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
Difficulty viewing this bulletin? Click here to view in your browser.
Thursday 4 February 2021
Advance notice - next week's DfE data capture
Next week's DfE data capture for the numbers of children currently accessing early years provision will be open from Monday, and will close at the end of Wednesday (midnight). Please use this link to complete your return.
Free Entitlement Funding (DSG) 2021/22
As announced last year, West Sussex County Council proposed a change to the amount of funding that is passed through to early years providers for children in receipt of 3 and 4 year old Free Entitlement (FE).
As you will be aware from the statutory guidance, there must be a minimum pass through rate of 95% of the funding for 3 and 4 year olds to providers. In West Sussex this has been 96%. It was expected that the pass through rate would change to 95% for the 2021/22 financial year. However, it has been negotiated that the additional 1% would instead be split to 0.5% for 2021/22 and 0.5% for 2022/23, which will help minimise any impact on your businesses and to ensure that we maintain our focus on improving outcomes for children.
Providers were consulted on proposed changes to the funding formula earlier this year, and the outcomes were as follows:
- 99% of providers stated that their preferred option was to keep the base rate for all children as high as possible and reduce the overall spend of the deprivation supplement.
- 64% of providers preferred using the same criteria as Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) as a measure of child deprivation, opposed to 27% opting to continue to use the child's home postcode.
- Where the preferred option from the consultation was to target the supplement using the same criteria as EYPP, 85% agreed that this would be best achieved via an increase to the hourly EYPP rate.
Following the consultation response and subsequent financial modelling, it was proposed to the Schools Forum that we apply a flat rate top-up of £0.47 per hour to all children in receipt of EYPP. This will ensure that deprivation funding reaches those children who are eligible and also means that the base rate can be increased by the full £0.06 for 3 and 4 year old's and £0.08 for 2 year old's (in-line with the increase in hourly funding rate that the LA has received from the DfE) despite the increase in the centrally retained element. This means that there will be a combined supplement of £1.00 per hour for all children eligible for EYPP (EYPP + Deprivation Funding).
We appreciate that this change in how the deprivation supplement is targeted will impact on different settings in different ways. However, we are confident that this change will ensure that funding is allocated to where it is needed, and putting children at the centre of what we do.
The Schools Forum approved this proposal on 28 January 2021. This means we will be preparing your Free Entitlement Indicative Budgets for the 2021/22 financial year using the following hourly base funding rates:
- 3 and 4 year old base rate - £4.56
- 2 year old base rate - £5.26
- Deprivation Supplement - £0.47
- Early Years Pupil Premium - £0.53
The Indicative Budgets for your setting will be shared with you later this month. If you have any questions or require further clarification on the funding please contact your Early Years and Childcare Adviser.
Free Entitlement spring term – post-headcount/exceptional payment requests
Thank you for completing your online actual claims for spring term. The Online Provider Portal is now closed and we are working to resolve all queries prior to making payments, as scheduled, week commencing 22 February 2021.
As you know, under normal circumstances, if 3 and 4 year olds are not in attendance during headcount day (21 January 2021), there would need to be exceptional circumstances for us to consider a post-headcount/exceptional payment request. These are outlined in 4.13 of the WSCC Free Entitlement for 2, 3 and 4 year olds Provider Declaration.
If you had chosen to close and were therefore not eligible to claim at headcount this spring term, some settings have asked about FE funding when you decide to re-open later in the term. We are pleased to confirm that West Sussex County Council will fund all eligible children in attendance, from the point at which the child returns to the setting, via the usual post-headcount/exceptional payment request form. This exception applies to settings re-opening and children starting after headcount day if they have not claimed elsewhere, within the spring term only.
Vulnerable children in early years settings
As early years settings are currently open for all children, we are not carrying out any check-in calls to monitor the attendance of vulnerable children. If you have children who you consider vulnerable who are not currently attending your setting, please notify the professionals involved in supporting the child or family so that they are aware of the non-attendance and can offer appropriate support. If you have concerns but are unsure of who to speak to, please follow your usual safeguarding procedures or contact an Early Years and Childcare Advisor to discuss your concerns.
