Childcare Sufficiency Assessment Annual Report

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Health Data (August 2024) 

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service

There was/were:

• a slight decrease in the proportion of funded three- and four-year-olds living in our most disadvantaged areas
• an increase (2.6%) in the proportion of children taking up the full entitlement compared to this time last year
• a decrease in the take up of the full 1140 extended entitlement hours over the last year. This may be because of the extra two-year-olds taking up funding but it is slightly concerning and should be monitored
• more than 40% of parents could take up more hours. It is possible that they work part time and do not need the hours, but it could indicate that places are not available during the days, weeks, and times that they are needed

Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)

The proportion of funded three- and four-year-olds in receipt of EYPP who are accessing their early years funded entitlement has continued to rise increasing from 17.8% in summer 2023 (2,021 children) to 18.6% in summer 2024 (2,048 children).

Of these 2,048 children, 462 (22.6%) lived in the top 30% most disadvantaged areas; compared with only 12.3% of all funded children living in these areas. Looking further at funded children living in the most disadvantaged areas of Devon, 33.9% were in receipt of EYPP (compared to 18.6% Devon wide). This shows that take-up of EYPP is much higher in the most disadvantaged areas.

Likewise, the proportion of funded three- and four-year-olds entitled to both EYPP and the extended entitlement has increased from 27.6% in summer 2023 (558 children) to 29.7% in summer 2024 (609 children). This has been due, in part, to parents being able to give consent for EYPP checks to be made when initially applying for two-year-old funding through the Citizen’s Portal.

Funded two-year-olds were eligible to receive EYPP for the first time in summer 2024.

• there were 867 (71.2%) two-year-olds receiving targeted funding and EYPP in summer 2024. This is a high proportion of those funded but that is to be expected given these are our most disadvantaged two-year-olds.
• by contrast, only 35 (1.0%) two-year-olds with working parents funding were in receipt of EYPP

Children in Need (CIN)

A Child in Need (CIN) is a broad definition spanning a wide range of children and adolescents in need of varying types of support and intervention for a variety of reasons. A child is defined as ‘in need’ under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, for further details see, Local authority support for children in need (England).

In Summer 2024, there were 89 two-year old children in need and of these children, 66 were accessing a funded place.

There were also 189 three-and four-year-old children (not in school) in need and of these children, 166 were accessing a funded place.

Table 4: Take up of the funded entitlements by children in need:

Percentage of children in need	Summer term 2023	Summer term 2024	Direction since 2023	Compared with the percentage of all children
Targeted Funded Entitlement Accessing a two-year-old funded place	66.3%	76.4%	↑	87.4%
Taking up the full targeted two-year-old entitlement (570 hours per year)	73.8%	76.5%	↑	71.8%
Universal Entitlement Accessing a three- and four-year-old funded place	91.7%	87.8%	↓	95.8%
Taking up the full universal entitlement for three- and four-year-olds (570 hours per year)	86.4%	86.1%	↓	89.8%
Working Parents Entitlement Taking up the extended entitlement for three- and four-year-olds with working parents	27.3%	25.9%	↓	60.0%
Taking up the full extended entitlement (1140 hours per year)	73.6%	53.5%	↓	56.5%

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service

Some Children in Need may not be eligible for two-year-old funding, but the percentage reflects the total number of Children in Need against the number of children accessing their entitlement.

The figures used are projections based on the weekly hours claimed for two-, three- and four-year-old children at headcount; an accurate figure on the 570 take up can only be calculated when looking at the child’s hours through three full terms. This is not possible for those children who have just started funding.

The table above shows that take-up of a two-year-old funded place has increased for Children in Need which is good news. Most of these children take up their full entitlement which is well above the Devon average for all two-year-olds.

Take-up in other areas is down on last year which is a concern especially those that do not take up their full 1140 hours entitlement.

Supporting Children and Families of Asylum Seekers

Devon Early Years and Childcare Service continues to work with the Devon Resettlement Team supporting children and families seeking asylum in Devon with the aim to assist families to access early years provision, as well as early help support.

Where they are located within the local community, we have been able to introduce families to the local providers, so that children can access their early years funding for two-, three- and four-year-olds.

The asylum hotel is situated in a remote area, making it difficult for families to access early years provision. Consequently, we have had to consider alternative ways to support families with young children. Due to the lack of funding for transport to early years provision, we collaborated with East Devon District Council to secure additional bus tickets for families. This allows them to take their children into Exeter, where they can attend a pre-school. This arrangement has been beneficial for families, as it enables children to receive early education while their parents access services, such as the library, community centres, and English-speaking classes.

The Holiday activities and food (HAF) programme has continued to fund a HAF provider to offer a programme of activities over the Christmas, Easter and Summer holidays for primary and secondary aged children and young people at the asylum hotel. The HAF provider also included activities for families with early years children. These were very well attended and ensured that the children and young people were being physically active.

Housing Developments

There are several areas in Devon where large new housing developments will increase the population and therefore the demand for childcare. Notably, Cranbrook, Sherford, and Exeter, particularly Southwest Exeter.

We work with the Pupil Place Planning Team in relation to strategic planning and sufficiency of early years places. An important aspect of this work is ensuring requirements for early years and childcare provision are considered in response to District Council Local Plans to secure Section 106 contributions from development. The County Council requires developer contributions towards early years provision where there is insufficient capacity for the proposed development and requests for contributions meet the statutory tests as set out in planning guidance.

This relationship has supported the delivery of several new schools with provision for early years in recent years including Roundswell Primary School which serves Barnstaple, West Clyst Primary School and Monkerton Primary School which provide places for development on the outskirts of Exeter and East Devon, and Matford Brook Academy which serves both Exeter and Teignbridge.

New schools with early years provision have also been delivered at Cranbrook and Sherford and significant growth is set to continue for these towns. Two new (420 place and 630 place) primary schools are planned to serve the Cranbrook expansion areas, both of which will include nursery provision, and two additional (420 place) primary schools with early years provision are planned to ensure sufficient early places in Sherford.

Where there is demographic growth, and in response to changes to national policy, we work collaboratively and proactively with schools to develop new and expand existing early provision to meet local need.

For more information, please see the Education Infrastructure Plan (2016-2033) and Education Approach for Developer Contributions  (2021): Pupil place planning – Planning (devon.gov.uk)

Devon is currently seeing a fall in early years numbers due to a sustained decrease in birth rates in recent years, but we will work with The School Place Planning Team to identify areas with sufficiency issues resulting from the new entitlements to ensure this is considered in the strategy going forwards.

