Lockdown Jan 2020 funding

[Mouseketeer]

7 hours ago, lynned55 said:

What a messI am going to put a proposal to my LA on Monday asking if we can claim funding for the children that are in our 'virtual' classroom. See if that works- last resort really. 

It really is a mess and not of our making 😡

we have to wait for a decision next week now, We’ve had 50% from our estimate back in December ....where did that come from if government hadn’t already paid them, I guess potentially if it’s a ‘no’ we could owe them some back and where will that go 🤷‍♀️ 
 

The attached is a section from our funding agreement, to me it reads like as long as we make them aware of any regular absence they’ll decide what to do about it the following term. My plan is to tell parent to take the first 2 weeks as holiday, then keep 4 weeks notice, that gets us to half term, then parents ask for a new place which will be there from half term and either they will have to attend (and include in the adjustment) or cover the 2nd half term loss of funding.

 

Edited January 10, 2021 by Mouseketeer

[finleysmaid]

15 hours ago, Alison Jones_592243066 said:

. If settings are closed Swindon will not fund

under any circumstances? i am in the situation at present where i have no staff who are able to work ....my feeling is that as an employee i would be sued if they became unwell . Schools are 'closed' (!) and still getting funding...and at a higher rate than ours!

such a short term view ...we supply a service the boroughs cant afford to supply for themselves I wonder if councils are also stopping funding for other service suppliers who are not able to operate at this time?

[Mouseketeer]

21 minutes ago, finleysmaid said:

such a short term view ...we supply a service the boroughs cant afford to supply for themselves I wonder if councils are also stopping funding for other service suppliers who are not able to operate at this time?

Isn’t it ever? We are considered important at the moment as they need us so parents can keep working (it’s beyond me why we have chn coming where parents either don’t work or are at home furloughed themselves) but how will that pan out when we’re closing because we’ve lost a massive chunk of our income, why aren’t their think tanks thinking this through  🤓

Edited January 10, 2021 by Mouseketeer

[lynned55]

I've just done a very quick rekki of finances and on the amount of funded hours lost (£1350) and private income (£320) We stand to lose a lot of money each week.

And that's with us open!

I honestly dont think they consult with any 'expert' from any industry when they make these decisions. If they just spoken to one individual from each PVI section- and taken some notice of them- we wouldn't be in this mess. 

Finleysmaid are you completely closed now? Are you able to pay your staff? 

 

[finleysmaid]

yes we have completely closed to children (we are working from home!!) we can currently pay our staff as we have some childrens funding still coming to us...unless the borough change their mind! we have lost all of our private income of course and no furlough etc !!

[blondie]

3 hours ago, finleysmaid said:

yes we have completely closed to children (we are working from home!!) we can currently pay our staff as we have some childrens funding still coming to us...unless the borough change their mind! we have lost all of our private income of course and no furlough etc !!

are you early years finleysmaid? How are you working from home ? x

[finleysmaid]

14 hours ago, blondie said:

are you early years finleysmaid? How are you working from home ? x

Currently i appear to be fire fighting at home !!!!!🤪 I have realised that those children who started with us in September have never had ordinary pre-school and  we have a very weird relationship with their parents.....this appears to have bitten me in the bottom this week!  but in a sensible answer to you question my lovely staff are working hard to produce stories and games on tapestry , sending links to appropriate on line content, doing social media, making phone calls and setting up video messaging . There is no expectation that this has to be done it is purely there to help with ideas should anyone need it. Some parents have sent me things their children have done (through tapestry) and i have given them ideas as to how to extend this learning at home. Anything that can be assessed will also be added to their learning journals

[nomski100]

After the debate in parliament today it was stated that we will still get funding if parents decide to keep children at home. The Early years alliance are double checking that this is the case. Fingers crossed 🤞 

[louby loo]

2 hours ago, nomski100 said:

After the debate in parliament today it was stated that we will still get funding if parents decide to keep children at home. The Early years alliance are double checking that this is the case. Fingers crossed 🤞 

Fingers crossed too 🤞

Essex said at one point they would be, but then seemed to backtrack last Friday- which I knew they would! 😤

I had decided that if they didn't pay I would close.   To  be honest we have had 6 children max which we can cope with safely, and staff have said they are happy to work with the much lower numbers as it beats being stuck at home!  - Although I have to say some of the children are really not enjoying it that much. We are just letting them play and we are not doing 1-2-1, or close up activities with them at the moment.  

We do actually manage to social distance ourselves form them most of the morning 🙀...... which know might sound wrong- but they are safe, well cared for,  which seeing as none of the parents are key workers, they just want the children out of the house as they need them 'socialise'  I'm really not feeling too guilty about it! 

 

[Mouseketeer]

9 hours ago, nomski100 said:

After the debate in parliament today it was stated that we will still get funding if parents decide to keep children at home. The Early years alliance are double checking that this is the case. Fingers crossed 🤞 

The last time EYA checked something we ended up only being able to furlough to a small % and had all that working out hassle 🤦‍♀️

[louby loo]

1 hour ago, Mouseketeer said:

The last time EYA checked something we ended up only being able to furlough to a small % and had all that working out hassle 🤦‍♀️

Is it sad to say I've come to the point were I trust no one  

[twinthinguk]

We got news today that West Sussex will fund up to Half term now .

[zigzag]

38 minutes ago, twinthinguk said:

We got news today that West Sussex will fund up to Half term now .

That’s brilliant news.

