Issue details

Proposed Decision:

The Cabinet Member is asked to:

1.           approve the proposed process for the management and awarding of capital funding related to deliver of the extended early years funded entitlements;

2.           approve the proposed process for the management and awarding of capital funding and revenue monies related to deliver of the wraparound childcare aspiration;

3.           authorise the Director of Education and Skills to adapt these processes, in consultation with the Cabinet Members for Education and Skills and Integrated Children’s Services, as necessary to ensure effective delivery.

Further Information:

The Spring Budget announced a range of measures to support early education and help parents with childcare so they can return to work more easily. This included new funded entitlements:

1. From April 2024, eligible working parents of 2-year-olds can access up to 15 hours per week for 38 weeks of the year.
2. From Sept 2024, eligible working parents of children aged 9 months up to 3-year-olds can access up to 15 hours per week for 38 weeks of the year.
3. From Sept 2025, eligible working parents of children aged 9 months up to 3-year-olds can access up to 30 hours per week for 38 weeks of the year.

The Government also announced its ambition that, by 2026, all parents and carers of primary school-aged children who need it will be able to access term time childcare in their local area from 8:00 AM- 6:00 PM. This is known as wrap-around childcare.

Additional funding is being made available to the County Council via the Early Years Funding Block to deliver the new entitlements from 1 April 2024..

Additionally a Wraparound Childcare grant is being provided, during the three financial years of 2023-24 to 2025-26.  The County Council is to receive a maximum of £52k in 2023-24, £4.1m in 2024-25 and £1.9m (provisional) in 2025-26. 

To support the expansion of the funded entitlement for working age parents and to achieve the ambitions of the wraparound childcare programme, the DfE is also making available some capital funding to support place development. The County Council has been allocated a total of £2.66m capital funding. The DfE is expecting approximately 80% to be spent on expanding funded entitlements and 20% on wraparound childcare provision.

The processes and criteria for awarding capital funding to providers to enable them to deliver these services, and the revenue funding to help set up sustainable wraparound childcare provision need to be approved.  This is to ensure consistency, transparency and fairness.

The proposed decision supports the key priority “Levelling up Kent” within the ‘Framing Kent’s Future (2022-26)’.   Supporting the Kent economy to be resilient and successful depends upon having a flexible, adaptable, talented workforce.  Enabling parents to be active in the workforce is an essential component of this.

The proposed decision supports “Securing Kent’s Future – budget recovery strategy”.  The additional activity is funded by Government Grant, with allowances within these for the County Council’s delivery costs.  No additional funds from KCC are required.  Supporting families to work and be independent of state support assists the County Council’s budget position. 

Financial Implications:

The revenue and capital funding are grant allocations to the Authority and must be spent in accordance with the grant conditions.  The processes set out in the report to the Children’s, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee will ensure these grants are spent accordingly, and are not overspent to ensure there is no financial pressure on the Authority.

The Authority’s delivery costs were covered in the paper presented to this Cabinet Committee on 26 January 2024.  For ease of reference these are: 

·         the Authority’s cost of delivering the current and new entitlements are  expected to be fully covered by the early years block funding in 2024-25 through retention of up to 5% of the grant. For 2023-24, the DfE has provided a separate one-off grant of £233,579 to support the Local Authority’s activities required ahead of the 1^st April to deliver the new entitlement offer.

·         The 2023-24 Wraparound provision grant allocation is expected to fund the Authority’s central delivery costs for this initiative, and 11% of future year grant allocations can be used for this purpose in subsequent years.