Reply from department of education about hourly rate paid for funded places......

[VeggieSausage]

Thank you for your email of 22 August about early education funding, for which on this occasion I have been asked to reply.

Funding for the early education programme is an important issue for the government. We are proud to be extending funded early education places to 40% of two-year olds (some 260,000 children), and understand that the support of experienced and highly motivated childminders, such as yourself, is crucial to its success.

Local authorities (LAs), in consultation with their schools forum, are responsible for deciding how best to distribute funding across their locality. They also set their own local rates of funding for early years providers, of two, three and four-year old places and should do so in close consultation with all providers.

In 'More Affordable Childcare' we emphasised that LAs should pass as much funding as possible through to the frontline. In order for early education to be a success, we understand that it is crucial that all providers receive a rate that is sustainable. We are keen to work with providers to get a better understanding of their costs and how much funding they are receiving for government places. We are collecting data on the rates that each LA pays to its providers, and will publish those in the autumn.

The steps we have taken to enable the good and outstanding childminders to deliver government funded places automatically will give parents the option to take their child's early learning experience in a home-based setting. This change has been welcomed by many parents and childminders. However, other parents will prefer their child to access their early education place in a school or nursery and use childminders for their additional childcare needs. It is important that parents and childminders have the choice to access and offer early education and childcare packages in the most appropriate way for them.

Thank you again for writing to us and I hope this information is helpful.


They do say that they realise that for funded places to be a success then providers need to be paid a sustainable rate of pay.....

[Simona]

Thank you for your email of 22 August about early education funding, for which on this occasion I have been asked to reply.

Funding for the early education programme is an important issue for the government. We are proud to be extending funded early education places to 40% of two-year olds (some 260,000 children), and understand that the support of experienced and highly motivated childminders, such as yourself, is crucial to its success.

Local authorities (LAs), in consultation with their schools forum, are responsible for deciding how best to distribute funding across their locality. They also set their own local rates of funding for early years providers, of two, three and four-year old places and should do so in close consultation with all providers.

In 'More Affordable Childcare' we emphasised that LAs should pass as much funding as possible through to the frontline. In order for early education to be a success, we understand that it is crucial that all providers receive a rate that is sustainable. We are keen to work with providers to get a better understanding of their costs and how much funding they are receiving for government places. We are collecting data on the rates that each LA pays to its providers, and will publish those in the autumn.


The steps we have taken to enable the good and outstanding childminders to deliver government funded places automatically will give parents the option to take their child's early learning experience in a home-based setting. This change has been welcomed by many parents and childminders. However, other parents will prefer their child to access their early education place in a school or nursery and use childminders for their additional childcare needs. It is important that parents and childminders have the choice to access and offer early education and childcare packages in the most appropriate way for them.

Thank you again for writing to us and I hope this information is helpful.


They do say that they realise that for funded places to be a success then providers need to be paid a sustainable rate of pay.....

Sorry VeggieSausage...I have a letter right in front of me with the same statement about funding from the DfE, amongst other issues they replied to...so here we go again we are getting standard replies

Yes it sounds as if the DfE will try to address the poor funding we get and not a moment too soon
I shall wait for that time when my subsidy to the govt to educate children does not mean I have to drop my income by 50%! In fact by the time I take the expenses away I will be getting £1 left as profit!

Having achieved this equality I fear I can now be choosy and I think many cms will do the same...I hope it gets sorted by 2014 when the next wave of children can access the funding

[VeggieSausage]

Sorry VeggieSausage...I have a letter right in front of me with the same statement about funding from the DfE, amongst other issues they replied to...so here we go again we are getting standard replies

Yes it sounds as if the DfE will try to address the poor funding we get and not a moment too soon
I shall wait for that time when my subsidy to the govt to educate children does not mean I have to drop my income by 50%! In fact by the time I take the expenses away I will be getting £1 left as profit!

Having achieved this equality I fear I can now be choosy and I think many cms will do the same...I hope it gets sorted by 2014 when the next wave of children can access the funding

Oh well, to be honest the amount of paperwork I had to fill in after my DOs visit to take funding and the fact that I am full, I didn't bother with the paperwork to take the funding....

[lilac_dragon]

I'm afraid I've decided to not register for this unless it's a lot closer to my hourly rate.
I already charge a lower rate than others in my area and as I don't charge for lunch and two snacks a day per child, let alone craft, new toys etc etc etc I really don't feel it's going to be worth my while.

[sarah707]

I have a problem with mine because they want to take funding back if the child doesn't attend. I can't afford to be on such a precarious income that it is affected by the whim of whether a parent can be bothered to bring their child or not. If I take a week off and parents don't come for another week I lose money with the funding rules...

Not good - especially when I read all the pilot feedback and see how hard we are going to have to work with the children.

We seem to be at an impasse - I ask - I get the rules back - yes I know the rules that's why I am challenging them :(

[Simona]

I have a problem with mine because they want to take funding back if the child doesn't attend. I can't afford to be on such a precarious income that it is affected by the whim of whether a parent can be bothered to bring their child or not. If I take a week off and parents don't come for another week I lose money with the funding rules...

Not good - especially when I read all the pilot feedback and see how hard we are going to have to work with the children.

We seem to be at an impasse - I ask - I get the rules back - yes I know the rules that's why I am challenging them :(

Sarah...you may find that some LAs are very tight on that while others allow the odd 'absence'...
all cms please read the LAs contract and their Terms and Conditions before you sign and get that clarified!
Still not good enough as we cannot lose more money that way

'Absence' seems to happen with 2 year olds rather that 3 and 4...check with cms who have drawn funding a while and get their advice

[SammySplodger]

I'm afraid I've decided to not register for this unless it's a lot closer to my hourly rate.
I already charge a lower rate than others in my area and as I don't charge for lunch and two snacks a day per child, let alone craft, new toys etc etc etc I really don't feel it's going to be worth my while.

Me too - have looked into it and decided its really not worth bothering with.

[hectors house]

In my area apparently the hourly rate is only bit lower than my current rate and then we would get paid a top up for being a childminder (as opposed to nursery), so works out about 80p an hour more - pity I haven't got any spaces - will have to wait 9 months for the next one to reach 3 years old. I think I would be paid for absences - I haven't heard back yet only send form off last week, I did have to fill in what my current policies were on absences due to sickness and holiday.