SALFORD CHILDREN’S CENTRES WILL NOT CLOSE

Some of the council’s nurseries are in the same building as Children Centres. However, the consultation, which will start on Monday 26 February, only relates to the nursery provision. The children’s centre buildings and all of the other services delivered through the centres are not affected and will continue as usual.Councillor Lisa Stone, Lead Member for Children’s Services at Salford City Council said:  

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“We have very reluctantly put forward a proposal to review the future of our five excellent local authority run day nurseries, after facing a potential hole in the budget of £1.75m. This situation is a direct result of government changes, which reduce the use of Dedicated Schools Grant for funding council services. The nurseries cost £3 million to run but we only receive £1.5 million in income from charges. The government changes mean we can no longer afford to subsidise the running costs of the five nurseries in the city by £1.5 million.

“The City Mayor has written to the government as the change in funding is having a severe impact on Salford. He has outlined the desperate position the government has put us in, with seven years of austerity which has halved the council’s funding. Now these changes in how we can use the dedicated schools grant mean we have to find further savings in a budget which has already been cut to the bone.”

 

Before any decision is made, a formal 90-day consultation will run from 26th February until 28th May. During this, the council welcomes and encourage proposals from all parties (parents, staff or the voluntary, independent and private sector). The council will support solutions which don’t need long-term, ongoing financial support from the local authority.

Councillor Stone continued:  

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“All five nurseries are classed as ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted and are run by passionate, committed and dedicated workers. We are devastated to be forced into a position of having to consider closure due to yet more Government changes to local authority budgets. We are committed to supporting anyone who has alternative, affordable proposals to keep the nurseries open. (During the consultation period, the nurseries will continue to operate as usual).

“The nurseries provide 327 childcare places. This is around 5% of the total 7,200 childcare places in the city. The Dedicated Schools Grant funds a range of targeted services for vulnerable children and families, such as children centres, speech and language, parenting support, safeguarding, support for families of children with very complex needs and disabilities, special educational needs and disability support and training for all of the other childcare settings across the city as well as support to all settings to achieve and maintain good or better Ofsted ratings.

“If we do not find an alternative, cost neutral solution, or close the nurseries, we will have to make cuts in other vital services that are provided for thousands of children and families across the city. If the nurseries did close, we would work with every family to find alternative provision.

“We have more children living in Salford as the population of the city continues to grow, many with more complex needs. Children’s Centres are not affected, nor are the other services supported by the dedicated schools grant such as speech and language, parenting support, training for childcare settings and support to children with special educational needs and disabilities.

“The nurseries provide just under 5% of the childcare places in the city, but we work with all childcare settings across the city and our services are provided to all children who need them. 

“In this year’s council budget we are already putting another £4.5 million into children’s services just to meet rising demands at a time when the government continue to cut Salford’s budget. There is an urgent national need to address the funding crisis in children’s social care and ensure local councils are fairly funded and we are working hard with neighbouring authorities to raise this issue.”

 

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The council are consulting on the future of our five Local Authority Day Nurseries which include;

Little Hulton Nursery - Longshaw Dr, Little Hulton, Salford M28 0BD

Belvedere Nursery - White Beam Close, Off Belvedere Road, Pendleton, Salford M6 5EJ

Winton Nursery - Brindley Street, Salford M30 8AB

Higher Broughton Nursery - Broughton Hub, 50 Rigby Street, Salford M7 4BQ

Barton Moss Nursery - Trippier Road, Eccles, Salford M30 7PT

Local Authority Day Nurseries – Additional Information

14th February 2018

Which LA Day Nurseries are affected by the proposals to close?

