Pre-school Education: Coronavirus

(asked on 6th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications of the findings of Ofsted’s report, COVID-19 series: briefing on early years, November 2020, for the economy in Yorkshire.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 20th January 2021

The government recognises the importance of the role of the early years sector during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Local authorities are responsible for monitoring demand and capacity for childcare and should work with early years settings to ensure there are sufficient places to cater for those in priority groups as well as meeting local need.

While we recognise childcare attendance has been affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, we saw attendance rise over the autumn term from 482,000 on 10 September to 792,000 on 10 December. On 17 December, the government announced a return to funding early years settings on the basis on attendance. Under these arrangements local authorities should ensure that providers are not penalised for short-term absences of children, for example sickness, arriving late or leaving early, or a family emergency through withdrawing funding, but use their discretion where absence is recurring or for extended periods taking into account the reason for the absence and the impact on the provider.

Early years settings have been open to all children since 1 June and current evidence suggests that pre-school children (0 to 5 years) are less susceptible to infection and are unlikely to be playing a driving role in transmission.

Where nurseries do see a drop in income from either parent-paid fees or income from the Department for Education, they are able to use the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) to furlough staff who were on payroll on or before 30 October. Working parents on COVID-19 support schemes will still remain eligible for childcare support even if their income levels fall below the minimum requirement.

We continue to ensure early years providers can access all the support available. Providers should consult the full guidance on the CJRS scheme before submitting a claim: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-education-early-years-and-childrens-social-care/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-education-early-years-and-childrens-social-care. Childminders may use the Self Employment Income Support Scheme: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-self-employment-income-support-scheme. The sector has also benefitted from business rates holidays and business loans.

We stay in regular contact with the early years sector and are closely monitoring both parental take-up of places and the capacity. We will keep this under constant review to understand how they can best be supported.

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