Developing Covid-proof childcare services
Derren Hayes
Tuesday, September 29, 2020
Early years expert sets out six key actions for local authorities to maintain sufficient childcare provision during the Covid pandemic.
A host of recent reports and surveys have highlighted the devastating effects that the Covid-19 pandemic is having on childcare demand and provision across England.
A third of 2,000 parents surveyed by the Early Years Alliance said they had experienced difficulties accessing childcare since the easing of lockdown restrictions. A further 38 per cent said they were taking up fewer hours per week, with 56 per cent saying that it is due to their childcare provider being unable to offer as many hours (see graphics).
Meanwhile, a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) highlighted that demand for childcare places by late July remained 70 per cent below pre-crisis levels, with the hardest hit being providers looking after the youngest children and those most reliant on fee-based rather than government-funded places.
Assuming no further government support is announced, the IFS estimates that a quarter of settings risk running at a deficit by 2021.
With local lockdowns being introduced in more areas, and childcare staff in some areas unable to work because they cannot access tests due to problems with the test and trace system, there is growing concern that childcare settings could struggle to stay open.
Such uncertain circumstances make it difficult for councils to deliver on their Childcare Act (2016) duty to ensure there is sufficient childcare provision in their area.
Despite this, early years expert James Hempsall says there has never been a more important time for authorities to assess childcare sufficiency, and offers advice on key steps to deliver effective childcare sufficiency assessments (CSA).
By James Hempsall, founder, Hempsall’s
When, like now, things are in a state of flux, councils should approach CSAs as an on-going consideration rather than a box-ticking exercise. A Covid-19 CSA needs to be different to previous years, because the childcare market has and will continue to change throughout the lifetime of the virus. This has huge significance for authority funding levels from spring 2021 when it is expected we will return to early years funding based on actual use once more. The risk is budgets will shrink adding more pressure on a sector that needs our strategic and practical support.
Here are my six measures to developing a Covid-proof CSA.
1. Understand funding impact
CSAs offer an evidence base to inform funding decisions moving forward, many of which may be difficult – linked to strategic priorities for the sector and as a key plank in Covid-19 recovery plans for local economies, tackling unemployment and business sustainability. Local authorities passport Department for Education funds to a huge range of contracted settings (from childminders to large nursery chains and schools), and with finite budgets and financial sustainability concerns, funding decisions need to be future-proofed. The CSA should identify what change and service delivery you need to contract and why.
2. Needs, demands, preferences
Covid-19 proofing your CSA will not only meet the duty, it will help the childcare market itself, and ensure childcare enables your local families, businesses and employment levels to recover. Parental needs, demands and preferences have been dramatically and profoundly affected. For example, eligibility for two-year-olds funding and for 30 hours funding may go up or down as families’ economic and employment arrangements alter. As behaviour changes, such as more working from home or fewer employed hours, childcare demand will change – some will need more, some will want less, at different times and in a variety of new ways. New preferences are already being noticed: parents are wanting to use single settings that can provide all their childcare needs, rather than using a combination of two or more – for example, a school in the daytime and a childminder in the early evening. We are noticing a small trend towards smaller settings, including childminders, as families seek to minimise perceived health and safety risks.
3. Be accurate about supply
Regular contact between authorities and providers over recent months has not only helped relationships but also resulted in better data on the supply of places, and openings and closures of settings. Baseline information could be collated now around theoretical capacity (numbers of registered places), availability and accessibility of provision, or based on the most recent CSA. Any changes identified – for example, settings at risk of closure – can be assessed against this baseline to provide an overview of the market.
4. Research and consultation
We would not recommend undertaking standard provider or parent questionnaire surveys at this time – you need to take care not to overburden providers who are unsure of their plans. You need from providers their intelligence about how children have accessed funded and paid-for childcare and how things may change in the future. The key is to identify and track trends. The same goes for parents, who may not know how their needs and demands may change or when. Instead, keeping a weather eye on two-year-old eligibility lists and applications for 30 hours codes will offer clues.
5. Measure changing demand
A starting point is to assess the immediate and medium-term impact of the pandemic on local jobs. Use this time to refresh links with Jobcentre Plus, employers and housing organisations. Some commentators predict higher levels of unemployment which will impact on demand. On the flipside, there are some growth industries and services. Is there any local intelligence available? Will more people continue to work from home – and what would be the impact of this? Have any new home developments been temporarily halted or brought forward? Will this impact on population estimates over the next year or two? Schools planning may have started to think about this – are you connecting this up?
6. Risk assessment approach
Traditionally, a CSA will structure its findings around a gap analysis once the supply, need and demand has been considered. The impact of Covid-19 means you need to take into consideration the significant effect on preference change and how these open up new gaps and/or migrate demand to create “hotspots” where demand might even outstrip supply. Now is the time to enhance the gap analysis with a risk assessment that should form the basis of the childcare market management action plan, shape the strategy and set out the priorities for the authority’s market management role and resources.
- Hempsall’s supports local councils, schools and providers to deliver early years and childcare services