They are consulting on the proposal to close the Local Authority Day Nurseries which include;

Little Hulton Nursery - Longshaw Dr, Little Hulton, Salford M28 0BD

Belvedere Nursery - White Beam Close, Off Belvedere Road, Pendleton, Salford M6 5EJ

Winton Nursery - Brindley Street, Salford M30 8AB

Higher Broughton Nursery - Broughton Hub, 50 Rigby Street, Salford M7 4BQ

Barton Moss Nursery - Trippier Road, Eccles, Salford M30 7PT

Salford’s Children Centres are not affected by the consultation on the future of Salford’s 5 LA Day nurseries. Some of the Council’s nurseries are in the same building as Children Centres.

What are the details of the consultation process?

No decision has been made yet on the closure of any of the 5 Local Authority Day Nurseries

A formal 90-day stakeholder consultation will run from 26th February 2018 until 28th May 2018.

During this, we welcome and encourage proposals from all parties, (parents, staff or the voluntary, independent and private sector). If a solution can be found which doesn’t need long-term, ongoing financial support from the Council, we would be delighted to support this.

The council are committed to supporting anyone who has an alternative, affordable proposals to keep the nurseries open, this could include support for the alternative mutual provision of this service. However, if no alternative solution is found which enables the nurseries to remain running at a cost-neutral position to the Council and the proposal to close is approved, we would look to close the nurseries from 3rd September 2018.

Once the formal consultation commences on the 26th February 2018 we will hold Parent Focus Groups as well as individual meetings to ensure that the views of the parents, families and children are heard in this consultation.

There will also be a questionnaire for parents to complete should you wish to respond in this way. This can be completed online or in writing and returned to the Local Authority nursery your child attends, your local children’s centre or in a Freepost envelope.

At the end of the consultation, if the outcome is a decision to close the nurseries, how will you provide support for parents to find an alternative, suitable childcare and early years provision?

The Starting Life Well Service will support all individuals requiring support to find an alternative, suitable childcare and early years provision, should that be required.

We have a quick childcare search facility that parents/carers can access on the following web link

https://www.salford.gov.uk/children-and-families/

The council has also indentified two officers in the Starting Life Well Service, Karen Carney and Sue Wallworth, email: SLW@salford.gov.uk, tel no: 0161 778 0384 who will ensure that each parent is supporting in finding alternative, suitable childcare through this process.

What is the childcare sufficiency?

A recent childcare sufficiency audit https://www.salford.gov.uk/children-and-families/parents-and-childcare/childcare/childcare-sufficiency-assessment/ has demonstrated that there are enough places for all two, three and four-year-olds across the city in other sectors.

In Salford, there is 4,234 early education and childcare places for 0-5-year-olds in the voluntary, private and independent sector. We also have an extra 2,639 places for three and four-year-olds in school nurseries. 85% of these daycare settings are rated ‘good’ or above by Ofsted. The Starting Life Well Service offers support; advice and guidance to all early years settings across the whole city to provide quality care and early education provision for children aged 0-5.

Can I still apply for a schools nursery place?

We have received several enquiries from parents who currently have a child at an LA nursery or have applied for a place to commence in September 2018. 

Parents have asked whether, in light of the proposals, they are able to apply for a school nursery place so that they have an alternative option should a decision be made to close the LA nurseries. 

Although the deadline for applying for school nursery places has recently passed, it is possible, in these exceptional circumstances, for late applications to be accepted. 

If it is ultimately decided to keep the LA nurseries open then places at those nurseries will be offered as usual.

If you wish to apply for a school nursery place, you can download an application form from www.salford.gov.uk/apply-online or collect a paper copy of the form from the Gateway Centres.  In order for your late application to be accepted as though it has been submitted prior to the closing date, you must return it to the school admissions team either via email school.admissions@salford.gov.uk or via the Gateway Centre by Friday 23 February, clearly stating that your child is currently attending one of the LA nurseries.  If you are applying for a place in a Church school, in this circumstance you must attach a copy of your baptism certificate to your application.  This would normally be collected at a later date, but in this circumstance, in order to process your application in time, we will require a copy of your baptism certificate with your school application. If you have any queries or wish to discuss your application, please contact school admissions on 0161 793 2500.

