The Chancellor George Osborne published the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) on 20 October 2010, setting Government spending for the years 2011/12 to 2014/15. Over this period Government will cut £81 billion from Government spending, including £7 billion in welfare cuts, on top of the £11 billion of welfare cuts announced in the emergency budget in June 2010.

Daycare Trust has analysed the CSR to consider what the impact will be on childcare, and therefore on the millions of families who rely on childcare services. Their overall view is that families will find it harder to pay for childcare as a result of the CSR, particularly lower income families who rely on Tax Credits. However they were pleased that the free early education for three and four year olds was protected, and that additional funding has been found to pay for 15 hours per week of childcare for disadvantaged two year olds.

Free entitlement to early education

Main announcements:

• Free entitlement to early education for three and four year olds at 15 hours a week protected.

• The most disadvantaged two year olds (the poorest 20% of families) will also receive the 15 hours free early years educational entitlement from 2012.

Their response

“We are delighted to see the Government acknowledge the importance of investing in early years. There is overwhelming evidence that investing in the first years of a child’s life has the potential to transform their future, yet spending on early years education and care is tiny in comparison to secondary and higher education budgets. In cash term, 15 hours of nursery care is equivalent to £49.20 per week for each child in England. This rises to £58.20 a week for children in London.”

Sure Start & early intervention

Main announcements:

• Sure Start budget protected in cash terms.

• Sure Start to be focused on its original purposes of improving the life chances of

disadvantaged children.

• More community providers to be encouraged to run Sure Start Children’s Centres, with a

new focus on payment by results.

• Funding includes new investment in Sure Start health visitors.

Their response

“Daycare Trust welcomes the recognition of the value of Sure Start Children’s Centres but remains concerned that protecting funding in cash terms marks a reduction in real terms because of inflation.

We would also like clarity on how the 4,200 health visitors will be funded and recruited, where they will sit within the existing structures, and whether existing outreach services will be cut in order to pay for these new health visitors.

Whilst we welcome the Government’s recognition of the benefit that Sure Start can have for disadvantaged families, we also are concerned that the Government’s call for Sure Start to be “refocused on its original purpose” might mean that its essential nature as a universal service for the whole community is lost.”

Tax Credits

Main announcements:

• Basic and 30-hour elements of Working Tax Credit to be frozen from 2011/12.

• Childcare Element of the Working Tax Credit will be reduced to pay a maximum of 70% of

childcare costs (rather than the current 80%) from 2011/12.

• Child Element of the Child Tax Credit to increase above inflation by £30 in 2011 and £50 in

2012.

• Parents must between them be working a total of 24 hours a week in order to be eligible to

receive the Working Tax Credit. Currently one parent must be working 16 hours in order to

qualify, although currently both parents are required to be working 16 hours in order to

claim the Childcare Element. As far as we aware this will remain the same.

• The Government will go ahead with a Universal Credit to replace all benefits and Tax Credits.

Their response

“We are very concerned by the decision to freeze Tax Credits and to reduce the maximum amount of childcare costs paid through the Working Tax Credit from 80% to 70%. This will affect many of the 488,000 families who currently receive support for their childcare costs through Tax Credits, 64% of whom are lone parents.

The cut equates to a loss of up to £1,560 per year for families who are already struggling with the burden of extortionate childcare costs. Parents in the UK contribute more towards childcare costs than any other OECD country, and this will be made more difficult after these announcements, even after taking into account the increase in the Child Tax Credit. Furthermore, this is on top of cuts already announced in the June budget such as abolition of the Child Trust Fund, the restriction of eligibility for the Sure Start maternity grant to the first child only and the abolition of the Health in Pregnancy Grant.”

You can download the Daycare Trust full Comprehensive Spending Review report from their website.

Christmas is always a great opportunity to get the children crafting – with cards, decorations, gifts and tasty treats to make.

Get creative with the children by trying this simple, yet stunning Paper Plate Christmas Fairy, taken from the Nov/Dec issue of Creative Steps magazine.

Inspire the children for Christmas

Using the creative checklist and your simple steps for Christmas inspiration below, the children will be creative in no time!

1. Take a paper plate and cut out a section at the top as shown. Then make two cuts into the middle of the plate, about two thirds of the way down, to make her wings. Do not allow the cuts to meet.

2. To make the Christmas Fairy’s dress, stick pieces of double-sided tape onto the bottom section of the plate and cover with red feathers. Cut a bodice from a scrap of red felt and stick it down on top of the feathers as shown. Add some snowflake sequins to decorate.

3. To make the Christmas Fairy’s head, take a wooden spoon and draw on some features using fine liner pens. Cut out some hair from a magazine in any style you like, and using a glue stick, place on top of the spoon. Add a sequin to finish.

4. Secure the spoon to the back of the plate using strips of sticky tape.

Interested in receiving more creative resources for the children? Creative Steps have over 70 creative childcare resources in their latest issue this month. Packed with dozens of fun Christmas projects and creative inspiration that support the EYFS learning goals, Parenta readers can claim a 15% discount! (Code Parenta15)

For more details about the latest issue, visit www.creativesteps.co.uk or claim your 15% discount on a subscription by quoting promo code Parenta15.

