CYP Now - Early years funding allocation changes ‘welcome’ but ‘will do little’ to stop closures

Early years leaders have welcomed news that government funding allocations for the next academic year will be based on data from the January census but warn it “will do little” to ease closure fears for providers worst hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Funding will also be allocated closed on public health grounds. Picture: Adobe Stock

In new guidance published today, the Department for Education advises local authorities to fund providers “at broadly the levels they would have expected to see in the 2020 autumn term had there been no coronavirus outbreak”.

Providers who have been forced to close on public health grounds - either because of an outbreak at a setting or in the event of a local lockdown - should also be funded at the same level, DfE guidance states.

Those who have closed on grounds other than public health grounds “should not be funded”, it adds.

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