Employment

Understanding employment and unemployment within Devon is central to determining whether there will be sufficient places available. Working parents need childcare to enable them to work and unemployed parents with two-year-olds are entitled to a funded place. The more that is understood about employment in Devon, the more accurate our analysis will be.

As of March 2024, 78.7% of the working age (16-64) population in Devon were in employment.

There is also some variance within Devon with extremely high employment rates in Exeter, Mid Devon, and South Hams whereas Torridge and North Devon have rates slightly below the national average.

Between March 2023 and March 2024, the percentage of the working age population in employment rose by 2%. This masks many underlying factors, such as the recent significant tailing off of jobs vacancies being advertised across the whole of Devon, along with the UK over the past year, which have fallen by 25% in the past year in Devon and 5.5% in the past quarter. It also masks underlying rises in unemployment over the past year, particularly between September 2023 and September 2024 where the number of unemployed claimants has risen in Devon by 24%, albeit from an extremely low base.

Unemployment in Devon is still, however, significantly below the national average at 2.4% compared with 4.3% for the UK. Where jobs are being advertised, they are often in difficult to fill sectors and locations, often for roles requiring specialist skills and for jobs in the hospitality and care sectors. Also see the Recruitment and Retention section below.

In Devon 56.2% of those employed are working full time (considered 30+ hours per week) which is slightly lower than the UK rate of 57.6%.

In 2024, 68.4% of working age men worked full time compared with 44.6% of working age women. The percentage of both men and women working full time has risen since 2019 (pre-Covid), with a significant jump in the percentage of women working full time in Devon from 39.2% to 44.6% over this period.

Term Time Only or All-Year-Round

Devon has a mix of term time only and all year-round places for children aged two to four. The expansion of provision for working families has meant that we needed to try and establish the proportion of families that are most likely to need places all-year-round, because they work throughout the year.

To keep the task manageable data was obtained from Devon County Councils (DCC) Human Resources Department. It shows that 34.7% (4640) of all staff employed by DCC (13369) are in term time only contracts. This relates to just 3.6% of corporate staff and only 55.0% of school staff.

Apart from those working in schools and the private, voluntary, and independent childcare provision, there is not another sector where there are likely to be a high proportion of people working during term times only.

Using this information and data on the numbers of employees in different sectors we have estimated that 91% of working parents need childcare all-year round.

What does this mean for Early Years and Childcare in Devon?

This data indicates that there are more people in work, more people working full time (especially women who anecdotally we know are usually the main care givers) that there is more demand for provision that is open from 8am to 6pm.

With very few parents working term time only, there is a need for more all-year-round provision for children under five and holiday places for primary school aged children. As the working entitlement to 1140 hours of funded childcare per year becomes more established, we expect parents of under-fives will become used to having 8:00am – 6:00pm provision all-year-round and expect the same childcare provision to be in place when their children start at school.

Recruitment and Retention

Recruitment and Retention of staff within the sector is a major issue across the country (6). Here is what we are doing in Devon to address this issue.

6 = Retention+and+Return.pdf (squarespace.com)

Recruitment and Retention Strategy

We have commissioned a yearlong social media campaign to promote careers in early years and childcare. The campaign started in April 2024 and to date we have had 246 respondents expressing an interest in working in the sector.

We have developed a new advert promoting careers in the sector which can be view the advert here: Early Years and Childcare (youtube.com)

We also launched our new working in Devon webpages: Early Years and Childcare Service – Working for Devon | Devon County Council

We also promote childcare as a career by:

• working with Job Centre Plus
• liaising with secondary schools and colleges and where appropriate attending careers fairs
• promoting childminder start up grants
• offering childminding courses
• working with other providers of childcare qualifications to support them to market and promote their offer
• promoting apprenticeships: Early Years Educator (apprenticeships.gov.uk)

Level 2 training

The Early Years and Childcare Service (EYCS) has partnered with Learn Devon to offer the NCFE CACHE Level 2 qualification for Early Years Practitioners. This initiative was developed in response to feedback from providers regarding challenges in accessing quality local training that adequately supports learners.

Learn Devon has been providing courses for adults in Devon for over 20 years and takes pride in its dedicated learning support team (Learning and support – Learn Devon). Their commitment is to assist learners in re-entering the workforce or advancing their careers.

We have seconded a member of the team to Learn Devon to be the lead for the delivery of the Level 2 qualification and they are supported by our advisory team in the delivery and assessment.

Currently, there are two cohorts of learners: the first cohort consists of fifteen participants, while the second includes an additional ten. The feedback received has been overwhelmingly positive, prompting plans to initiate a third cohort in the upcoming year.

The course is funded by the Adult Skills Fund, if learners earn under £25,000 per year or have not studied at Level 2 or higher, they are able to attend free of charge. This is the case for 90% of applicants, however we allow a small number of learners who do not meet the criteria to complete the course without charge and, for those learners, Learn Devon absorbs the cost.

Professional Development and Support

Devon Early Years and Childcare Service provide professional development opportunities at a subsidised cost (and in some cases fully funded) to support the continuing professional development (CPD) of individuals within the early years and childcare workforce in Devon.

Early years practitioners (and prospective childminders) can use the Devon Education Services Shop to book onto a range of short courses and eLearning. For more information about CPD opportunities please contact the Workforce Development Team eywd@devon.gov.uk

Quality of Early Years and Childcare Provision

Ofsted Outcomes

Comparing data year on year is complicated by frequent changes to Ofsted. The data below is a snapshot taken from the reporting period with reference to southwest and national data.

Ofsted report the percentage of providers in Devon graded as good or outstanding at their most recent inspection has increased from 97.6% in March 20237 to 98.5% in March 20248 and is higher than the Southwest (97.8%) and national (97.5%) level. However, this does not include provision in schools which accounts for 39% of all early years and childcare services in Devon.

Devon County Council receive a data feed from Ofsted of proposed, newly registered, and closed providers with basic information including their Ofsted inspection outcome for provision that is registered with Ofsted. Early years and childcare provision in schools is not included in this data feed as they are not required to register separately with Ofsted. Inspection outcomes for schools are received separately and are combined with the Ofsted data feed so we can report on the full picture of the quality of places across the county.

Local data shows that 94.5% of all services in Devon have been graded as good, outstanding, or met at their most recent inspection.

