Mouseketeer Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 ours is 3.32 (from 3.64) + £999 summer term for extra bits, we were able to put in a claim for 250.00 increased admin costs as a one off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 I think there needs to be some central regulation. The two at the LA who were tasked with consulting, building and implementing the formula are individuals who I have an awful lot of respect for and I know they fight our corner on many fronts. From 2009 it's gone something like; individual visit for full cost analysis using previous years figures (costs, income, numbers etc) to EVERY setting, therefore giving an overview of costs per child, per hour around 6 manager briefings to discuss, consult and impart information final briefing in which settings voted for what additional supplements to add, whether we recieve one off payment or spread this money throughout formula complete open door policy for all those queries from us guys (including further visits if need be) and finally meeting to disclose final figures and discuss when/how payments will be received I assumed this was the norm, under the government guidelines (and GOSI even though they have been disolved) I thought settings had to be consulted at every turn, this is the only reason it's been widely successful here I'm sure. Is there no independent body some of you could go to? LA's can't be allowed to pluck these figures out of the air, surely they have to be based on real life costings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmawill Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 I'm in Essex and at the moment haven't heard anything! Kris Me too and neither have I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 We're getting £3.57 down from £3.79. There's no supplement for quality or qualifications and no acknowledgement of vastly differing premises costs, we're going to drop in and out of the deprivation supplement on an annual basis because we're in a borderline area and it depends on annual intake in September, there's no admin supplement (that would be nice), the GLF is going to decrease or vanish but we won't know till June (especially worried it is part of the Early Intervention Fund which is going to be used to ensure none of the Sure Start children's centres close - centres that do a lot of good but also run some similar activities to us around the corner with more staff and for free!). The full cost analysis was carried out 2-3 years ago and responses were based on actual costs, not what we would spend (eg. on supernumerary graduate staff!) if we could; only a partial cost analysis this year based on responses from a few settings. And the feeling is that voluntary sector preschools should be grateful for what we have got, even though it is still very much less than other local organisations in the statutory and private sector. Also concerned that under the SFF in the new local agreement the LEA is bringing in a 'cooling off' period for parents who can choose after a few weeks to transfer their child to another setting and take the funding with them. This would be fair enough in some circumstances but if it just means that they've been offered a last minute place elsewhere, it is not going to help with our issue of offering places in the summer term and then having a significant amount of 'sorry, don't need the place anymore' when the maintained nurseries start offering places. The NEF contract was supposed to help with that issue. Bah humbug. But much better off than an area which gives only £2 odd per hour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristina Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Well I received my email today at last (Essex)! And we are staying the same at £3.71 for 3rd year running! No real extras as the only one is for children from deprived areas so don't think we will qualify! Thing is I know my rent will be going up this year, staff pay rises (if possible), I haven't had a pay rise since opening the pre-school in 2009! And the pre-school still has a directors loan outstanding to myself and my husband!! Going to have to do a real in depth budget and see what is left for staff rises and put myself to the bottom of the pile for another year!! Kris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louby loo Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 (edited) Well I received my email today at last (Essex)! And we are staying the same at £3.71 for 3rd year running! No real extras as the only one is for children from deprived areas so don't think we will qualify!Thing is I know my rent will be going up this year, staff pay rises (if possible), I haven't had a pay rise since opening the pre-school in 2009! And the pre-school still has a directors loan outstanding to myself and my husband!! Going to have to do a real in depth budget and see what is left for staff rises and put myself to the bottom of the pile for another year!! Kris Well my email consisted of what must be every email address for settings in Essex- but no attachment!!! Disappointing that it's staying the same, but at least it hasn't gone down as it appeared it could have in one letter we received a year or so ago. (Well I'm taking the amount from you anyway, as I haven't officially been told yet!) Edited just say - I have found the attachment - it got filtered out as spam - due to all the email address's on it. Have to say it's not looking like a very 'level playing field' to me though. xxx Edited March 23, 2011 by louby loo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 remind me.... SINGLE FUNDING FORMULA...... all the same....... no, I must be mistaken.... that would be too easy. "Powers that Be that Create Single Funding Chaos"- why not try the following idea although it may be a bit too radical... I have given harder/more red tape options in brackets just in case my method fails to meet your bureacratic standards 1) issue all eligible settings with a registration (if you want to make it a bit more confusing you can ignore their current Ofsted one and give them a handy 25 digit number) 2) issue all children with a book of vouchers that can only be redeemed by said registered settings with proof of attendance (that could be made harder by insisting on triplicate registers, parents signatures, managers signatures and great Uncle Tom's in Bulgaria). 