30 hours of free early education for three and four year-olds

1. 30 hours of free early education for three and four year-olds Provider Information Sessions March 2017

2. Session Format The purpose of the session is to: • Provide an overview of the Government’s 30 Hours childcare policy and assess the implications for the LA and providers from all sectors in Oldham. • Share latest information about Tax Free Childcare. • Explain the Online application and eligibility checking system through which parents will be able to apply for both 30 hours free childcare and Tax Free Childcare. • Outline Government intent re. a Model Provider Agreement. • Consider opportunities for partnership working to meet the need for 30 hours places for working parents across Oldham.

3. 30 Hours Delivery Model Overview The offer: Extends free childcare to 1140 hours for eligible parents from September 2017. Eligibility: • both parents are working (or the sole parent is working in a lone parent family); • each parent earns, on average, a weekly minimum equivalent to 16 hours at national minimum wage (NMW) or national living wage (NLW). (Includes income received from tax credits or Universal Credit) • There is an income cap. If one parent’s income exceeds £100k the household will not be eligible

4. 30 Hours Delivery Model Overview (cont’d) Grace period: so parents can retain their childcare place for a limited period if they become ineligible. Eligibility Checking Service (ECS): to be developed to automatically calculate the grace period.

5. 30 Hours Delivery Model Overview (cont’d) Quality: As for the universal 15 hours free entitlement for 3 and 4 year olds, 30 hours can be taken in Ofsted ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ settings, (or ‘Requires Improvement’, subject to a Focused Improvement Plan (FIP). Flexibility: • Parents should be able to ‘stretch’ their free childcare over the full year if they wish. • The hours over which it can be delivered will extend to between 6.00 am and 8.00 pm (Currently 7.00 am to 7.00 pm). • There will be no minimum session length. • The maximum session length of 10hrs per day will remain. • There will be a limit on the number of sites on which children can take up their free entitlement in a single day to minimise transitions for the child.

6. 30 Hours Delivery Model Overview (cont’d) Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Specific proposals for funding provision for children with disabilities and additional needs: • Disability Access Fund of £12.5 million per year to support providers in building the capacity of the setting to support disabled children. • Local authorities to set up a SEN Inclusion Fund appropriate support children receive when in an early years setting

7. 30 Hours Delivery Model Overview (Cont.) Charging for Meals: • Providers can charge for meals and snacks as part of a free entitlement place so long as these charges are voluntary for the parent and it does not affect the parent’s ability to take up their free place. Information to Parents: • LAs will be required to update and publish their childcare information on a termly basis. • LAs to publish information via their websites, but to have other formats to publish info where necessary.

8. Tax Free Childcare Tax free childcare is the new government scheme to help working parents with the cost of childcare. It will be rolled out to parents for early 2017. To qualify, both parents need to be in work, and each expecting to earn at least £115 a week – and not more than £100,000 each year. Parents will be will be able to open an online childcare account, which will be used to pay for their childcare directly. For every £8 a parents pays in, the government will pay an extra £2.

9. Tax Free Childcare (Cont.) • Parents can receive up £2000 per child, per year, towards their childcare costs, or £4000 for disabled children. • The offer will be available for children up to the age of 12, or 17 for children who are disabled. • Parents can’t claim Tax Free Childcare at the same time as claiming tax credits, Universal Credit or childcare vouchers. • Childcare providers can receive payments from both Tax Free Childcare and childcare vouchers.

10. How does Tax Free Childcare work for providers? • Childcare providers should have received a letter inviting them to sign up for Tax Free Childcare. • Childcare providers must do this in order to receive payments from parents. • Once signed up, payments will be made from a parent’s online account directly into your chosen bank account.

11. How to sign up • To sign up childcare providers should visit www.childcare.tax.service.gov.uk and will need: • Unique code included in the invitation letter • 10 digit Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) • The bank account details for the account they wish to receive payments It’s important you sign up now Note: Lost or missing invitation sign up letter – contact the Helpline on 0300 123 4097

12. Online application and eligibility checking

13. 30 Hours Childcare: Process

14. The Parent Journey A parent submits an application on GOV.UK, or can apply over the phone to HMRC. A joint application can be made for 30 hours and Tax Free Childcare (TFC) at the same time. Eligible parents will receive an eligibility code. Parent takes the eligibility code to the participating childcare provider of their choice.

15. 30 Hours eligibility code validation Childcare providers will need to validate eligibility codes before additional free childcare is offered. For Private, voluntary and independent providers (PVI) codes can be validated by entering the voucher code onto the synergy online provider portal and this code will be automatically checked against the Eligibility Checking System (ECS). If the code is ‘found’ the provider will be able to enter extended hours (up to 30 funded hours per week). If the code is ‘not found’ then only standard hours can be entered onto the system.

16. 30 Hours eligibility code validation (Cont’d) Schools will need to submit information to the local authority who will carry out batch checks to validate eligibility codes. Information required from schools to validate an eligibility code is: Eligibility code number, plus a parent/carer national insurance number and Child Date of Birth. A batch check will return a ‘found or ‘not found’ against each parent and these details will be passed on to individual schools. In either circumstance, once an eligibility code has been validated a start, end and grace period date will be given.