Table 5: Ofsted Outcomes of providers as of October 2024 (9, 10, 11)

9 = Early years inspection handbook – GOV.UK [Accessed October 2024]

10 = Carrying out Childcare Register compliance inspections – GOV.UK [Accessed October 2024]

11 = 11 Inspections explained: Independent Schools Inspectorate [Accessed October 2024]

Ofsted Outcomes	Childminder
Outstanding	49 (18.7%)
Good	183 (69.8%)
Met	28 (10.7%)
Not Met (with actions)	0 (0.0%)
Requires Improvement	0 (0.0%)
Inadequate	2 (0.8%)
Good/ Outstanding/Met	260 (99.2%)

Ofsted Outcomes	PVI Day Care Services (12)
Outstanding	36 (16.7%)
Good	173 (80.5%)
Met	0 (0.0%)
Not Met (with actions)	0 (0.0%)
Requires Improvement	5 (2.3%)
Inadequate	1 (0.5%)
Good/ Outstanding/Met	209 (97.2%)

Ofsted Outcomes	School Day Care Services (13)
Outstanding	4 (6.7%)
Good	49 (81.7%)
Met	0 (0.0%)
Not Met (with actions)	0 (0.0%)
Requires Improvement	7 (11.7%)
Inadequate	0 (0.0%)
Good/ Outstanding/Met	53 (88.3%)

Ofsted Outcomes	Out of School Services (14)
Outstanding	20 (6.7%)
Good	182 (60.7%)
Met	67 (22.3%)
Not Met (with actions)	3 (1.0%)
Requires Improvement	23 (7.7%)
Inadequate	5 (1.7%)
Good/ Outstanding/Met	269 (89.7%)

Ofsted Outcomes	All Services
Outstanding	109 (13.0%)
Good	587 (70.1%)
Met	95 (11.4%)
Not Met (with actions)	3 (0.4%)
Requires Improvement	35 (4.2%)
Inadequate	8 (1.0%)
Good/ Outstanding/Met	791 (94.5%)

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service

This shows that childminders have the best outcomes with 99.2% being graded as good, outstanding, or met at their most recent inspection, followed by PVI day care providers with 97.2%. School day care services had the fewest provisions graded as good or outstanding.

Chart 1: Overall Ofsted Outcomes of Funded/Non-Funded Providers

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service

This chart above shows the percentage of funded providers graded as good, outstanding, or met at their most recent inspection is 97.0% which is higher than the average for all providers (94.5%).

Table 6: Percentage of providers graded good, outstanding, or met at their most recent inspection by type of provider.

	Childminders	Group Providers	All Providers
Funded	99.1%	95.4%	97.0%
Non-Funded	100.0%	89.5%	90.7%
All Providers	99.2%	92.3%	94.5%

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service

The table above shows that the funded and non-funded childminders and funded group providers are in line with or above the Devon average of those graded as good, outstanding, or met at their last inspection. Non funded group providers have the lowest outcomes.

159 providers were inspected between 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024. Of these 117 providers had been inspected before and 42 providers had not. Of the 42 providers that were inspected for the first time this year 39 providers (92.9%) were graded as good, outstanding, or met.

Table 7: Ofsted Outcomes of providers inspected in 2023/24.

Inspection outcome in 2023/24:

↑= improved outcome

↓ = worse outcome

– = remained the same

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service

Of the 117 providers that were inspected this year and had a previous inspection outcome, 26 providers improved their outcomes, 74 maintained the same outcome and 17 received a worse outcome. 87 remained as good, outstanding, or met and 17 improved from not met, requires improvement or inadequate to good, outstanding, or met. 8 went from good, outstanding, or met to not met, requires improvement of inadequate and 5 remained as not met, requires improvement or inadequate.

Early Years One Devon

The statutory guidance for local authorities on securing sufficient childcare states ‘childcare places’ should be made available in “high quality settings.” Places for two-year olds should only be funded by the local authority in good or outstanding provisions unless there is a sufficiency issue. The local authority should ‘rely solely on the Ofsted inspection judgement of the provider … as the benchmark of quality.’

Early Years colleagues have reviewed the process for suspending funding as we are aware that by removing funding it may hamper settings capacity to improve and create a risk to sufficiency and quality. We have agreed that funding will be removed by exception only where settings are not engaging with the support provided.

Early Years ONE Devon is the overarching strategy to support early years setting quality and improvement in Devon. The strategy supports all early year’s settings to become ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ and ensure they meet the needs of all children. There is a strong focus on disadvantage as the aim is to support children to access their entitlement to high quality education and care and achieve their full potential.

If a private, voluntary, or independent provider is less than ‘good’ the service automatically provides support.

Early Years and Childcare Advisers and Early Years Consultants supported 41 providers who were judged as requires improvement or inadequate by Ofsted. The service worked with providers to develop a Post Ofsted Action Plan (POAP) and to work through the actions and issues identified during the inspection so they could achieve a good, or better, outcome.

We endeavour to contact good or outstanding providers at least once a year.

Managing the Childcare Market

The Local Authority is required, by law, to manage the early years and childcare market. We do this by working with new and existing providers:

• to identify what provision is needed, where and when
• to set up more provision or grow what we already have by adding hours, days, or weeks to their offer
• sharing data on population, supply, and demand (and more) to inform providers business planning
• to train them on how to apply for early years funding and understand the rules and regulations that apply
• to health check businesses, identify business needs to support sustainability and ensure consistent high-quality services
• to give expert guidance on the processes for registering with Ofsted including offering safeguarding and first aid training
• work with local partnerships and organisations to enable new provision to open by sourcing venues where possible and supporting new providers to set up in our hotspots
• to signpost to professional development opportunities and specific support
• to advise on staffing, ratios and qualifications, space, and organisation
• to work in partnership to deliver joined up services for families
• to support with recruitment and by advertising vacant posts
• to identify whether all children are accessing the funded entitlements

Sufficiency of childcare encompasses the quality, accessibility, affordability, and flexibility of provision as well as supply and demand. The statutory duty requires us to look at what is happening now and what we might expect to happen in the future. We work with providers on the supply of childcare and with parents to establish demand and improve take up and affordability.

The age of children and types of different providers are key factors when considering the supply and demand of childcare. Data on population changes, employment/unemployment, deprivation, housing developments, whether childcare is accessed close to home or nearer to work or on a travel to work route, opening times (hours, days, and weeks), whether funded children can take up a place and how much is charged are analysed so we know and understand what is available and happening now and in which areas. Ongoing monitoring of the data shows us what we might expect to see in the future and to plan for change.

