Agenda item

(To receive a report by Geraldine O’Neill, Sustainability & Development Manager, which provides the Forum with an update on the support provided to the early years and childcare sector during 2022/23 and outlines the priorities for the service for 2023/24)

Consideration was given to a report by the Sustainability and Development Manager, which provided an update on support provided to the early years and childcare sector during 2022/23 and outlined the priorities for the service for 2023/24.

The report updated the Forum on the progress against each of the key priorities in the Early Years and Childcare Support Service in 2022-23 and detail behind the following priorities identified for the Early Years and Childcare Support Service for 2023-24 were outlined:

1. Spring budget announcements, including the expansion of childcare support for working parents to include children from 9 months old up to school age, and changes to Universal Credit childcare payments.
2. Team structure to meet demands, with the introduction of the new Government entitlements, and developing new childcare to support the national expectations to introduce or expand childcare provision on either side of the school day from 8am – 6pm.
3. Start for Life Strategy. The existing Early Childhood Strategy will be reviewed and developed to ensure this strategy was developed in collaboration with all partners involved in the Family Hubs programme and Start for Life offer.
4. Continuing Professional Development around 0-2 years. There will be a need to invest in the development of the workforce to support the 1,001 critical days and Lincolnshire’s Start for Life offer.
5. SEN & Communication – The need for a stronger qualified workforce to meet the needs of children with SEND and communication needs.
6. Consideration will be made on the use of the Early Years block underspend identified from 2022-23 (£0.800m), to support the sector to deliver better outcomes for children in Lincolnshire. Of this sum, £0.200m had been earmarked against the fluctuation contingency fund for 3- and 4-year-olds in 2023/24, as the Local Authority looked to maximise the hourly rate to providers. Consideration would be made in the October Schools’ Forum Revised Budgets report on the use of the underspend.

Lincolnshire received Secretary of State approval for the Disapplication request to capitalise £0.780m of DSG revenue funding to support childcare place sufficiency.

Consideration was given to the report and during the discussion the following points were recorded:

• A DfE grant funded scheme for a family hubs programme had been agreed with a specific delivery plan and conditions. It was explained that the January 2023 Early Years report provides an in depth explanation of the Early Years block and decision made by the Forum on centrally-agreed budgets
• The Forum acknowledged the increased expectation on delivery of early years education and the amount of wraparound support provided, as well as capacity. The Government wanted to ensure sufficient, and sustainable childcare support could be provided by high qualified members of staff within early years. The Council would be looking to learn from the pathfinder scheme and would be exploring the current capacity and options for the recruitment and retention of staff. A scoping exercise had begun which would provide a high-level analysis of the number of children of working families that would require additional childcare places to assess need.
• The expansion of childcare support for working parents to include children from 9 months old up to school age would be rolled out in phases so it was felt it would be manageable.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the report be noted;

That the priorities for 2023-24 be agreed.