The Parenta team swapped the office for the sports field last Friday in aid of raising money for Marie Curie Cancer.

Parenta directors, Nick Williams and Allan Presland, tackle the mammoth task of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro this September as they aim to raise £10,000 for Marie Cure Cancer.

To support their intensive training schedule, the Parenta team organised a ‘Sports Day’ event to raise further donations for the cause.

Fun games included ‘Wheelbarrow’, ‘Caterpillar’ and ‘Bowls’ as two teams made up of Parenta Staff battled it out for bragging rights!

Nick Williams, part of the winning team commented, “It was clear that we are in peak physical condition heading into next month’s challenge (cough)!  Allan and I are very excited about attempting Kilimanjaro and hope that we can continue to raise more money for the Maire Curie foundation.”

If you would like to sponsor the boys on their climb up Kilimanjaro and help reach their £10,000 target for Marie Curie Cancer Care, head over to their donations page and leave your comments and support!

Working mothers have to fork out more for childcare in Britain than in any other country in the developed world.

A third of UK family income goes towards nurseries and childminders – almost four times the cost in Germany and three times that of France.

Charities say the exorbitant costs – which can reach £20,000 per child – are down to the fact that the Government targets state help for childcare towards those on lower incomes, pushing up costs for others.

It means the middle classes are bearing the brunt of spiralling costs, leaving them with bills of more than £160 a week on average for nursery places.

Critics, however, warn that the true cost of the trend towards having both parents out at work is not the financial one, but the emotional and developmental cost for children who grow up without their mother at home.

A study from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, a group of 32 industrialised nations, found that 33 per cent of a British family’s net income goes towards the cost of childcare.

This is higher than every other country in Europe and the rest of the Western world. German parents pay just 8 per cent of their net income towards childcare, while in France the figure is 11 per cent. Costs tend to be higher in English-speaking countries: 19 per cent in the U.S, 22 per cent in Canada, 28 per cent in New Zealand and 29 per cent in Ireland.

But none exceed the amount paid by British parents. The OECD average is just 13 per cent of income, the report says.

The most recent figures show that in the UK, the cost of a full-time under-two’s nursery place is £167 a week – rising to as high as £375 a week in areas like central London. This works out as more than £18,000 a year.

For children under the age of two,  their costs are even higher because they require more hands-on care. Nursery costs increased by 5.1 per cent in the last year alone – twice the rate of inflation.

Childminders cost an average of £152 a week for a two-year-old. But in London, costs can be as high as £400 a week – some £20,000 a year.

The costs are based on care for 50 hours a week. Charges are higher if the parents are working non-standard hours.

Childminders cost an average of £152 a week in the UK

The reason that British charges are so much higher is that, unlike in Europe, there is little government support for childcare. What help there is is targeted at those on lower incomes.

For the better off, the only help is 12 and a half hours of free nursery or playschool places for 38 weeks of the year.

European countries tend to provide much more funding for childcare to allow mothers to continue in work. In Sweden, for example, pre-school places are available from the age of one, and no one pays more than 3 per cent of their monthly income per child.

The OECD report, Gender Brief, compared childcare costs before tax breaks and state help; and then childcare costs after this help. In the UK costs are 43 per cent of family income before government help, and 33 per cent afterwards.

Willem Adema, one of the report’s authors, said: ‘The British system is geared towards lower income groups, with various tax credits focused at them.

‘For these parents, childcare isn’t that much more expensive than in other countries. But the moment your earnings hit a certain level it becomes much more expensive.’

Kate Groucutt of the Daycare Trust charity, which campaigns for affordable childcare, said the figures were ‘of huge concern’.

She said: ‘The crippling cost of childcare in the UK means that many parents are finding they are financially better working only part-time or not at all, and children are missing out on the proven benefits of good quality early years education.’

But Norman Wells, of the Family Education Trust, said: ‘It is a misnomer to call policies family-friendly when they are aimed at keeping parents apart from their young children for large portions of the day.’

Why do you think the UK tops the chart as the most expensive for childcare? What needs to be done by the Government to stop both childcare providers and parents facing a high expense from the cost of childcare? Join the discussion by leaving your comments below!

Source: Daily Mail

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has denounced families’ dependence on welfare for allowing children to remain trapped in poverty, as the government set out its proposals for reforming the benefits system.

Speaking in east London, Duncan Smith established his plans for welfare reform in the 21st Century Welfare white paper, published today. Options in the paper include combining elements of the current income-related benefits and tax credit systems, bringing out-of-work and in-work support together in a single system, and supplementing monthly household earnings through credit payments reflecting circumstances such as children, housing and disability.

The government claims the system will provide more incentive to work as benefits will be withdrawn more slowly alongside gaining employment. It will also be a simpler system, said Duncan Smith, which will allow for less error and fraud, which cost the taxpayer £5bn last year.