Demand for early years and childcare

We have three ways of finding out about parent’s childcare needs:

• the online Unable to find Childcare form enables parents to tell us at any time when they cannot find childcare
• the online Annual Parents Childcare Survey
• anecdotal feedback from our teams working in the localities

Unable to find childcare forms

There were 109 unable to find childcare forms submitted by parents in Devon in 2023/24.

Between January 2024 and June 2024 there was no public website for parents to search for childcare and therefore parents were encouraged to complete the unable to find childcare forms to receive information about what was available in their area.

The forms were for out of school and holiday provision for 4–11-year-olds (41) followed by under-two-year-old provision (21). The largest number of enquiries were from Exeter and the Dawlish areas.

Table 8: Number of children needing childcare as reported on unable to find childcare forms submitted

	East Devon	Exeter	Mid Devon	North Devon	South Hams	Teignbridge	Torridge	West Devon	Total
Under 2-year-old provision	3	4	0	1	3	5	4	1	21
2-year-old provision	1	3	2	3	2	3	1	0	15
3- and 4-year-old provision	2	0	3	1	2	4	3	1	16
Holiday Provision – 4–11-year-olds	4	1	0	0	0	4	2	0	11
Out of School Provision – 4–11-year-olds	6	4	5	3	5	14	3	1	41
Out of School Provision – 11–16-year-olds	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	3
2-year-old and 4–11-year-old	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
Weekend Provision – 4–11-year-olds	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Total	18	14	11	8	12	30	13	3	109

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service

Of the 109 forms submitted only 4 parents that we contacted were unable to find suitable childcare and (for 81 parents the outcome was unknown).

Where the parent was not able to find suitable childcare:

• two were from the same rural school wanting after school provision until 6pm in Mid Devon. After school provision was established in this area and one school is exploring how wraparound childcare can be delivered from the school site. The Early Years and Childcare Service will continue to work with providers in the area to address these issues
• one wanted day care for an under-two-year-old and a three- or four-year-old, three days a week during holidays in East Devon. There are childminders in this village. The Early Years and Childcare Service will continue to promote childminding as a career and encourage local providers to open for longer hours and more weeks per year
• one wanted out of school provision until 6.30pm in South Devon. There is no wraparound provision at the school. The Early Years and Childcare Service will work with the school and local providers to address the issue

Parents Childcare Survey

This year the Early Years and Childcare Service sent texts and emails to parents in Devon who had used the Citizens Portal to apply for a school place and those who had used the eligibility checking service to check eligibility for two-year-old funding and free school meals. A total of 19294 emails and 11934 texts were sent.

There were 2107 responses to the Parents Survey in Summer Term 2024 from parents in Devon. This related to 4099 children.

Most parents responding to the survey had children of primary school age.

Key Findings:

• use of formal childcare has increased from 75% last year to 83% this year
• the proportion of parents using formal childcare reporting that they could not get enough increased from 37% last year to 46% this year. The majority of these required an out of school club or a holiday club
• the proportion of parents not currently using formal childcare reporting that they did need to use it to take up work or training increased from 17% last year to 26% this year
• where the childcare is needed has remained similar to last year with most parents (77%) needing childcare close to home
• there is a need for more all-year-round and full day care provision
• some parents are struggling as they need the funding to afford childcare but cannot get a job without the childcare

Use of childcare related to the following numbers of children:

Table 9: Numbers of children requiring more childcare by age and whether they are currently using formal childcare:

	Not using childcare and need it	Using childcare and need more	Total
Under 2-year-olds	25	207	232
2-year-olds	15	157	172
3- and 4-year-olds	16	413	429
Primary School aged Children	93	727	820
Secondary School aged Children	18	124	142
17–18-year-olds with additional needs	3	19	22

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service, Parent Survey Summer 2024

There are 1817 children who need childcare or need more childcare. The majority of these were primary-school-aged children. Exeter saw the largest number of children who needed childcare or needed more childcare (614), followed by Barnstaple (222) and Clyst Vale (210).

Those parents who were not using childcare but needed to and those that were using childcare and needed more were asked what type of provision was required.

Table 10: Number of parents needing different types of childcare and whether they are currently using formal childcare:

What type of childcare is needed	Not using childcare and need it	Using childcare and need more	Total
Pre-school	16	248	264
Day Nursery	27	241	268
School Nursery	11	85	96
Childminder	165	130	295
Before School Club	18	317	335
After School Club	30	417	447
Holiday Club	32	369	401
Nanny	6	29	35
Specialist childcare for children with SEND	19	71	90

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service, Parent Survey Summer 2024

Those not using childcare but who needed to use it reported needing provision offering full day care and all year-round provision (childminder, day nursery) for children under five or after school and holiday clubs for children over five. Those using childcare but needing more needed all types of childcares.

In total, 53.6% of all funded two-year-olds accessed provision that was open all-year-round; this is seen more starkly when looking at those two-year-olds receiving targeted funding (28.7%) and those receiving the working parents’ entitlement (62.5%).

Similarly, 32.2% of all funded three and four-year-olds accessed provision that was open all-year-round; 44.2% of those were receiving the additional working parents’ entitlement. It is possible that more children, receiving the working parents’ entitlement, would access all-year-round provision if that were available.

Following this survey, the Early Years and Childcare Service will continue to:

• raise awareness of the Early Years and Childcare Service and the unable to find childcare form through social media
• improve the information for parents on Find Childcare by encouraging all providers to update their information on the Provider Self Update
• increase awareness of the help available with the cost of childcare
• promote stretching funding with parents
• support and encourage providers to offer the funded entitlements flexibly so parents are not restricted to using the funded entitlements at specific times
• encourage providers to open for longer hours and for more weeks of the year where possible to meet the needs of parents
• promote entitlements, stretched funding, universal credit for childcare and tax-free childcare to parents of younger children so they are aware before they reach the age they are used
• promote the funding for eligible service families to get 20 hours of funded ‘wraparound’ childcare before and after school for 4–11-year-old children during term times
• promote the ‘Right to Request’ with parents through social media
• encourage the 29 schools local to parents who reported there was not out of school provision at their local school to set up provision if viable or signpost to a local provider

Supply of Childcare

Changes to the supply of childcare in 2023/2024

The types of Early Years and Childcare Providers factsheet explains the differences between provision in Devon. There are 1498 providers in Devon offering 1725 services. These are:

Table 11: Number of childcare services by type of care on 31 August 2024 compared with 31 August 2023:

Type of Service	Total 2022/23	Total 2023/24	Difference
Day Nursery	138	143	+5
Pre-school	156	147	-9
Nursery unit of Independent School	14	13	-1
Academy Nursery Class	82	107	+25
Maintained Nursery School or Class	55	47	-8
Special School Nursery Class	2	2	0
Out of School Club	252	602	+350
Weekend Clubs	6	10	+4
Holiday Clubs	110	201	+91
Childminder	352	349	-3
Home Child Carer	109	104	-5
All Provision	1276	1725	+449

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service

The biggest increase has been seen in out of school club providers. This increase is due to a large amount of work cross checking data held in different places. Previously, data was collected together under the heading ‘out school clubs,’ it is now separated into before school clubs and after school clubs because they provide different services and have capacity for different numbers of children.

