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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.