DfE 'clawbacks' underestimate early years services, sector warns

Following the news that only three councils have been penalised for cuts to children’s services, experts in the early years sector say more children’s services have closed than the Department for Education has acknowledged.

As part of Sure Start funding arrangements, local authorities are required to notify the DfE of proposals to “dispose of or change the use of buildings or assets funded wholly or partly through Sure Start capital grants”, and must provide details of the level of early years services that will continue.

If a council is not providing a sufficient level of early years services, decided by the DfE, then they are required to pay money back to the department.

A CYP Now investigation, however, found that only three councils have been penalised under the ‘clawback’ system. This amounted to a total of nearly £125,000 taken back from the authorities.

There are concerns in the sector that this figure is not representative of the reality of cuts to children’s services, including the closure and downsizing of children’s centres.  

Denise Burke, chair of Poppy and Jacks nursery group, said the £125,000 repayment is “an insignificant amount of money in the grand scheme of things”.

“The clawback certainly doesn't reflect the true picture. Far more children's centres and services have been closed so you'd think the clawback from local authorities would be a much greater amount,” she said.

“Either the DfE is not monitoring local authority spend well enough, or is sweeping the seriousness of the situation under the carpet.”

Jaine Stannard, head of services and development at School-Home Support, said there should be transparency over whether councils use funding for early years services.

"As this appears to be a declare-only process, government must ensure there is a checking process to make sure that local authorities are still using their buildings/capital funding to provide high quality early years services,” she said.

“In terms of transparency, it would be helpful to see where the clawback money is being used. We would be curious to know if local authorities use it to fund early years services."