Cheshire east childminders...

The Cheshire east Early Years Reference Group met tonight to discuss the funding formula for the 30 hours in September and I attended on behalf of Cheshire east childminders.

It was the hardest 2 hour meeting I've ever sat through!! Everyone has an agenda - we all want the best for our provisions - but some have more of an agenda than others!

The Cheshire east funding pot is not going to realistically get us to the magic £4 an hour this year (it might next year when we get 95% rather than the 93% they are giving us this Sept) but I fought for the highest possible base rate...

The reason I wanted highest base is because so few provisions benefit from the supplements as they are described in the new funding formula. I'd rather we all got as much as possible out of the pot rather than just a few providers getting more and the rest of us getting less...

We'll have to see what happens when our suggestions go to the next panel meeting but I know I did my very best for childminders and the nurseries agreed with me when I piped up with my arguments :D