Management Information Sheet
EYNFF - Government Response to Consultation Update (December 2016)
Early years funding: Outcome of National (DfE) review of funding for 3 and 4 year olds
During the summer the Department for Education (DfE) launched a consultation to seek views on changes to how they would fund free early education for 3 and 4 year olds, including a new national funding formula. Norfolk County Council sent a briefing sheet to all providers in September 2016 which set out how the proposals would affect funding made to providers in Norfolk.
In December 2016 the DfE published the outcome of the consultation, and this updated briefing sheet sets out some changes to the initial proposals.
The response can be found at –
What it means in Norfolk
Aims of formula
- To allocate funding fairly, efficiently and transparently
- Determine funding based on how much it costs to deliver early education services in the area
- Minimise centrally retained funding
- Universal base rate for all sectors
- Limit supplements
The funding rate to be paid to the Local Authority from 1st April 2017 will be £4.30. The DfE has also applied new requirements when Authorities calculate the rate to be paid to providers.
- The funding centrally retained by Local Authorities will be capped in future at 5% (2017-18 will be 7%). Norfolk currently retains only 5.1% (1.9% less than the recommended % for 2017-18) and this funding is used to administer the 3 and four year old funding and to provide support to over 1000 providers
- Supplements cannot make up more than 10% of the overall 95% to be paid to providers
The outcome for Norfolk will be -
| Funding received from DfE for 3 and 4 year olds early education | = | 95% of funding received must pass to providers | + | 5% of funding will be retained by NCC |
Local Authorities will have discretion to use certain supplements but will consult with providers to determine a preferred proposal. The deprivation supplement will continue to be mandatory. The optional supplements Norfolk could use include: deprivation (mandatory), flexibility, rurality/sparsity, quality (qualifications and/or system leadership) and English as an Additional Language. These have been amended following the consultation by DfE. In addition an SEN Inclusion Fund will be set up to support children with additional needs within early years provision.
A new fund will be introduced to pay a lump annual sum to providers for children in receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA). This will equate to a payment of £615 for each eligible child per year to support access to the free entitlements.
The Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) was introduced in April 2015 and the Government remains committed to maintaining it at £302 per eligible child per year (pro-rata for children who access less than the full 15- hour early years entitlement). This will be paid to providers when they have a child that meets the eligibility criteria for EYPP. Hence providers will continue to receive 53p per hour for each hour of early education funding provided to each eligible EYPP child.
The 2 year funding rate will increase to £5.20.
Payments from April 2017
The DfE have indicated that Local Authorities should pay providers monthly from April 2017. The consultation will include questions concerning this requirement so that we can determine how best to calculation each payment.
The Next Stage
The Local Authority are now required to consult with providers regarding proposals for the arrangements for funding in Norfolk. The Early Years Reference Group (membership of this group is Local Authority Officers and representation from all sectors) will recommend a final proposal following the outcome of the local consultation to Schools Forum for endorsement with implementation from April 2017.