Free Entitlement Funding: Survey Results

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Free Entitlement Funding Survey Results

• This presentation gives an overview of the key
  findings of the Free Entitlement Funding survey
  that was conducted by the DCSF between March and
  July 2007.
• 128 local authorities (LAs) responded to this
  survey, and the majority of responses are
  included here.
• The survey was split into the following 3
  sections

Section 2
Section 3
Section 1

PVI sector funding
School Forums membership
Maintained sector funding
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Maintained
Admissions into maintained nursery provision
Of those LAs that have summer term admissions,
approximately 59 per cent do not adjust their
funding allocations. 14 per cent who do adjust
their allocations.
Combination (i.e. different schools operate
different policies)
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2
3
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The basis of the Age Weighted Pupil Unit (AWPU)
that is used for children accessing the free
entitlement in schools and nursery schools
Maintained

• Just over 50 of LAs allocate their AWPU on the
  basis of last year
• plus cost pressures.
• Approximately 20 of LAs based their AWPU on an
  analysis
• of the cost of delivery.
• For 8 the AWPU depends on wider school funding
  decisions
• e.g. they allocate other funding strands first
  and the remainder is
• under-5s AWPU.
• 19 LAs indicated that they use an alternative
  method.

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Maintained
Local authority approaches to counting children
in the maintained sector
Most of the LAs in this category use a
combination of headcount and place-led funding.
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Comments made by local authorities
Maintained

• Combination funding can take a variety of forms
• For example -
• In Birmingham nursery schools are funded based
  on a combination of January FTE actuals and
  September place numbers
• In Wolverhampton maintained nursery schools
  receive the same AWPU allocation as that given to
  nursery classes in primary schools as well as a
  place-led element equivalent to 40 of the AWPU
  value.
• North East Lincolnshire use a headcount (each
  child is 1 PTE) plus a block sum for each school
  with a nursery unit.

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Maintained
The cost of delivery in the maintained sector

• Half of LAs responded that they had carried out
  analysis of the cost of provision in nursery
  classes and nursery schools.
• 12 LAs described a process which had specifically
  looked at the early years.
• For the majority this analysis seemed to focus on
  the staff costs and ensuring funding enabled
  staffchild ratios to be met.

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Maintained

• As part of the move to delegated budgets a move
  from place to pupil led funding, or to reduce the
  number of vacant places that are funded.
• A few LAs undertook the analysis at the request
  of their Schools Forum.

Why was this analysis carried out?
When was it completed?

• The majority had carried out their analysis in
  the last five years.
• 7 LAs have said that they are currently
  carrying out a review of the costs of delivery.
• 3 said they plan to do one in the future.

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PVI
The basis of funding allocations to PVI providers

• 64 of LAs said that the unit of funding was
  based on the original Nursery Education Grant
  plus cost pressures.
• 13 of respondents said Last year plus cost
  pressures.
• Only 3 said funding was based on an analysis of
  the cost of delivery.
• 11 said it depended on other funding decisions
  (e.g. size of PVI budget determined after other
  funding allocations are made).

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Analysing the cost of delivery in PVI settings

PVI

• 1/3 of LAs had looked at the costs of providing
  the free entitlement in PVI providers.
• Why was this analysis carried out?
• Concerns raised by providers about whether
  funding covers costs
• Some authorities have undertaken it as part of
  their involvement in
• the 3 and 4 year old pathfinder project
• When was it completed?
• Many completed their analysis recently, and
  significant numbers said they are either in the
  middle or planning to review PVI funding next
  year.

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A comparison of how children are counted in the
maintained and PVI sectors

PVI
The majority of LAs count pupils in PVI settings
by headcount per session i.e. actual
participation. However, this varied in the
maintained sector.
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Varying the rate of funding between settings

PVI

• The data shows that the vast majority of LAs have
  a flat rate for all PVI settings
• 3 vary funding by the type of setting e.g.
  private, voluntary, LA provision, full day care,
  sessional, etc.

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PVI
Distributing funding to PVI settings
Funding is most often distributed termly (with a
3 term year).
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The size of Schools Forums varies across the
country and most have non-schools members

Forums
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Who are the non-schools members?

Forums
Few Schools Forums include PVI provider
representatives
Some of the other specified members included
Trade Union Representatives and Officers for
Vulnerable Children.
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For further information or to access individual
local authority survey results please see
www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/earlyyears