There has also been a large increase in the number of holiday clubs this year due to encouraging Holiday activities and food (HAF) programme providers to register with Ofsted and making sure they were all recorded. This has led to better data on what out of school and holiday provisions are available.

Overall, there have been 74 providers who have opened and 69 providers who have closed this year. There have been other providers who have still operated but may have added or closed an individual service.

Table 12: Services open and closed from 1 September 2023 to 31 August 2024:

Service Type	(Services open) New Providers	(Services open) Existing Providers	(Services closed) Closed Providers	(Services closed) Still Active	Net Change
Day Nursery	15	0	3	3	9
Pre-School	1	2	6	1	-4
Governor/Trust Run Preschool	0	2	2	0	0
Nursery Unit of Independent School	0	0	0	0	0
Academy Nursery Classes	12	0	0	0	13
Maintained Nursery Schools or Classes	0	1	11	0	-10
Special School Nursery Class	0	0	0	0	0
Out of School Care	15	15	14	41	-23
Weekend Club	4	1	0	1	4
Holiday Scheme	11	11	11	18	-7
Childminder	32	2	33	8	-7
Home Child Carers	4	0	9	0	-5
Grand Total	85	37	74	72	-29

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service

NB: Some of the 449 additional services shown in table 11 are existing providers that will have been back dated (and have not newly opened during this year) and therefore figures in table 11 and table 12 will not add up.

There are two childminder agencies with childminders operating in Devon – these are Tiney and Suffolk Childcare Agency.

Change in Provision:

• this year we have seen 12 schools with early years and childcare provision converted to become academies
• there have been a further two schools lower their age range from 3-11 to 2-11
• the voluntary sector continues to be in decline whilst the private sector and school run providers continue to increase
• this shows that the greatest change in providers has been seen with a net decrease in out of school provision over the last year
• there has also been a net decrease in holiday clubs and childminders

Table 13: The regional and national decreases in overall provider numbers (as a percentage), for the period March 2023 to March 2024:

	Devon	Southwest	England
Decrease in the number of Ofsted registered providers	-1.8%	-2.2%	-2.3%
Decrease in the number of childminders	-5.5%	-4.7%	-4.8%

Source: OFSTED, Childcare providers and inspections, Table 1: Registered childcare providers and places (15)

15 = Early years and childcare statistics – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) [Accessed October 2024]

Overall, the total number of providers has decreased over the last year. The decrease in all providers has not been as great as that seen across the Southwest and across England. However, there has been a slightly higher percentage decrease in childminders in Devon than that seen in the Southwest or across England.

Sufficiency of Early Years and Childcare in Devon

Early Years and Childcare Sufficiency Hot Spots

Data held by the Early Years and Childcare Service about provision of early years and childcare in Devon and parental demand is analysed, assessed, and monitored as part of a comprehensive approach to planning for sufficient provision and to enable effective market management.

Data on the supply of childcare is taken from the data submitted on the Provider Self Update (PSU). At the time the analysis for the hot spot areas was carried out 620 out of 706 funded providers had completed the PSU. A further 55 providers had partially completed it and had provided information on capacity and opening hours which could be used to calculate Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Places needed for the analysis of the supply of childcare. There were 5 funded providers where the number of places were estimated due to providers not yet completing it.

The demand for childcare is calculated by using actual population figures, to project the number of children who may be living in an area at a given time, and current take-up rates; e.g. if there are an estimated 12 two-year-olds living in an area and that area currently has a take-up rate of 25% of children receiving the targeted funding, demand is forecast to be 12 x 0.25 = 3 children. If that same area has a take-up of rate of 50% of funded children receiving the working parents’ entitlement, the demand is forecast to be 12 x 0.5 = 6 children. We are using Higher Level Wards (16) as areas to determine sufficiency.

‘Hot Spots’ are areas in Devon where a need has been identified following the annual analysis of supply and demand data. This could be a need for more provision or where further work is required by us to better determine if the current provision meets the potential demand. The data is put into a report that is shared with our locality teams and their feedback is added. The hot spot areas are then agreed by our leadership team before publication.

16 = A Higher-Level Ward is the same as a Census Ward except for larger towns and urban areas in Devon where more than 1 Census Ward is combined into a Higher-Level Ward, e.g. the Census Wards of Ivybridge East & Ivybridge West are combined into the Higher-Level Ward of Ivybridge.

Review of Hot spot areas identified in August 2023:

Table 14: Review of Hot Spot areas August 2023:

Hot Spot Area August 2023	Provision for	Update
Cranbrook and surrounding area	Under-five-year-olds and out of school provision	The nursery that was expected to be built in Cranbrook by summer 2023 is still not in place. It is not known when it will be built and occupied but planners are indicating that is has been re-scheduled for 2025. Childminders have continued to register within Cranbrook. Lack of suitable and affordable premises in the area. No change to current provision within the area.
Sidmouth	Under-five-year-old places	No change to provision within the area. Suitable venues continue to be an issue. An existing provider tried to set up daycare within the Sidmouth Youth Centre but it proved to be an unsuitable venue with limited days/times available. There has been talk of the Youth Centre being re-developed, so this is something to keep in mind. Opportunity was explored with the developers of the old East Devon District Council site -The Knowle- to no avail. Also, a site opposite this was explored, and found not suitable. The old fire station in Woolbrook was considered too and again was not suitable. The old Health Centre in the town came up for sale and a private provider was interested but priced out of the market. We continue to stay connected with this provider. We have continued to link with the local Councillor in terms of any suitable venues.
South of Exeter and Exminster	Under-five-year-olds and out of school provision	One new childminder registered to work in Exminster.
Cullompton	Funded two-, three-, and four-year old places	One new childminder registered to work in Cullompton. In surrounding areas: Kingwood Children Muddifords now offers wraparound childcare for Sampford Peverell Church of England Primary School however there are recruitment challenges. Willand Pre-School has reduced the number of wraparound places because another provider is now working with the school with the older children. This change will increase the capacity for 2,3- and 4-year-olds. Joyful Journeys Childcare is a new nursery provision recently opened in Willand; it is a small provision offering 6 places.
Axminster	Funded two-, three-, and four-year old places	No change to provision within the area. On going work with First Federation who took over from the Acorn Multi Academy Trust in relation to early years and childcare on their school sites.
Ilfracombe	Under-five-year-olds and out of school provision	A new nursery, Beach Buddies Childcare, set up in May 2024. We are exploring whether a full day care nursery can be set up on the Ilfracombe Church of England Junior School.
Bideford and Northam	Under-five-year-olds and out of school provision	One new childminder registered to work in Northam. In Bideford there has been Out of School Childcare expansion at St Marys Primary School St Mary’s CofE Primary School via Muddy Boots Pre-school. Tarka Tots would have expanded but as the Childrens Centre building is being kept for use as a Family Hub they do not have the space. The potential to use the building after school for childcare could work as this is after main office hours. This will be determined, and action taken if that is an option.
Great Torrington	All-year-round provision for under-five-year-olds	No change to provision within the area.
Fremington	Funded two-, three- and four-year-old provision	No change to provision within the area.
Sherford	Under-five-year-olds and out of school provision	One new childminder registered to work in Sherford.
Dawlish	Under-five-year-olds and out of school provision	Happy Holidays a childminder in Dawlish has expanded her business to offer 50 places per day during the holidays 30 Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) eligible children 20 paid for. One new childminder has registered to work in Dawlish. One new childminder is currently going through registration. In discussions with Dawlish College to provide a site for a 0 – 4 all year round nursery. Little Swans Preschool have expressed an interest in taking under 2’s and opening all year round.
Okehampton	Under-two-year-old places	Two new childminders registered to work in Okehampton.

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service

Hot Spot Areas September 2024:

We know that there is enough term time provision across Devon for two-, three- and four-year olds to access the entitlement to funded childcare. However, we know that there are very few parents who only require childcare during term times (see employment data) and therefore there is a need for more all-year-round provision. Although the population is falling, there are a greater number of parents wanting to access childcare due to the introduction of the new funded entitlements for working parents (see New Government Entitlements).

The following hot spot areas are based on current supply and demand for childcare from September 2025 when working parents will be entitled to 1140 hours of funded childcare a year from the start of the term following a child’s nine month ‘birthday’.

Last year’s Hot Spots have been included in the table below where there is a need for all-year-round provision.

Across most areas of Devon (especially rural areas) there is a need for:

Table 15: Need for childcare across Devon September 2024:

Provision for	Reason for being a hot spot	Actions for 2024/25
All-year-round provision for all under-five-year-olds	Increase in funded hours for children from 9 months from September 2024, increase in funded hours for two-year-olds from April 2024. A lot of provision is open during term times only and is not meeting local demand for all-year-round places.	Increase: the number of places available the ages of children taken the number of weeks open the number of hours open Use the Childcare Expansion Capital Grant to expand places. Promote the School Based Nurseries Grant. Support all providers to expand, especially from term time only to all year round. Support 2-11 providers to expand to take children under 2. Support providers to set up new provisions. Work with schools with a 3-11 age range to take two-year-olds.
Holiday provision for primary school aged children	Lack of places for all ages	Encourage term time only early years providers to open all-year-round and to take older children. Encourage wraparound childcare providers to open during the school holidays. If funding continues encourage Holiday activities and food (HAF) programme providers to open places to non HAF children.

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service

We will also continue to work with schools and providers to develop before and after school provision where there is a demand.

In addition to the hotspots in Table 23, there are some areas where there is not enough provision, even during term times.

These are (NB: The areas listed below are higher level wards – previous years have referred to combined parishes.):

Table 16: Hot Spot areas August 2024:

