The Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed the move this afternoon, with the intention of providing reassurance for early years settings.
The Department for Education (DfE) said that local authorities should follow its position and continue to pass on the Government funding it receives for the two-, three- and four-year-old places to providers in the event that any are advised to close by Public Health England or children are not able to attend due to the virus, to minimise short-term disruption.
The announcement comes after the sector called for urgent action from the Government to support settings during the Coronavirus pandemic. As part of this, they asked for confirmation about whether funding would still be paid to providers if they had to close.
To provide further stability to the early years sector, the Government has also confirmed that there will be no rise in the fees paid by providers to register with Ofsted in 2020-21.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said, ‘Millions of parents rely on childcare and the vital service provided by nurseries, childminders and pre-schools. Making sure that young children can be cared for safely so that their parents are able to work where required is of the utmost importance now more than ever.
‘In recognition of this, we will continue to pay for all free early years entitlements places, even in the event that settings are closed on the advice of Public Health England, or children are not able to attend due to coronavirus, and we will not be asking for funding back from local authorities.’
The DfE reiterated, however, that the advice from Public Health England continues to be that all educational settings, including nurseries, pre-schools and childminders, should remain open unless advised otherwise. The Department said it is providing daily updates to local authorities and early years sector organisations.
The Early Years Alliance welcomed the news about the continuation of funding.
Chief executive Neil Leitch said, 'We know that many early years providers are incredibly concerned about the financial impact that both closure and child absence due to coronavirus would be likely to have on their settings. As such, we warmly welcome clarity from the Department for Education.
'That said, we would be keen to see the DfE strengthen this guidance and make it clear that local authorities must, rather than, should pay "free" entitlement funding in instances where settings are forced to close due to coronavirus or children are absent due to coronavirus-related illnesses or self-isolation. This would ensure that there are no instances where councils can choose to disregard this advice, leaving providers in those areas facing severe financial challenges.
'We are also very conscious that for many providers, "free" entitlement funding only makes up a proportion of income and that loss of parental fees is likely to have a significant financial impact as well. As such, we continue to call on Government make available some form of contingency funding for such settings.'