Public Health Webinars - Supporting early years providers during COVID-19
In December and January, the West Sussex Public Health team ran a series of webinars for early years providers to support practitioners in managing the risks of COVID-19 and reducing the impact within their setting. These slides were used at the final session which was delivered on 28 January. We are sharing these to support you in accessing the information if you were unable to attend. However, please note the information was correct at the time of the webinar, but the data and guidance will change and you should refer to the latest information to support you in your planning.
Free webinar - Planning for Positive Transitions
This webinar is limited to one person per setting and is for those new to transition planning. Please book according to your area where possible. You will focus on a child centred approach, ensuring the well-being of children is at the heart of the transition process. You will consider the importance of proactive transition planning for all children and strategies to support transitions within and between schools/settings. You will be given an overview of the tools and resources that you can use. Log onto the Learning and Development Gateway and search for the course code to find out more and book.
- 03 March - 1.00pm to 4.30pm - West (Chichester/Arun) EYT 21/578
- 10 March - 1.00pm to 4.30pm - South (Adur and Worthing area) EYT 21/579
- 24 March - 1.00pm to 4.30pm - East (Mid Sussex/east area) EYT 21/580
- 31 March - 1.00pm to 4.30pm - North (Crawley/Horsham area) EYT 21/581
Please inform the Family Information Service if your setting needs to close or is re-opening. Email family.info.service@westsussex.gov.uk and include your setting name, Ofsted URN, the date you intend to close/open, and any changes to your operating hours. If you inform us of re-opening, you will be reinstated on the public list and appear on our website www.westsussex.gov.uk/fis.
If closing due to COVID-19 please ensure you read and follow all the steps in the PHE South East Health Protection Team ' Managing Suspected and Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Early Years and Childcare settings' flowchart.
In the event of your setting having a confirmed COVID-19 case, if Public Health or the Department for Education have stated you must close for any period of time you must inform the Family Information Service. However, if Public Heath have not explicitly stated in correspondence to you that the setting must close, we would expect you to make contact with your Early Years and Childcare Adviser (EYCA) to talk through your circumstances, where possible, before making the decision to close the setting. If you are not able to make immediate contact with your EYCA then please email your nearest Early Help Hub using the following email addresses:
Where there are not clearly evidenced reasons why the setting had no option to close, there could be implications for funding received as per the government guidance.
If a family you know are struggling to ensure they have food for their family, collect medication, or are in need of any additional support, contact West Sussex County Council Community hub.
-
#124 (DfE data capture, new Foundation Years FAQs, Readiness survey, free ICAN training, working with children who have EAL)
-
#123 (Updated information for managing COVID-19 cases, letter from Public Health, final reminder - FE spring term and EY Census, informing Ofsted of significant events, new single route for families and professionals to access support, attachment and trauma in early years)
-
#122 (Settings not currently open to all children, Local Offer revised link, stories and songs in libraries, Compass card, a look at treasure baskets for babies)
-
#121 (Updated funding letter for parents, reminder for mandatory EY Census, FE spring term actuals reminder, Local Offer, understanding parental conflict webinar, Recover and Rise business workshops, every mind matters)
-
20 JAN Special broadcast - COVID-19 testing within early years and childcare settings
We have a range of online training available for you to access for your staff to ensure they have the most up to date information to support them in their role:
- w/c 22 Feb - Spring term Actuals payments expected (FE providers)
- 10 Mar - Summer term Estimate submissions open (FE providers)
- 26 Mar - Summer term Estimate submissions close (FE providers)
- 31 Mar - deadline for completing termly Sufficiency data (all providers)
- w/c 5 Apr - Summer term Estimate payments expected (FE providers)
| 