17. 30 Hours eligibility code Reconfirmation Parents must reconfirm their eligibility every three months via the HMRC website. It is expected that HMRC will notify parents one month before and 8 days after the end validity date. If the parent successfully reconfirms, new validity period starts immediately after the previous validity period.

18. Grace Periods The grace period will kick in for those children who are no longer eligible for the extended entitlement. The grace period is a limited period of time after the validity end date that parents can retain their childcare place if they have become ineligible. The DfE have provided national default grace period end dates:

19. Audits LAs will be expected to carry out regular audits of the validity of codes. Some parents may to fall in and out of eligibility as their employment circumstances change, or if they simply have not reconfirmed their eligibility. Childcare providers will be notified if a previously valid code is no longer valid. DfE has recommended audits take place, 11 February,1 April, 27 May, 1 September, 22 October and 31 December.

20. Monthly Payments The Government’s expects that local authorities should pay childminders on a monthly basis by September 2018 at the latest. Local authorities should pay all other providers monthly unless they request otherwise.

21. The Model Agreement Each LA currently develops their own childcare provider agreement for providers of the 2, 3 and 4 year-old free early education entitlements. The DfE has issued a model agreement to standardise arrangements between local authorities and providers. This will help ease administrative burdens for providers, particularly those that work across more than one local authority. This will be issued to approved providers prior to September 2017.

22. Next Steps Awaiting publication of the following documents by the DFE: Operational guidance – including what can and cannot be charged for Payment process – training and training manuals to be available for childcare providers

23. Meeting Parental Demand for 30 hour places

24. Projected Demand Difficult to determine the number of children eligible for the extended entitlement in Oldham. i.e. 1740 (Local estimate based on Census 2011) 1450 (DfE estimate). Profile of settings in the Directory of Approved Providers by type (2, 3, and 4 year-olds): Schools 64 (30%) PVI Groups 86 (40%) Childminders 66 (30%)

25. Mapping projected demand against supply

26. Mapping projected demand against supply (2)

27. Meeting demand: working together to create a blended offer Who? The partnership may include Schools, PVI sector providers (including out of school), and childminders. What might it look like? Children stay in one building but staff from 2 providers deliver a joint offer Children move between buildings Both staff and children move

28. Partnership Models What might the 30 Hours entitlement mean for a school? The school could directly deliver an extended day and/or all–year-round-offer. Alternatively, if space doesn’t allow for existing 15 hour sessional places to be extended to 30 hours without impacting on numbers in Reception, the school may consider entering into a partnership with a local PVI provider and/or childminder(s) to share the funded hours, with a partnership agreement to ensure the transition to the school is guaranteed.

29. Partnership Models There are a number of ways a partnership could work to deliver the extended entitlement: Option 1: A school provides the core day hours and a PVI provider delivers the additional hours during term-time and the holiday periods on the school premises to make up an all year round offer 8am-6pm, 50 weeks per year; in this case, the PVI providers delivers the offer by transporting their Ofsted registration to the school site Option 2: A school provides the core day hours on the school site and a PVI provider delivers the additional hours during term-time and the holiday periods on their own site

30. Partnership Models (Cont’d). Option 3: A school provides the core day hours on the school site and a PVI provider delivers the additional hours during term-time on the school site and the holiday periods on their own site Option 4: A partnership between a school, childminders, and for e.g. a voluntary sector play organisation with the school providing core day hours and a combination of childminders and a play centre delivering the additional hours, including a Saturday offer, during term-time and throughout the holidays. The over-riding principle of course is the well-being of the child in the chosen model.

31. Partnership Models (Cont’d). What might 30 hours mean for: PVI settings: Could you consider expanding to deliver some provision from other premises, or expand by working in partnership with a school? Childminders: Could you work with a group of childminders to deliver the offer? Could you work in partnership with a school and/or PVI provider to share the childcare with you?....working either on your domestic premises or at another venue?

32. The Mechanics of Partnership: Things to consider Staff contracts if they work on different sites Insurance Inspection Health & safety and safeguarding Information sharing agreements Assessing demand and tailoring supply to meet it Action planning Financial modelling Agreements about communication with parents, including home visits Marketing/communicating the offer to parents Joint management of a child’s education, including transition Family and employability support Charging policy Help with childcare costs. E.g. eligibility verification.

33. What should you do now to be ready for 30 hours? Assess demand: What are your existing and future parents likely to want? Financial modelling: Consider the impact of different models. Space: Can it be used differently? i.e. through partnership with another provider.

34. Useful Information Childcare Works ‘Getting ready for 30 hours – A guide for providers…’ (and other helpful briefings): www.childcareworks.co.uk Family and Childcare Trust: 30 Hour mixed model partnership toolkit http://www.familyandchildcaretrust.org/access-dfes-30-hours-mixed-model-partnership-toolkit ‎Early Years Funding: Changes to funding for three and four-year olds. Government consultation response (Published December 2016). https://www.gov.uk/government/.../Early_years_funding_government_consultation_response.pdf Early education and childcare Statutory Guidance for local authorities. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/596460/early_education_and_childcare_statutory_guidance_2017.pdf The new Childcare Choices website provides information on the new and existing Government childcare offers: www.childcarechoices.gov.uk