Hot Spot Area August 2024	Provision for	Actions for 2024/25
Cranbrook	Under-five-year-olds	Continue to keep in contact with the new provider (Little Pioneers) who will operate from the planned standalone nursery so we can establish when places may be available; currently indicating 2015 with a 100 place nursery. Continue to work with East Devon District Council planners to ensure we are up to date with developments. Continue to promote childminding in the area. Discuss with Cranbrook Education Campus and St Martin’s Church of England Primary & Nursery School whether they can expand the provision for under-fives by opening for longer hours and more weeks of the year. Monitor the use of the 30 hour expansion grant (September 2017) that was allocated to Cranbrook Education Campus to create all year round places for 3 and 4 year olds. Check whether schools are admitting children from their second birthday and if they are not, encourage them to do so. There are limited premises from where provision can run. Ensure children with SEND can access the full funded entitlement.
Cullompton	Two-year-old provision	Ask term time only providers to open all-year-round to increase the number of places available for two-year-olds. Identify potential premises from where a new provider could operate. Check that all providers taking two-year-olds offer places from a child’s second birthday. Support applications for capital expansion in this area. Ensure children with SEND can access the full funded entitlement.
Exeter Northeast	Two-year-old provision	Support applications for capital expansion in this area. Continue to work with Monkerton Community Primary School and Westclyst Community Primary School and Cornerstone Academy Trust to consider expansion of early years places and opening all year round. Continue to promote childminding in the area. Identify premises that may potentially be used for childcare
Honiton	Two-year-old provision	Support applications for capital expansion in this area. Extend the age range of Honiton Primary School from 3-11 to 2-11. Encourage the school to open early years provision for longer hours and more weeks. Explore the expansion of two-year-old places with other providers by opening for longer hours or more weeks of the year as well as increasing places more generally. The Childrens Centre next to Littletown Primary Academy in Honiton can be used (subject to DFE approval) for childcare.
Appledore, Northam & Westward Ho!	Under-five-year-olds	Speak with the Atlantic Coast Co-operative Trust in relation to Appledore School extending the age range from 3-11 to 2-11 Speak with Ventrus about St George’s Church of England Infant and Nursery School and potential expansion of the nursery provision and changing the age range to 2-11. Work with existing providers to encourage them to open all-year-round and for longer hours each day. Identify premises from where new childcare providers could operate. Support applications for capital expansion in this area. Establish whether there is spare capacity within local schools that could be used to develop childcare.
Bickington	Two-year-olds	Ask all providers in Bickington, Roundswell, and Sticklepath if they can take two-year-olds, open for longer hours and for more weeks of the year. There is potential for the children centre building at Sticklepath Community Primary Academy to accommodate more two-year-olds. The building has already been passed to the Tarka Learning Partnership that runs Sticklepath Primary for them to use for the school nursery. Continue to promote childminding in the area.
Ilfracombe	Two-year-olds	Continue to encourage the infant school to admit children from their second birthday. Consider whether any providers can expand their provision for two-year-olds by opening for more hours or more weeks or by extending premises. Consider whether any providers that do not take babies could do so. Continue to promote childminding in the area. Work with governors and Diocese to explore whether a new nursery can be developed on the Ilfracombe Church of England Junior School site. Ensure children with SEND can access the full funded entitlement.
Great Torrington	Under five -year-olds	Use the Childrens Centre building for all year-round provision for under-five-year-olds. Work with the school and Diocese on these developments. Encourage term time only providers to open all-year-round. Look for opportunities to expand early years provision in the town. Continue to promote childminding in the area. Support applications for capital expansion in this area. Ensure children with SEND can access the full funded entitlement.
Ivybridge	Two-year-olds	Support applications for capital expansion in this area. Determine whether there is spare capacity within any primary schools. Promote the school-based nurseries grant. Consider whether any providers in the area can expand their provision for two-year-olds by opening for more hours or more weeks or extending premises. Continue to promote childminding in the area. Check that all providers of two-year-olds places are offering them from when a child is two.
Okehampton	Two-year-olds	Support applications for capital expansion in this area. Encourage all early year’s providers to expand and open for longer hours and for more weeks. Discuss with Okehampton Primary School and Foundation Unit increasing places for two year olds. Discuss with St James Church of England Primary and Nursery School the application they have made to Ofsted to register to take children under twos. Monitor the take of places and hours taken up by children with SEND. Identify suitable premises from where childcare provision could be made.
Ambrook (Villages South of Newton Abbot)	Three- and four-year-olds	Support applications for capital expansion in this area. Continue discussions with Denbury Primary School and Kingskerswell Church of England Primary School about setting up and expanding provision. Encourage term time only providers to open all year round between 8:00 and 6:00. Work with all providers to encourage them to expand and develop new places. Better understand how parents living in this area move/where they work, including into Newton Abbot and into Torbay. The Newton Abbot 3 development will have an impact on sufficiency in this area. Establish the best options for meeting the demand for childcare across the wider area. Continue to promote childminding.
Kenn Valley	Three- and four-year-olds	Support applications for capital expansion in this area. Work with local schools to set up and expand early years provision. Determine whether any schools have unfilled capacity that could be used to set up nursery places. Encourage all early year’s providers to increase opening hours and weeks and expand places. Continue to promote childminding in the area.

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service

Sufficiency of provision for two-year-olds taking up early years funding

From April 2024 funding was introduced for all two-year-olds of working parents to receive 570 hours of funded childcare a year. In Devon this is called the Working Parents Entitlement. A further proportion of two-year-olds will be eligible to receive 570 hours of funded childcare based on national criteria. In Devon, this is called the targeted two-year-old funding. All other parents of two-year-olds must pay for the childcare they use.

Every six weeks we receive details of parents who are potentially eligible for the targeted funding from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). An invitation is sent to these parents which directs them to check their eligibility through the Citizen’s Portal. If a parent is found to be eligible, they receive a confirmation which they must show to their chosen childcare provider.

Parents who do not receive an invitation can also check their eligibility on the Citizens Portal. Some parents may need to submit evidence that must be checked; our funding helpdesk team support these applicants. They will be parents/carers who may be eligible for reasons other than being in receipt of benefits e.g. adopted child, EHCP, asylum seeker.

Parents who are unable to access the Citizens Portal can have an ‘assisted application’ where an eligibility check is carried out on their behalf. These parents should call the Customer Service Centre 0345 155 1013.

Our funding team processes applications for children that are in care to Devon County Council after having contacted their foster carer. If a child has left care and is under an adoption, special guardianship or child arrangement order the parent/carer needs to apply through the Citizens Portal and attach evidence (the Order) to support the application.

More information is available for families on the two-year-old funding webpage.

Table 17: Percentage of two-year-olds accessing funding and percentage taking up the full entitlement:

Percentage of two-year-olds	Baseline Summer Term 23	Autumn Term 23	Spring Term 24	Summer Term 24	Direction since 22/2
Accessing a targeted funded place (percentage of the DWP number) (17)	85.7%	91.9%	91.7%	87.4%	↑
Accessing a targeted funded place who are taking up the full entitlement	73.5%	73.5%	71.5%	71.8%	↓
Accessing a working parents funded place (percentage of the population) (18)	N/A	N/A	N/A	49.3%
Accessing a working parents funded place who are taking up the full entitlement	N/A	N/A	N/A	76.2%

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service

The number of two-year-olds with parents on the DWP list increased slightly which is in line with the total population of two-year-olds also increasing.

The take-up of funded places by eligible two-year-olds in Devon has increased from 85.7% in Summer 2023 to 87.4% in Summer 2024. However, the percentage has decreased by 4.3% since spring 2024. This decrease has coincided with the introduction of the working parents’ entitlement from summer 2024.

We know that some parents are eligible for both the targeted (DWP list) and working parents’ entitlement and that some have preferred to apply for the latter rather than the former.

Historical figures show there were about 7 to 8% of parents who might qualify for both entitlements and the data are showing us that parents appear to prefer to apply for the working parents’ entitlement. For those who apply for both entitlements, the targeted funding is prioritised. It should be noted that Devon remains well above the national average take-up of 74% (Spring 2024).

The take-up of the full entitlement by those children accessing a targeted place has decreased this year from 73.5% to 71.8% in Summer 2024. The take-up of the full entitlement is much higher (76.2%) for two-year-olds with the working parents’ entitlement.

17 = Two-year-old take-up is based on the number of children on the last DWP list of the term and EY hours taken up; no individual children are matched.

18 = Two-year-old take-up is based on the population of children in that term. It is likely that up to 60% of the two-year-old population may be eligible for the working parents’ entitlement.

