Councils and childcare providers collaborate to deliver 30 hours

The eight areas piloting the government's expanded free childcare entitlement started operating this month.

The offer of 30 free hours of childcare per week for three- and four-year-olds of working parents is being delivered in York, Wigan, Staffordshire, Swindon, Portsmouth, Northumberland, Newham and Hertfordshire.

The Department for Education hopes the pilots will iron out any issues that arise before the national roll-out in September 2017, and, in so doing, help childcare settings across the country make informed decisions about whether to offer the 30 hours.

Each pilot area will test different initiatives and ways of working, two of which are outlined in detail here.

HERTFORDSHIRE

Hertfordshire County Council has created childcare hubs in four of its 14 nursery schools. These hubs will work to support parents in finding a free childcare place - of which the city has 415 to offer across a range of different types of setting - and providers to deliver them.

"If parents are struggling to find a place with their current provider, the hub will help them to find another provider to work in partnership with their current provider, so they deliver 30 hours together," says David Shevlane, development manager of childhood support services at Hertfordshire council.

"Fifteen hours may be at one setting, and 15 may be at another."

The hubs will also provide training focused on delivering quality childcare for the 30 hours, Shevlane says.

Nursery schools were specifically chosen to deliver the support and training for the pilot.

"The nursery schools were in the geographical areas we needed to meet the socio-economic side of the offer," Shevlane says.

"They are built and established in the local community so parents are aware of them and providers are aware of them - it made sense for them to have this role."

The hourly rate settings will be funded for the 30 hours is £4.88 in Hertfordshire, which Shevlane believes is a reasonable figure.

"Some settings will make money out of it, for some it will be static and others will make a loss, but we have a real cross-section of providers who have decided to run with it to see where it takes them to be ready for next year," he adds.

Shevlane says providers were initially unsure about taking part in the pilot, but now almost all of them are involved.

He says one lesson the council has learnt already is the importance of ensuring information about the pilot is delivered to families effectively.

"Managing our message is an issue; we have to make sure we get the message right for parents. That means understanding what they're applying for and how to apply for it," he says.

"Right now, we have a manual system for parents to apply, as obviously we had to get it up and running very quickly. But we'll be online from next year."

Shevlane says the council will be in regular contact with the DfE via weekly emails and twice-weekly phone calls.

"I've done pilots before and we've never had this type of scrutiny," he says.

The council will also have regular briefings with providers offering the 30 hours, and a couple of dedicated conferences over the year where providers will be given the opportunity to share their experiences of delivering the entitlement.

Beyond the pilot, Shevlane is not sure if the offer will continue in its current form.

"We will have to see how we roll it out county-wide because we have only 14 nursery schools - potentially that's not enough," he says. "We might have to look at alternative provision as a result."

PORTSMOUTH

Like Hertfordshire, Portsmouth City Council has 415 places available and is offering providers a rate of £4.88.

Anthony Harper, service manager for children's centres and childcare development at the council, says the aim of its pilot is to give childcare support to parents as an incentive to gain work.

Plans on how exactly they will do this are still being determined, and the council has set up a task group to work on this alongside the introduction of the pilots.

The group includes professionals from Jobcentre Plus, YMCA, a local supported tenancy agency, the National Careers Service and children's centres.

"The group will look at how we can use 30 hours to incentivise work, helping to move families into work or encourage them to increase their working hours," Harper says.

The council will also award innovation grants to providers, with the aim of gaining more understanding of how they will deliver the offer and, crucially, how they deliver it more flexibly. The amount on offer to providers has not yet been decided.

"The innovation grants will allow us to test out some new flexible approaches to childcare provision. This is key to the pilots: looking for a cultural shift in how our market operates in the city," Harper says.

"The markets have been good at responding to demand in terms of capacity, but it's not as fast to respond in terms of flexibility. This is the key thing were hoping to look at here."

Harper says the council is also hoping to use the grants to incentive providers to make more childcare available at evenings and weekends.

"We have high level of shift and seasonal work in Portsmouth, but there are few opportunities for parents to access shift work contracts, so we're hoping to work with some providers to look at how they could offer those," he says.

The council is working with one nursery to develop a childminder agency as part of their offer, which will be attached to their day nursery, to offer wraparound provision to parents.

Harper says he is also hoping to work with a number of smaller sessional providers to develop more formal links with childminders, where there is an understanding they will be able to work together to provide wraparound care.

Three key challenges to make 30-hour free childcare policy a success for families

By Purnima Tanuku, chief executive, National Day Nurseries Association

This time next year, full roll-out of the extended free entitlement is set to be underway across England.

The government and the sector have come a long way since this flagship policy was unveiled as a general election pledge in 2015 - but there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure its success.

The Department for Education's current funding consultation - a tight, six-week window that closes on 22 September - is calling for the sector's intelligence on what it needs to make 30 free hours happen.

And politicians will be looking very carefully at the results. Childcare reform can only happen if providers are engaged and enthused.

1. Sufficient funding

More money has been allocated to cover 30 hours. The government understands that there is a gap between current market rates and those paid for 15 free hours, and that it needs to be narrowed.

In the government's early years funding consultation, Education Secretary Justine Greening indicated that most areas will see better funding. Any increase is obviously welcome, but the big question for any nursery, school or childminder now is: "Will the final increase be enough?"

NDNA nursery members currently receive an average of £3.83/hour per child for the current 15 hours. This does not cover costs for the vast majority.

It falls short of what nurseries need by £957 a year on average, per funded three- and four-year-old place - money that must be made up through higher fees for paying parents.

The key is to reform the overly complicated way funds are distributed. We wholeheartedly welcome that the consultation recommends simplifying this and proposes that 95 per cent of central government money goes straight to providers.

But looking at the reality of the proposed indicative rates, many nurseries still need to take measures such as charging for extras like lunch, or to be able to limit the number of free hours they offer in a day to, say, seven, meaning that in a standard 8am to 6pm day, parents would pay for three hours at an enhanced rate.

This particular debate is at an early stage - and controversial for many who argue that places are not truly free if extras are mandatory.

Finally, it cannot be over stressed that a new, sufficient funding rate must take into account the fast-rising costs of the National Living Wage, set to reach £9 per hour in 2019.

2. Expanding capacity

Schools and nurseries may not be able to extend capacity, unless their local councils are successful in capital funding bids, currently in process.

For schools, providing more hours could mean offering fewer places.

It is too early to say what the effect of Brexit will be for the many workers from the European Union who work in nurseries, but currently it is still business as usual.

A more pressing issue is the huge recruitment problem caused by GCSE requirements of English and maths at grade C or above for students wanting to achieve Early Years Educator level three status.

Since this was introduced in 2014, intake on some courses has dropped by up to 70 per cent and settings are finding it very difficult to fill more senior vacancies.

NDNA has long campaigned for functional equivalents to be accepted as an alternative to help ease the problem and is hoping the government listens to this.

3. Learning from pilots

It is hoped the areas piloting 30 hours will show it actually works in reality - how much it costs, how it fits into nurseries, business plans and how those extra hours can be accommodated.

All eyes will be on these high-profile trials - not just in England, but also in Scotland and Wales where 30-hour schemes are set to follow.

The exercise will cost £13m in total. If the trials are all carefully carried out and thoroughly analysed, this will be £13m well spent - for the parents who will become the first to claim their 30 free hours, and for the invaluable insight and solutions to be gained ahead of national roll-out.

All being well, the pilots will show how we can ensure 30 free hours is achievable and sustainable for early years providers in the longer term.