[louby loo]

 

1 hour ago, twinthinguk said:

We got news today that West Sussex will fund up to Half term now .

That's great news  

 

Essex  are still dragging there heels big time, we had an online meeting today but still no news.

[nomski100]

We are getting funding😀😀😀🎂🎂🎂

DfE confirms children who would normally be attending an open early years setting should be included in next week's census

The Department for Education has published new guidance for local authorities and early years providers explaining how to record funded early years places for the early years census in light of the impact of Covid-19.

The guidance, which was sent to councils today, states that for providers who are currently open, the Department has taken the view that "where a child is reasonably expected to attend Early Years provision, and that provision is made available to them by the provider, their expected hours should be recorded in the Early Years Census. 

"This means children who, were it not for the impact of coronavirus on either their own personal circumstances or on the operation of their Early Years setting, would be attending Early Years provision. This includes children who have previously attended the provision and children who were expected to start attending the provision in January."

The guidance states that local authorities and providers should record the expected weekly hours a child usually would have received in situations where the child is:

• self-isolating due to exposure to coronavirus (usually a period of 10 days) in census week 
• ill in census week
• absent due to parent/guardian caution (fear of child catching coronavirus), if the provider remains open to the child and they have not altered their parental declaration relating to expected hours with the provider 
• absent due to parent/guardian choosing to care for child at home, only if the provider remains open to the child and the parent/guardian has not altered their parental declaration relating to expected hours with the provider
• clinically extremely vulnerable and is therefore shielding in line with government advice 

If a parent/guardian has informed a provider that they are reducing their child’s hours (i.e., a change in the parental declaration), local authorities and providers should accurately record the new hours for the purposes of the census.

For providers who are currently closed, the guidance given depends on the reasons for closure.

A census return for 2021, recording the contracted/expected hours provided, should be made in situations where:

• the provider has attempted to remain open, but has closed for a period of time for reasons such as:
  • staff shortages due to illness
  • staff shortages due to self-isolation
     
• the provider has closed due to government guidance, for reasons such as:
  • temporary inability to access the site premises (for example, a PVI setting whose landlord or trustees have temporarily refused permission to operate on the site for COVID-related reasons).
  • numbers of staff shielding make it impossible to provide the funded entitlements.

A census return for 2021 should not be made in situations where a setting has chosen to close and not provide the entitlements due to:  

• limited anticipated attendance
• staff caution

The guidance also states that where the setting has chosen to restrict the attendance of some children (e.g. offering places only to critical workers’ children or vulnerable children), a return should not be made for children to whom the funded entitlements are not being offered.

The guidance adds that "Where a provider is counting a child on the census, the place must be genuinely ‘available’: this means a provider must not count a child where they have furloughed the staff who would be required to deliver the child’s place."

The full guidance is available here. 

 

[zigzag]

What a shame they couldn’t have decided this at the beginning and saved a lot of worry and anxiety for everyone.

[louby loo]

Well I'm still waiting for the-    However.....

 

[Mouseketeer]

Dorset have now confirmed ,..though are claiming they’ve worked hard to find the funding from a different source 🤔 

[louby loo]

9 minutes ago, Mouseketeer said:

Dorset have now confirmed ,..though are claiming they’ve worked hard to find the funding from a different source 🤔 

Well  originally Essex confirmed it would pay, then changed its mind.  Their excuse was they could only confirm for a limited amount of time therefore they then said no.

They also said that other LAs would't  be able to pay the full term unless it was DFE approved anyway as they would have to find the money themselves?  Did Dorset confirm before todays announcement ? (although as I said before I'm still waiting for the  "HOWEVER..."

[Mouseketeer]

1 hour ago, louby loo said:

Well  originally Essex confirmed it would pay, then changed its mind.  Their excuse was they could only confirm for a limited amount of time therefore they then said no.

They also said that other LAs would't  be able to pay the full term unless it was DFE approved anyway as they would have to find the money themselves?  Did Dorset confirm before todays announcement ? (although as I said before I'm still waiting for the  "HOWEVER..."

We had email this afternoon, I’m not sure when the DfE info came out?

Edited January 14, 2021 by Mouseketeer

[louby loo]

25 minutes ago, Mouseketeer said:

We had email this afternoon, I’m not sure when the DfE info came out?

Well I have finally received confirmation of payment!  (but still suspicious if it will  not be straightforward!)

Interestingly this was added- not sure I fully understand -well I do have complete covid-fog-brain, but this could something like what Dorset means?

 

This means that due to the anticipated lower levels of attendance this term, ECC will need to analyse this data return to understand any impact this will have on the funding levels received from the DfE. Until such a time as we are able to do this, we have had to take the decision to suspend the proposed Early Years Emergency Covid Sustainability grant and the ECC 3p increase on the FEEE funding hourly rate for the time being. This is because having sufficient budget available to continue to pay the FEEE funding claims needs to take priority at this point. This will all be reviewed at a later date.

[nomski100]

29 minutes ago, Mouseketeer said:

We had email this afternoon, I’m not sure when the DfE info came out?

It came out after 4pm today 

[Mouseketeer]

11 minutes ago, nomski100 said:

It came out after 4pm today 

The email was a little before that but you’d expect councils to have been informed of the DfE decision before it went public...but hey I’m just grateful it’s being paid 🙂 

[Froglet]

10 hours ago, Mouseketeer said:

The email was a little before that but you’d expect councils to have been informed of the DfE decision before it went public...but hey I’m just grateful it’s being paid 🙂 

Not on the basis of anything else that has happened!