What is the breakdown of finances for the individual LA Day Nurseries?

The Local Authority Day Nurseries cost Salford City Council over £3 million per year to run. The council only receives around £1.5 million in income (fees). This means the Council has been subsidising the LA Day Nurseries by almost £1.5million (or £4,500) per place, per year.

The council will be updating this section on the individual LA Day Nurseries finances as this becomes available

Would an increase in LA Day Nursery fees offer a solution?

The Local Authority Day Nurseries cost Salford City Council over £3 million per year to run. The council only receives around £1.5 million in income (fees). This means the Council has been subsidising the LA Day Nurseries by almost £1.5million (or £4,500) per place, per year. Increasing fees to £185.00 per week for a full time equivalent place and asking families to pay more would only provide approximately an extra £50,000 a year.

How would I explore the potential running of the LA Day Nurseries?

A decision has not yet been taken as to the future of the local authority day nurseries. The consultation will begin on 26 February 2018 and close on 28 May 2018. 

Following the close of consultation, a decision will be made about the future of the nurseries. As part of the decision-making process, we shall consider any proposals from parties who are interested in running one or more of the nurseries. 

If you are interested in finding out more information about the possibility of running a day nursery in place of the local authority please register your interest by replying to this email nursery.enquiry@salford.gov.uk  with your full name, contact details and any other information that you consider to be of use or relevance. We shall then be in touch to provide further information and to discuss the next steps.

Please note that the council would anticipate that a move from local authority owned provision would involve the transfer (TUPE) of the local authority staff to the new provider together with any costs associated with the running of the nurseries, for example, maintenance, utilities etc.

How will you ensure that all children are still supported to be school ready?

The Dedicated Schools Grant Early Years Block funds a wide range of Citywide service provision. We will continue to deliver those services and the table below (see the ‘What has changed with 3 and 4-Year-old funding?’ section) shows the range of services that will continue that support all children aged 0-5 and their families across the city.

These include:

Early Years delivery

Starting Life Well Staff

Area Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs)

Early Support Key Workers and Portage Workers

Disability Equipment

Childcare Training

Speech & Language in Children's Centres

 

How does the funding work?

The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) is currently paid to us in three blocks and has oversight by Schools Forum.

Schools Block – Schools funding 

High Needs Block – Provision for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

Early Years Block – This is made up of funding for

15 hours universal entitlement for 3 and 4-year-olds

15 hours working parents entitlement for 3 and 4-year-olds

15 hours entitlement for 2 year-olds from the most disadvantaged backgrounds

Support for 0-5-year-olds; e.g. speech and language support, parenting support, children’s centres

The disability access fund

Early years Pupil Premium funding

The Local Authority Day Nurseries are funded by the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) Early Years Block.

 

What has changed with 3 and 4 Year old funding ?

NB All early years providers, including the LA Day nurseries, receive 3 and 4-year-old free entitlement funding.

The government has now changed the way early years funding is calculated for three and four-year-old children. Appendix 1 provides further information on the funding rates. The change limits the amount of three and four-year-old funding the council can retain to pay for the delivery of local authority early years services.

The government stated in the consultation that the early years providers that deliver free places for 3 and 4 years old needed a ‘sustainable, fair and transparent source of funding and that the current early years funding system was, however, based on historic expenditure, leading to significant variations in funding for local authorities which did not correlate well with either provider costs nor market prices’ and that this was ‘neither fair nor justifiable’.

They stated that there were ‘also inconsistencies with the way in which local authorities distribute their government allocations to providers, both in the proportion of government funding which was paid out and in the differing hourly rates paid to different types of provider. These problems meant that the funding received by providers delivering the same entitlement varied considerably.’

The new Early Years National Funding Formula was introduced in April 2017 which allocated funding to local authorities for three- and four-year-olds free provision. A key change introduced was that the Local Authority must plan to spend at least 95% of their three and four-year-old funding from the government on the delivery of the government entitlements for three and four-year-olds. The Government have stated that they will monitor compliance.