3)Settings send in/redeem vouchers at mutally convenient time: monthly/termly/yearly- (we'll let you decide on that as you will need to prepare the troops, plan your computer crash, ensure you haven't trained any staff in the workings of the funding) and take annual leave. 4) You make the payment (this could be delayed by sending the remittance for the payment that is then confirmed as correct with signature in triplicate) Gosh! I haven't taken into account the 15 hours and the no top up and the wrap around and the lunch and does the setting actually deserve the money and are there children more deserving and what about training and EYP and different settings and ALL the OTHER completely complicated difficult things that make allocating money to childcare so difficult- it's ok- I have that covered to: 1) tell parents and children that their vouchers entitle them to 15 hours of "education" (naturally you could make this more complicated by giving them some half baked info about what "education" is, should be, can be, throw in a few acronyms and references to...just enough information- but not too much!) 2) tell settings that the voucher entitles them to receive 15 hours of payment at X rate for X child with evidence of attending (x = average of hourly rate in the LEA including school's per capita allowance for nursery children) 3) now, this is the bit that you may have trouble getting your head round and is quite radical, forward thinking and a bit laissez faire so I'll understand the hesitation and concerns...... Parents and settings manage it themselves in a manner that is mutually convenient for both parties!!! I know I know that is probably the biggest problem to my whole system how can they possibly do that?? that would give far too much control to settings and parents may have to make choices or their own minds up! so ignore my suggestions and lets just stick with the SFF that you have devised- it makes more sense... Anyone tell I'm sick of this flippin funding?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mouseketeer Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 just worked out my estimate for next term, down by £1006.56 (83.88 per wk) compared to how it would have worked out previous way :'(, how is anyone else faring ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnyday Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 ziw - I love your post - genius! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fimbo Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 we are receiving £3.25 ph this year, an increase of 3p.....only 'top up' will be the deprivation payment, which i think is decided upon by the fairies that live in the woods at the bottom of my garden....as i really have no idea how they find the figure and who / what it relates to ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panders Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 'scuse me if this has already been pointed out, but..... do the Government give each Local Authority exactly the same amount of money per child per hour? If they do, then shame on those Local Authorities who tamper with the amount and spirit it away or fritter it away on something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Absolutely - why are we getting £2.67 if you are all getting so much more - where is it going? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fredbear Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 (edited) Oh gosh how do you do it on such a small amount Cait I think you must be the fairies like fimbo says sprinkling your magic some how. Edited March 25, 2011 by bridger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 As far as I'm aware the government doesn't price a "free" place at the same cost in every authority. Each local authority is provided with an amount of money for their schools budget based on the census figures that are sent in each year. This amount varies from authority to authority due to other factors too. It is then down to the authority to determine how this money is divided up, hence the local consultations on the single funding formula, for which the government gave guidelines, but did not state explicitly how it should be established. The money which comes to each setting is determined according to certain factors but this is already restricted by the amount the authority has been given to spend. This is a simplistic interpretation, but about as well as I can give based on my experiences on the authority's schools forum. If you are interested more every authority should now have an early years PVI representative on their forum who should be able to help you understand better the issues the authority is facing in terms of reducing budgets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Isn't it the case that funding for Early Years has previously been ring fenced by central Government and this is the first year that it i not? Basically meaning that LA's have the power to divvy up their coffers as they see fit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 well ours is the same as last year I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 We have just heard that ours will be £3.85/hour an additional 11p from last year! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 UGH!! That's over £1 more!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pimms o'clock? Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Hi Cait I think it would be a good idea, armed with the figures on here, if you spoke to your Local Authority about how low yours is; I would also talk to the opposition party, to your LA, and get them involved too. Get parents and other settings on side too, you could start a petition I suppose. It cannot be right that you are expected to survive on such a small amount. I don't have the figure in front of me just now but with a supplement for my EYPS (less than QTS of course!?), a deprevation factor and supplement for flexibility mine is around £4.10; so at least my LA is trying to be fair about this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 I agree with BMG Cait, maybe include your local MP, Councillors and Cabinet members too, I've discovered that they are largely oblivious of many issues facing early years in their constituencies, time to raise the profile a bit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 I wonder how the level of your funding relates to your costs/fees Cait? I seem to remember that the fees were set after consultation with providers about what their outgoings were. My guess is that nothing much will happen unless settings start to close because of the shortfall in funding. I know they are rare, but I have seen posts from people saying their fees are actually lower than their funding levels, and that their fees for non-funded children were going to rise because of it. I got my budget for next term in the post yesterday. Our Single Funding Formula goes 'live' so to speak in April (we have been given a term's grace before making it free at the point of delivery). The base rate has gone up from £3.63 to £3.82, and on top of that I get nothing for deprivation, 14p for being an EYP, and a further 14p for level of other staff qualifications. So that all adds up to £4.10 per hour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 I am truly shocked at the differences in areas. It would be interesting to find out if central government gives all LA's the same amount and then leave it up to each LA how much they give settings. I suppose it all depends on how many children/settings/schools there are in an area as well. But as cait points out a whole pound difference is a huge amount Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 28, 2011 Share Posted March 28, 2011 Anybody know what's happening in Birmingham? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calicojo Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 I'm surprised this isn't more of a hot topic - our funding is down from £3.84 to £3.30 which will make a massive difference to us - a loss of £120 a week next term and will mean that we will probably make a loss this year - we're putting up our fees but we can't put them up enough to compensate as that would be a huge increase and I am sure children would reduce their hours. We were also supposed to receive advice as to how much we would be receiving for next year (based on last years figures) by the end of March and details of a mythical transition payment, by the end of March - but guess what - nothing has arrived yet. Stunned to find the different rates various types of setting receive - in my naivety I thought the SINGLE funding formula meant we would all be getting the same. Anyone else in Worcestershire fuming about all this? Jo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 Im in Kent - and our funding has gone up by 10p - £3.90 However if you are an EYP - it goes up to £4.20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynned55 Posted April 3, 2011 Author Share Posted April 3, 2011 My goodness Jo, I thought we were going to find it difficult with no increases in our funding but to lose 54p per child is an absolute disgrace. I wonder how these LA's that have reduced funding can justify the reductions- it wouldn't be so bad if we could pass the loss onto parents but to reduce the amount and still say no, you cannot charge parents anything is so unfair. isn't it interesting that for the first time central government has said that the money doesn't have to be ringfenced and what do we have lots of LA's reducing funding. Or was this happening in previous years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Still waiting in Birmingham for a letter to pop through the post to tell us about how much our funding is - so still wondering if it is good or bad news. What worries me is that I get funding for all the children who attend the setting as my numbers have increased from last Summer 2010. I simply can't afford to provide care and learning opportunities for children who I am not being paid for. I have heard different things from different people about how this will work. A bit worry though - this on top of just hearing that the minimum wage is going up by 15p. Although we all deserve a raise, that is going to cost me alone an extra £6,000 a year as I have to give everyone I employ a rise to be fair. Hope its good news about the funding!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 when is the NMW going up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyMaz Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 when is the NMW going up? You can see all the info here. Rates from 1 October 2011 The NMW rates are reviewed each year by the Low Pay Commission and from 1 October 2011: * the main rate for workers aged 21 and over will increase to £6.08 * the 18-20 rate will increase to £4.98 * the 16-17 rate for workers above school leaving age but under 18 will increase to £3.68 * the apprentice rate, for apprentices under 19 or 19 or over and in the first year of their apprenticeship will increase to £2.60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cait Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Yes that's what I'm paying Maz, but Sheila said they were going up again by 15p and I just wondered how imminent that was Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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