

educationreturnsandcollections@doncaster.gov.uk

Steve Lawson-Chamberlain Interim Education Returns and Collections Manager

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CONTACT DETAILS

Childcare Works: www.childcareworks.co.uk website to be launched in December and populated in full in January for regular blogs, tools, resources and news.

www.hempsalls.com to sign up to receive a newsletter Telephone: 0844 824 3083 or info@hempsalls.com to get in touch and find out about events

Foundationyears.org.uk for provider information re 30 hours and event information Parent information / data Michelle Dobbs michelle.dobbs@doncaster.gov.uk Parent information / data Michelle Wagstaff michelle.wagstaff@doncaster.gov.uk Telephone: 01302 862132 Steve Lawson-Chamberlain steve.lawson-chamberlain@doncaster.gov.uk Telephone 01302 735238 Families Information Service fis@doncaster.gov.uk Telephone: 01302 735237 Quality – Stephanie Douglas stephanie.douglas@doncaster.gov.uk Telephone: 01302 737810 Sustainability / Business Sandra Hammond sandra.hammond@doncaster.gov.uk Dawn Wood dawn.wood@doncaster.gov.uk Telephone: 01302 862118/01302 862129