In 2016-17, the 3 and 4-year-old free entitlement funding was £12.18million.  The allocation in 2017/18 is estimated to be £14.1million.  In 2016-17 the LA retained £2.3million to pay for delivery of our local authority early years services, but because of the change above, we now can only currently retain £705 000. A similar amount of funding is estimated to be retained in 2018/19.

Overall, the projected overspend in 18/19 is  £1.75 million.

The table below shows all of the other services funded from the early year's block for Local Authority support and provision.

LA Day Nurseries x 5	7200 childcare places in the city LA Day nurseries are registered for 327 places.
Early Years delivery	Parenting Interventions Speech and Language Interventions Children's Centre delivery 0-25 Early Help Workers. Supports School Readiness
Starting Life Well Staff	Contributes to Starting Life Well Staff Support, advice and guidance to Early Years Education and Childcare Providers across the city, including support with Ofsted improvement Ensures sufficiency of early education and childcare for 30 hours and 2, 3 and 4-year-olds, quality provision, school readiness, safeguarding.
Area Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs)	Contributes to Starting Life Well Staff Offers support, advice and guidance to Early Years Education and Childcare Providers to support children with SEND.   Support to Early Years settings across the city in early identification of children with early delay and SEND, and inclusive provision for identified children with SEND ensuring quality early years provision across our private, voluntary and independent settings for all children in the city.
Early Support Key Workers and Portage Workers	Contributes to Starting Life Well Staff that offer support advice and guidance to families of children with complex needs and disability.   Support for all children with complex need from birth across Salford
Disability Equipment	Provides equipment to Early Years providers across Salford to enable them to offer inclusive childcare places for children with disability.
Childcare Training	Provides training and support to all Early Years settings across Salford, ensures quality provision across the city and supports all settings to achieve or maintain Good or better Ofsted grades so that every child in Salford has access quality childcare settings.
Speech & Language in Children's Centres	Delivers the GM Early Years Speech, Language and Communication Pathway, supporting early identification of speech, language and communication need, interventions and support across Salford

 

 

Appendix 1 – Further detail on the Early Years Funding Formula

In 2015 the Early Years Single Funding Formula in Salford for 3 and 4-year-old funding was allocated in the following way;

Type of Setting	Amount per pupil per hour - Base Rate
Maintained Nursery Class	£3.55
Day Nursery/Independent Schools	£3.38
Pre-School/Playgroup	£3.38
Childminder	£3.15
Children’s Centre sent Schools	£3.38

Supplements
Quality		Deprivation Calculated using the average IDACI ( Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index) score for all children attending each setting
Quality			Amount per pupil per hour
		0% - 20%	£0.00
OFSTED grade good or outstanding		20% - 25%	£0.00
OR	£0.10	25% - 30%	£0.10
Commitment to complete		30% - 40%	£0.12
Quality Improvement Programme		40% - 50%	£0.16
		50% - 60%	£0.19
		60% - 100%	£0.22

 

The following Early Years National Funding Formula for three and four-year-old funding in Salford came into effect from April 2017.

Type of Setting	Base Rate
Maintained Nursery Class	£3.63
Day Nursery/Independent Schools	£3.63
Pre-School/Playgroup	£3.63
Childminder	£3.63
Children’s Centre sent Schools	£3.63

In addition to the hourly rate, there is an adjustment made to take into account the quality and the deprivation experienced by children that attend a provision. This aspect of the formula is calculated based on the postcode of where the child lives as at the January census.

Supplements
QUALITY: Graduate Leader			£0.25
Deprivation: Calculated using the average IDACI score for all children attending each setting			Amount per pupil per hour (2017/18)
BAND	1	0% - 25%	£0.00
	2	25% - 30%	£0.10
	3	30% - 40%	£0.12
	4	40% - 50%	£0.16
	5	50% - 60%	£0.19
	6	60% - 100%	£0.22