Agenda item

To receive and consider a report containing information in relation to the Early Years 2018/19 Budget.

The Forum received the Early Years 2018/19 Budget report which was set out in agenda pages 15-22.

Coral Miller stated that the Early Years allocation had increased for two and three and four year olds by 24p per hour to £5.54 and £4.39 respectively.

Coral Miller explained that local authorities were required, from 2018/19 onwards, to pass 95% of their three and four year old funding from government onto Early Years’ providers.  This pass-through requirement ensured that the vast majority of government funding reached providers so that they could deliver free entitlements.  Coral stated that Wokingham had decided to passport 96% to providers.

During the discussion of the item the following comments were made;

·           Ian Morgan asked what was the recoupment charge in the previous year;

·           Coral Miller explained that the numbers were calculated based on three in-year censuses, with adjustments being made after each census; any recoupment was based on these numbers;

·           Ian Morgan believed that the two year old funding was outside the funding formula and therefore should not be top sliced and £5.74 should be paid to providers;

·           Coral Miller explained that the two year old funding was outside of the 5% top slice rule, so it was possible to top slice it at a different rate, for example at 10%;

·           Gail Prewett was surprised with this information and stated that it was difficult to breakdown the figures and to fully understand the Early Years funding;

·           Coral Miller explained that Wokingham had decided not to exercise the right to top slice two year olds at a higher rate, 96% of funding for two year olds was still passported to providers;

·           In response to a question Lynne Samuel, stated that the 4% was based on the January census;

·           Ian Morgan pointed out that providers were receiving their 96% funding from a total of nearly £10 million, whereas the Local Authority was taking its 4% top slice from a calculated total of £11 million;

·           Coral Miller explained that this calculation was based on a budget and not on an estimate, and that Section 251 had to be finalised by the end of April, any recoupment would take place in July;

·           Ian Morgan noted that the item ‘maximum amount to providers after providers reserves’ of £187K listed in Table B used to be referred as the contingencies fund in previous reports.  He stated that the contingencies last year was £229K, and that he could not see the difference passed back to providers, he wished to see a breakdown of that item;

·           Coral Miller confirmed that she had changed the name of the item to make it clearer;

·           Coral Miller stated that the contingencies money/providers reserve was used to manage growth.  If this reserve was not used within the year, this would be passed back to providers;

·           Coral Miller expected that there would be growth as a result of the free 30 hours entitlement;

·           In response to a question Lynne Samuel stated that the methodology to calculate the internal recharges for Early Years was standard and it was the same that was used across the Council;

·           Schools Forum Members felt that it seemed a very high charge;

·           Paul Miller stated that it should be 4% of the net amount of the worst case scenario and not £421K as listed in the report; rather than have to recoup the money, which incurred a cost/loss of income to the Early Years Team budget;

·           Coral Miller agreed to look into this in more detail once the actual recoupment amount was received from the DfE in July;

·           Members asked if there was a vacancy in the Early Years Team, Patricia Davies stated that Emma Slaughter was the Interim Manager;

·           Patricia Davies stated that she had recently had a conversation with Ofsted in relation to Early Years and the feedback had been positive for Wokingham’s provision;

·           Members asked for clarification on the Services – Specialist listed in Table C and also on how many posts there were in the Early Years Team and whether there was a vacancy.  Patricia Davies agreed to report back;

·           Ian Morgan stated that Wokingham had recently been granted a £17K allocation fund, he would like to know where this was listed in the report.  Lynne Samuel agreed to investigate and report back;

·           Councillor Clark asked if providers were able to opt out of the services provided by the Council.  Gail Prewett stated that the services provided by the Council were invaluable, however when funding was so limited providers wished to fully understand the breakdown of the funding allocations; 

·           Coral Miller explained that this was a statutory function;

·           Ian Morgan believed that there was legislation in place preventing pre-schools from becoming academies;

·           Paul Miller stated that there was concern that the overhead surcharge for services was a large amount; but there was recognition that the Local Authority was moving towards a centralised support system;

·           Ian Morgan stated that providers were concerned that going forward only statutory duties were going to be provided; and that only settings that required improvement would receive extra help;

·           Ian Morgan stated that the Early Years Team was as large as it had been for a number of years, however the services being provided were diminishing;

·           Patricia Davies stated that support was going to be targeted to where this was needed, it was being prioritised;

·           Elaine Stewart stated that her school had not received support from the Early Years Team, and she would be interested to know where the support was being delivered; and

·           Patricia Davies stated that when the Schools Improvement Team visited schools they would speak about the Early Years offer and offered support if required.

After a robust discussion it was agreed that Schools Forum would like to receive a report containing information in relation to the support offered to Early Years, as there seemed to be a disparity in the perception of the extent of the provision between schools and the Local Authority.  Patricia Davies stated that she would ask Emma Slaughter to prepare a report and attend the next meeting of Schools Forum to discuss this further.  Paul Senior stated that that this report should include details of the system for the allocation of resources.

It was acknowledged that there was a lack of engagement between the Early Year’s sector and the Local Authority.  An Early Years Forum was being re-established in an effort to improve communication.

RESOLVED That:

1)     The report be noted;

2)     Emma Slaughter, Interim Early Years Manager would be invited to attend the next meeting and provide clarification to the various points raised during discussion.