Early Years and Childcare Broadcast

West Sussex County Council sent this bulletin at 04-12-2019 04:00 PM GMT

Early Years and Childcare Broadcast header

With you, with the child. Every step of the way.

Weekly broadcast for Early Years and childcare providers in West Sussex from West Sussex County Council - Early Help Service

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Wednesday 4 December 2019

DSG reserve lump sum payments (FE)

For any queries relating to lump sum payments received week commencing 2 December 2019, please refer to the setting broadcast item titled ‘Early Years Dedicated Schools Grant Reserves’ sent on Wednesday 27 November 2019.

Payments were made as a one–off lump sum adjustment payment on the Autumn 2019 3 and 4 year old term. Payments can be viewed by logging on to the Online Provider Portal (OPP) and clicking into the 2019/2020 Autumn 3 and 4 year old term to view the adjustment amount. For step by step OPP guidance please refer to the Actuals guidance document available at www.westsussex.gov.uk/ecsportal.

If after reading the information in the previous broadcast you have any further queries please email free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk. Please do not send queries to the West Sussex County Council finance team.

Checking Eligibility for 2YO Free Entitlement (FE)

A reminder to please check that Free Entitlement (FE) for 2 Year Old funding has been awarded before confirming a child can access a funded place with you.

During Autumn Term Headcount, 18 claims for children where providers expected them to be eligible for 2 Year Old FE were submitted. Reasons as to why these children were not eligible include:

no application has ever been made by the parent;
an application was made, however the family does not meet the eligibility criteria;
the family started the application process, but did not submit the details to us; or
the family is eligible, however the funding does not start until next term.

All eligible parents/carers are sent a letter which contains a 6 digit reference number as well as the month in which the funding can be claimed from. As a provider, you should keep the cut off slip at the bottom of the letter or an electronic copy of the letter for your reference.

We are currently not using any voucher codes that contain 6 letters (e.g. NDHDIS) that parents may see during the application process. If the parent gives you one of these codes, please ask to see the letter with the 6 digit reference number on.

Please note we can only approve FE2YO funding from the beginning of the month in which the application is processed.

Weather Warning Alerts

We are currently experiencing a change in the weather and, as a result, a ‘Yellow, Level 2 Weather Warning’ has been issued by the Met Office.

Bad weather often impacts on the ability to run your business effectively, which means plans are often needed to be put in place to deal with adverse weather conditions. Make sure you are always prepared by signing up to the Met Office Weather Warning Advice Alerts or follow West Sussex Twitter accounts @WSCCNews and @WSCCResilience for regular updates on local weather and impact.

Have you heard about Compass Card?

Have you heard about Compass Card WSx, the free leisure card that provides discounts and freebies for 0 to 25s with additional needs? Run by Sussex-based charity Amaze and funded by West Sussex County Council, there are around 300 venues in and around Sussex that provide a Compass Card deal and you can see them all on the free Compass Card app here or on the offers page on the Compass Card website here. Once families have a Compass Card, they can sign up to a regular e-newsletter, ‘Compass News WSx’. It’s packed with leisure info and there are regular free offers too.

But that’s not all. When a young person or parent carer applies for a Compass Card by filling in a Compass Registration Form, the information is transferred to the Compass WSx database by the Compass Team at Amaze. No one’s personal details are shared outside the organisation, but the collated data is a powerful tool that can help local services plan and directly benefit disabled children and young people.

There are over 2,700 children and young people in West Sussex with a Compass Card already and the numbers are growing. Check whether you’re eligible for Compass Card WSx here.

You can find out more about Compass Card West Sussex on the Compass Card website at https://www.compasscard.org.uk/, by emailing the Compass Team at Amaze at compass@amazesussex.org.uk, by calling 0300 123 9186, or by direct messaging the team on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AmazeCompassCard/.

Early Years Workforce Survey

Lancaster University and the Fatherhood Institute have come together to create the GenderEYE Project. The project’s objective is to ascertain why so few men are willing to train and work within the early years profession. The project will be producing its findings at the end of next year in early years publications such as Nursery World.

They have conducted surveys to gain information about the current early years workforce across the country. There are two surveys: one for managers to complete and one for practioners. The surveys are anonymous and are open until 20 December 2019. More information and access to the surveys can be found here.