“A system developed to help the most vulnerable and support people in times of need is trapping people in a cycle of dependency. We now have children growing up in households where neither parent works and where the only future is one stuck on benefits,” said Duncan Smith. “We are proposing to change forever how the system works. Not tinkering around the edges but a fundamental change from top to bottom.”

Imran Hussain, head of policy at Child Poverty Action Group, said the changes to the current system are long overdue.

“Much depends on the detail of any proposal but slowing down the rate at which benefits are removed when people’s incomes rise would help make work pay and help reduce ludicrous marginal tax rates paid by low-paid workers through higher tax and lost benefits,” he added. But Hussain also warned that the government’s decision to withdraw funding for free school meals is likely to prove a disincentive for poor parents to work.

Save the Children also welcomed the proposal but called for investment to ensure benefits for the most vulnerable families are not cut. Sally Copley, Save the Children’s head of policy, also warned that the reforms will not be a cure to all child poverty.

“For some families work is not an option, for example, families with very young children or families affected by disability,” she added. “For others, the barriers to taking up employment are not high marginal tax rates, but a lack of suitable jobs or a lack of childcare. Spending cuts could make this worse.”

The proposals are now open for consultation until October.

The government has handed Doncaster Council £1.29m to pay for a team of project managers to help turn around its failing children’s services department.

Chris Pratt, director of the children and young people’s service, says that four project staff are already working on improving the department and it is now looking to use the extra money to recruit a team of project managers and two project directors.

One of these director-level posts will specifically look at the children and young people in care service.

He said: “Additional resources in the form of project directors and project managers are needed to support management and staff in the delivery of what is a major and complex improvement programme.”

Details of the extra government funding, which will run out in March next year, were presented to members of the council’s Schools, Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Panel this week.

The government intervened in the running of the council’s children’s services in March 2009. This followed the deaths of seven children in the area through abuse or neglect.

Despite this intervention, a report presented to the scrutiny panel in June found that outcomes for children had got worse during the last quarter of 2009. Obesity rates and teenage pregnancy rates were up, while and school attainment was down.

Performance had also got worse in areas such as timely child protection conferences, and initial and core assessments.

Are you a childcare provider working in the Doncaster area? What are your main concerns or suggestions on how children’s services could be improved? Drop your comments below to enter the discussion!

Source: CYPNow

The Code of Practice on the free entitlement to nursery education will be implemented from September, the Government has confirmed, despite pre-election promises by the Conservatives to suspend it.

The news will come as a blow to some nursery owners who were hoping the Tories would fulfil their pledge to postpone the Code and allow settings to charge top-up fees.

A Government spokesperson said, ‘The new Code of Practice will come into force in September, to ensure that local authorities are working to a clear common framework in implementing the extension to 15 hours. However, we will be looking to streamline this guidance next year.’

When asked about top-up fees, the spokesperson said that primary legislation required local authorities to secure nursery education free of charge.

The Government also announced that the Early Years Single Funding Formula is to be made statutory from April, but a requirement has been added that all local formulas must include a deprivation supplement, which may eventually become a Pupil Premium for the early years.

A consultation on the best way to operate a Pupil Premium for school-aged children, including what deprivation indicator should be used, was launched on Monday by education secretary Michael Gove and children’s minister Sarah Teather. The Pupil Premium is aimed at helping children from disadvantaged backgrounds to improve their school performance.

The consultation also asks whether the policy of funding at least 90 per cent of a local authority’s three-year-old population should be changed to one based on actual take-up of free entitlement places.

A Government spokesperson said, ‘We think it is right that funding should based on actual numbers of pupils and so we are consulting on this issue.’

The National Day Nurseries Association stressed that local authorities would need to have an effective formula in place before April 2011, as there was still a lot of uncertainty around funding, with many nurseries reporting that funding for the free entitlement was not at a sustainable level.

Chief executive Purnima Tanuku said, ‘While it is fantastic that parents have access to the free entitlement, it is not free to a large proportion of nurseries who have to subsidise the cost of delivery and it can be a direct threat to their sustainability. Sixty per cent of providers report that funding for free sessions does not cover their costs.’

Anne Longfield, chief executive of 4Children, said, ‘Providers in all sectors of childcare provision will welcome the certainty afforded by today’s announcement that the coalition government will press ahead with the Early Years Single Funding Formula from April. 4Children has always supported the principle of transparency and consistency in early years funding.

‘What is really important is that children and families have access to high-quality, affordable early education and care. We believe that in the longer term, a single funding formula will support this aim.’

To help nurseries across the UK adjust to the free entitlement changes in September easier, we are currently running a promotion for our Abacus nursery management software.

How is your childcare setting adapting to the free entitlement changes? Do you feel there is enough funding available to cover the cost of provision? Start a discussion below, by sharing your thoughts and ideas about the issues nurseries face with free entitlement changes.

Source: Socato