With you, with the child. Every step of the way.
Broadcast for Early Years and childcare providers in West Sussex from West Sussex County Council - Early Help Service
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Tuesday 31 March 2020
We hope you have had a good start to the week and continue to express our thanks to you for caring for vulnerable children and those of key workers. The FAQs (see end of bulletin) have been updated and all new information has been highlighted to make it easier to identify.
Childcare Hubs
You may have heard of other areas in the UK opening “Childcare Hubs”. We have received questions from providers if this will happen in West Sussex. At present, based on the information you have all provided us with, we have spaces available for those parents needing them. However, this is a changing picture and we are considering a variety of different options, should we need to look at this in the future. We will continue to keep you informed and work with you to ensure that together we can provide this essential service to those who need it most.
Vulnerable children
We have been working hard to identify the vulnerable children across the county to ensure these children are receiving all the support they need during these difficult times. We are pleased to say we now have a comprehensive list of who these are, and some of these children, we know are, or have been, attending your settings.
The Early Years and Childcare Advisors will be contacting those providers, about children on our list, urgently over the next week. This will allow us to build a picture of which of these vulnerable children are still currently attending early years provision and identify any children who may need extra support at this time. Support and guidance will be offered to you as needed.
As mentioned in previous broadcasts, please ensure we have up to date contact details for you to help us with this task, whether your setting is currently open or closed.
Furloughing Staff
We are aware that there has been some conflicting information regarding the furloughing of staff. The Early Years and childcare closures document published on 24 March 2020, clearly stated that “The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme means that for employees who are not working but kept on payroll, the government will contribute 80% of each worker’s wages of up to £2,500, backdated to 1 March 2020. Providers can access this scheme while continuing to be paid the early entitlements funding via local authorities.”
However, the document published on Friday 27 March, Claim for your employee’s wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, stated “Where employers receive public funding for staff costs, and that funding is continuing, we expect employers to use that money to continue to pay staff in the usual fashion – and correspondingly not furlough them”.
We are aware that, for many providers, only a proportion of your income comes from public funding and as such we are seeking further clarification from the government that their pledge to enable providers to access the Job Retention Scheme stands. As soon as we have any updates on this we will let you know via this broadcast.
Update from the Family Information Service
As part of the COVID-19 response, the Family Information Service has needed to review some of its current processes to continue to support you during a time of fast-paced changes.
An example of this is any outstanding Post Headcount/Exceptional Payment requests. If you have not yet had a response to a form you submitted before Monday 23 March, please bear with us and be reassured we are doing our best to process them as quickly as we can. Funding will be paid for all approved applications as soon as possible.
Also, to ensure your query is dealt with as quickly as possible, please ensure you are using the best method of contact:
Please, where possible, scan and send any required documents by email rather than posting to us as currently we have limited access to post.
Thank you for your continued patience at this time.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - including links to Gov.UK information
Note: Our FAQs for settings have been amalgamated into one document. You will always be opening the latest version by clicking the link below in this, and future broadcasts.
Ensure that you additionally refer to the latest Government FAQs on Gov.UK
Links to our most recent COVID-19 setting updates:
30/3 Update 10 (supporting business wage costs)
27/3 Update 9 (self employed; Letter from Vicky Ford MP)
25/3 Update 8 (guidance on social distancing within childcare settings)
24/3 Update 7 (PM's announcement and new government guidance)
23/3 Update 6 (Record of Attendance template)
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