AgentTink
02-09-2013, 09:46 AM
On the 8th of August i sent a letter to the DfE as my local authority was stating that they were waiting for the law to change until they offered 2/3/4 yrd old Funding to childminders who are not accreditated.
In my letter I asked 2 very specific questions:
I wish to know,
a) If they are allowed to not follow this statutory guidance and
b) if they are to wait for the law to change, then what law are they referring to and what is the estimated timescale for this? If they should be following this statutory guidance from the 1st September, then I feel that the DfE should be getting in touch with Sefton Local Authority to advise them of their statutory duties. .
This is the responce i received. I cant figure it it answers my questions or if it doesnt??
Thank you for your email of 8 August, about the early education and childcare statutory guidance for local authorities.
The statutory guidance is a tool designed to support local authorities (LAs) to meet their statutory duty. It sets out what LAs ‘should’ do to fulfil their statutory responsibilities. Where there is a specific and absolute legal duty on a LA required by legislation then it sets out what they ‘must’ do. LAs have a statutory duty to fund early education places with providers who deliver the full Early Years Foundation Stage and are registered with Ofsted.
Statutory guidance sets out the government’s expectation that LAs should fund two-year-old places in early years providers (including childminders) with an ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ Ofsted rating. Only in circumstances where there is not sufficient ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ provision should they fund a provider rated ‘satisfactory/ requires improvements’.
For three and four-year-olds, LAs should fund all early years providers (including childminders) with an ‘outstanding’, ‘good’ or ‘satisfactory/requires improvement’ Ofsted rating to deliver early education places.
LAs should not place additional quality criteria on 'good' or 'outstanding' providers to qualify for early education funding and may only place quality conditions on 'satisfactory/requires improvement' providers if those conditions relate directly to Ofsted inspection judgements.
The government intends to change the law to reflect this position at the earliest opportunity but is not able to provide a timescale until this has been agreed.
All LAs must have regard to the statutory guidance when securing funded early education places and they should not depart from it unless they have good reason to do so. If you are not satisfied with the LAs explanation as to why it is not complying with aspects of the statutory guidance then you may wish to follow it's complaints procedure.
The department will also contact Sefton Council to discuss the issues you have raised.
I hope this information is useful.
In my letter I asked 2 very specific questions:
I wish to know,
a) If they are allowed to not follow this statutory guidance and
b) if they are to wait for the law to change, then what law are they referring to and what is the estimated timescale for this? If they should be following this statutory guidance from the 1st September, then I feel that the DfE should be getting in touch with Sefton Local Authority to advise them of their statutory duties. .
This is the responce i received. I cant figure it it answers my questions or if it doesnt??
Thank you for your email of 8 August, about the early education and childcare statutory guidance for local authorities.
The statutory guidance is a tool designed to support local authorities (LAs) to meet their statutory duty. It sets out what LAs ‘should’ do to fulfil their statutory responsibilities. Where there is a specific and absolute legal duty on a LA required by legislation then it sets out what they ‘must’ do. LAs have a statutory duty to fund early education places with providers who deliver the full Early Years Foundation Stage and are registered with Ofsted.
Statutory guidance sets out the government’s expectation that LAs should fund two-year-old places in early years providers (including childminders) with an ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ Ofsted rating. Only in circumstances where there is not sufficient ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ provision should they fund a provider rated ‘satisfactory/ requires improvements’.
For three and four-year-olds, LAs should fund all early years providers (including childminders) with an ‘outstanding’, ‘good’ or ‘satisfactory/requires improvement’ Ofsted rating to deliver early education places.
LAs should not place additional quality criteria on 'good' or 'outstanding' providers to qualify for early education funding and may only place quality conditions on 'satisfactory/requires improvement' providers if those conditions relate directly to Ofsted inspection judgements.
The government intends to change the law to reflect this position at the earliest opportunity but is not able to provide a timescale until this has been agreed.
All LAs must have regard to the statutory guidance when securing funded early education places and they should not depart from it unless they have good reason to do so. If you are not satisfied with the LAs explanation as to why it is not complying with aspects of the statutory guidance then you may wish to follow it's complaints procedure.
The department will also contact Sefton Council to discuss the issues you have raised.
I hope this information is useful.