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 23 March 2021
Reminder - this week's DfE data capture
This week's Department for Education data capture for the numbers of children currently accessing early years provision is open now, and will close at the end of Wednesday (midnight). Please use this link to complete your return.
Update on Asymptomatic Testing for Childminders and Families with Children Under 5
From this week, there will be more options available to childminders to enable them to participate in the asymptomatic testing programme. This testing offer is also extended to anyone who works in an occupation related to a school, early years childcare provider, or college and their household, childcare and support bubbles. More information can be found here.
All childminders are now able to access asymptomatic twice-weekly testing by either:
This is a very welcome development for childminders. Testing will help to identify positive cases, particularly those who may have the virus and do not have symptoms. Those who test positive will then self-isolate, helping to reduce transmission of the virus. All positive results from rapid tests undertaken at home do need to be confirmed with a standard PCR test.
In addition, the households, childcare and support bubbles of early years children are also able to access twice-weekly asymptomatic testing. More information can be found here.
The asymptomatic testing programme does not replace the current testing policy for those with symptoms. Anyone with symptoms (even if they recently had a negative LFD test result), should still self-isolate immediately according to government guidelines. Those with symptoms should follow guidance for households with possible or confirmed coronavirus (COVID-19) infection and book a PCR test. Do not use an LFD home test if you suspect you may have COVID-19.
For more information on asymptomatic testing, please read these FAQs. Although, please note that these FAQs have not been updated to show the new eligibility of all the groups recently added.
Shielding update
The Government has announced that shielding guidance is being paused from Thursday 1 April. From that date, clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) people are no longer advised to shield. CEV people must continue to follow the national restrictions that are in place for everyone.
From Thursday 1 April, all CEV children should attend early years provision, school, college, wraparound childcare and out-of-school settings, unless they are one of the very small number of children under paediatric or other specialist care and have been advised by their GP or clinician not to attend.
Staff in schools and colleges who are CEV are advised to continue to work from home where possible, but if they cannot work from home should now attend their workplace.
Where parents/carers, staff, or students are anxious about attendance, you should speak to them about their concerns and discuss the protective measures that have been put in place to reduce the risk and any additional measures that could be put in place.
Free Entitlement Summer term estimates – deadline this Friday!
The Online Provider Portal is open for you to submit your Summer term estimates for Free Entitlement (FE) for 2, 3 and 4 year olds.
- Deadline for estimate submissions is 26 March 2021.
View our Estimate help guide which includes links to PDF guidance as well as quick and easy video guide to support you.
30 hour code deadline reminder
In order for children to access an Extended FE place in the Summer term their 30 hour code must be issued by HMRC by 31 March 2021. Any existing codes with a grace period ending 31 March 2021, or earlier must also be reconfirmed by this date. Please refer to setting update 132 for further guidance.
If you have any questions, please email free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk or phone the Family Information Service on 01243 777807.
Provider Declaration 2021/2022 reminder – existing Free Entitlement providers only
The new Free Entitlement (FE) Provider Declaration (April 2021 to March 2022) is now available, please ensure you refer to the latest version on our website.
The Provider Declaration form is available on the Online Provider Portal (OPP). All existing FE providers must complete and return their signed ‘Provider Declaration v2’ form electronically by 26 March 2021 in order to continue delivering FE from April 2021.
To access guidance and the OPP go to www.westsussex.gov.uk/ecsportal. Failure to return this form by the due date may delay your Summer term estimate payment.
Any providers wishing to sign up to deliver Free Entitlement for 2, 3 and 4 year olds for the first time, please contact the Family Information Service for a separate form and do not complete the online form. If you have any questions, please contact the Family Information Service on 01243 777807 and ask to speak to the Specialist Team, or email free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk
Free Entitlement for 2, 3 and 4 Year Olds - Indicative Budgets
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). Following consultation, 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. In December 2020, central government announced an increase to the base rate paid to local authorities of £0.08 per hour for 2 year olds and £0.06 per hour for 3 and 4 year olds funding. Financial modelling was carried out and on 28 January 2021, the Schools Forum approved the following:
- increase base rate for 2 year olds by £0.08
- increase base rate for 3 and 4 year olds by £0.06
- change pass-through rate from 96% to 95.5%
- remove address-based deprivation weightings
- application of a flat rate top-up of £0.47 per hour to all children in receipt of EYPP resulting in a combined supplement of £1.00 per hour for all children eligible for Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) (EYPP + Deprivation)
As such, the estimate for your setting in 2021/22 is based on:
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Base funding
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£4.56
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Deprivation supplement
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£0.47 for eligible 3 and 4 year olds
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Early Years Pupil Premium
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£0.53 for eligible 3 and 4 year olds
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Eligible 2 year olds
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£5.26
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The Indicative Budgets are due to be posted this week.
Should you have any questions please contact the FE team through The Family Information Service via email free.entitlement@westsussex.gov.uk.
Cyber-attack warning
Nurseries and childminders are being warned of the threat of cyber-attacks, in guidance from the government's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). It is the first time that the agency - part of the GCHQ intelligence service - has given guidance to a sector caring for such young children. It includes warnings to use password protection for information for parents. "We know that incidents affecting the education sector are increasingly common," said Sarah Lyons at the NCSC. The cyber-agency says pre-school providers and childminders are "increasingly relying on technology to operate" and have become an "appealing target" for cyber-attacks. The NCSC says many scam emails are "preying on fears of COVID-19" and warns nurseries and childminders to watch out for fake messages trying to obtain information with false claims, including resetting passwords, receiving compensation and missed deliveries. You can read more on BBC News.
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.
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#137 (Reporting COVID-19 cases, COVID-19 resource packs, revised OOS guidance, household and bubbles get rapid lateral flow tests, PACEY survey)
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#136 (Asymptomatic testing guidance and delivery schedule, face coverings, 30 hours deadline)
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#135 (Lateral flow device/home testing kits, childminder networks)
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#134 (DfE Data capture, Asymptomatic testing, guidance to contain the spread of COVID-19, Contain Outbreak Management Fund, Free Entitlement Provider Declaration 2021/2022, FE summer term estimate, Online Provider Portal account changes, new workshop added to virtual conference)
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#133 (Updated guidance for out of school settings, early years virtual conference, save the date - childminder conference)
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:
- 26 Mar - Summer term Estimate submissions close (FE providers)
- 26 Mar - FE Provider Declaration 2021/2 closes (Mandatory for all FE providers)
- 31 Mar - deadline for completing termly Sufficiency data (all providers)
- w/c 5 Apr - Summer term Estimate payments expected (FE providers)
- 21 Apr - Summer term Actuals submissions open (FE providers)
- 15 May - Childminder Virtual Conference (save the date, event details to follow)
- 21 May - Summer term Actuals submissions close (FE providers)
- w/c 21 Jun - Summer term Actuals payments expected (FE providers)
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