Government announces grant fund for innovative childcare provision

A document published by the Education Funding Agency reveals that ministers will be making capital grants available to early years settings through a local authority bidding process to support the delivery of the 30 hours extended entitlement coming into effect from September 2017.

The document states that government is interested in hearing about “a broad range of innovative ideas that would benefit from a capital grant”. Capital grants are usually used to pay for the cost of acquiring or upgrading property or equipment.

Local authorities can consider bidding on behalf of schools that “currently offer, or plan to offer, provision for three- and four-year-olds”.

Successful bids will receive grants within the financial year 2016/17, with decisions on who gets funding being made by this autumn.

“At this stage, we are not announcing project cost thresholds, nor are we limiting the type of provider that might be eligible, beyond their ability to demonstrate a proven track record with Ofsted,” the document states.

Local authorities have been asked to make expressions of interest in the funding by the end of the month (29 April). They have been told they will be allowed to submit “partnership bids” that include more than one local authority.

“We expect all projects to address sufficiency need and to provide evidence that capital funding is the appropriate solution to that sufficiency need,” the document states.

“We expect all projects to involve a setting that will deliver the extended free entitlement and that providers have a proven track record with Ofsted in delivering quality provision.

“This could include schools that are considering expanding their provision to include three- and four-year-olds, as well as schools and registered early years providers who currently offer provision for this age group.”

Yesterday the DfE launched a consultation on plans to extend the times when providers will be required to offer free places from 6am to 8pm, from the current 7am to 7pm.

A consultation document on the plans said a survey of 19,300 parents and 750 representatives from the early years sector carried out last summer revealed that “a significant proportion would like to be able to access childcare in the early morning or later in the evening to cover shift patterns”.