Sufficiency of provision for three- and four-year-olds taking up early years funding

All three- and four-year-olds are entitled to 570 hours of funded childcare per year. We fund early years providers for children from the start of the funding period19 following their third birthday until they start at school or until they reach compulsory school age. This is known as the Universal Entitlement.

Many parents take this as 15 hours a week during term times only, but often parents stretch the entitlement taking fewer hours each week over more weeks of the year.

Three- and four-year-olds of working parents are entitled to 1140 hours of funded childcare per year. This is known as the Working Parents Entitlement.

The take-up of universally funded places by three- and four-year olds has decreased slightly over the last year from 96.1% in Summer Term 2023 to 95.8% in Summer Term 2024.

The decrease in take-up is not significant and Devon remains well above the national average take-up figure of 92%.

The take-up of the full universal entitlement by three- and four-year-olds has increased from 88.8% in Summer Term 2023 to 89.8% in Summer Term 2024.

The take-up of the working entitlement continues to increase with 60.0% of all funded three- and four-year olds taking up some hours in Summer Term 2024 up from 57.3% in Summer Term 2023.

Take-up remains high and data suggests that overall, there is sufficient provision to meet the current need for funded two-, three- and four-year-old places.

We recognise that there will be times of the day and weeks of the year when some families may not be able to access the places they need.

Sufficiency of provision for children from families in receipt of Universal Credit

All claimants have now migrated to Universal Credit. 284,660 of individuals who were sent migration notices nationally, did not claim universal credit and have had their legacy benefit claims closed. Families in receipt of Universal Credit may be eligible for a Free School Meal, Early Years Pupil Premium and two-year-old funding.

Chart 2: The number of people aged 16-49 on universal credit in Devon:

Source: DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS (2024), Stat-Xplore, People on Universal Credit

Across Devon there has been an increase in the number of people aged 16-49 claiming universal credit and has risen back to levels seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. The DWP report this to be the case for the whole of the country and has been caused by the cost-of-living crisis (20).

20 = The cost-of-living crisis in Britain has resulted in unprecedented levels of Universal Credit recipients | Consumer Rights (consumer-rights.org)

Table 18: Percentage of the population on universal credit:

	People on Universal Credit (16–49-year-olds – July 2024	Population 16-49 (Population Estimate 2023	Percentage of people on Universal Credit
Exeter	8397	73,352	11%
East Devon	7847	52,135	15%
Mid Devon	4967	30,378	16%
North Devon	6736	35,334	19%
Torridge	4514	21,767	21%
South Hams	4121	29,636	14%
Teignbridge	7787	46,718	17%
West Devon	2880	18,698	15%
Total	47246	308018	15%

Source: DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS (2024), Stat-Xplore, People on Universal Credit

Source: OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS (2024), Nomis, Population Estimates 2023

There are approximately 15% of people aged 16-49 on Universal Credit in Devon. The highest proportion is seen in Torridge and North Devon with the lowest seen in South Hams. This means there could be a greater demand for funded two-year-old provision in Torridge and North Devon with potentially a lower demand in South Hams.

We work with Job Centre Plus and providers to ensure that there is sufficient provision to meet the needs of all families including those in receipt of the childcare element of the Working Tax Credit or Universal Credit. We work to increase the take up of all funding that is benefit related.

There were 90 funded three-year-olds of working parents eligible for the extended entitlement in Summer 2024 that were receiving benefits based two-year-old funding in Spring 2024; this was 26.4% of all children turning three who were funded as two-year-olds. This reflects the low wages in some businesses and sectors as well as the socio-economic differences seen within some areas of Devon.

Sufficiency of provision for children requiring holiday care

With the seasonal nature of employment opportunities in the tourism and hospitality sectors, and fewer people on term time only contracts, it is important to ensure there is sufficient provision for parents needing to use holiday care to enable them to work.

Attendance in early years and childcare settings changes during the summer as some parents choose to use holiday provision whilst others use their annual leave entitlement to cover holiday periods to reduce the need for childcare and/or ask friends and relatives to care for their children. However, assuming working parents get four weeks annual leave, even if both parents in a two-parent family take all their annual leave to cover holiday periods (eight weeks), this would not cover all school-based holiday periods (13-14 weeks).

As there is a lack of holiday provision for primary school aged children, parents have to find alternative childcare for their primary school aged children so may also choose to use the same childcare arrangements for their under-five-year-olds, taking them out of their normal provision, masking the demand for holiday provision for under-five-year-olds.

If there was more holiday provision for primary school aged children, there could potentially be more demand for holiday provision for under-five-year-olds.

Demand

In the summer Parents Survey, 369 parents reported that they were currently using formal childcare but needed more holiday care, and 32 parents reported that they were not using formal childcare but needed holiday care.

11 parents contacted us using the ‘unable to find childcare form’ because they were looking for holiday provision. Four of these were for East Devon, four were in Teignbridge, two were in Torridge and one in Exeter. Nine of these were contacted but the outcome is unknown.

Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF)

The DfE funded Holiday activities and food (HAF) programme aims to:

• support children to eat more healthily
• be more active over the school holidays
• have a greater knowledge of health and nutrition
• be more engaged with school and other local services

The HAF programme covers 4 days at Christmas, 4 days at Easter and 16 days in the summer; it does not run during half term holidays. A day is 4 hours and includes a nutritious hot meal.

We had over 100 providers offering 40,000 places in an exciting programme of activities delivered across Devon including, Paddleboarding, Sports Activities, Cookery, Crate Building, Gardening, Swimming, Laser Tag, Canoeing, Kayaking, Surfing, Mountain Biking, outdoor adventures and more.

The programme is primarily for children who are eligible for benefit related free school meals. Eligible children are issued with a unique code to book on to the activities. There were 18,456 eligible children in Devon.

Table 19: Number of HAF places and children attending 2023/24:

Holiday Period	Number of Places	Number of children that attended
Christmas 2023	10,000 over 4 days	1899
Easter 2024	10,000 over 4 days	2161
Summer 2024	40,000 over 16 days	3372
Total		7432

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service

Here are just a few of the things that parents said:

I have a less anxious and more confident child

Made me feel Happy my children can do activities I would not be able to afford

It has made a massive difference; it has given my child a break

HAF has made my life easier.

Feedback from children and young people:

I love dodgeball, I love making new friends, the food is the best

If I were not here, I would be home gaming playing FIFA

I would be at home sleeping if I were not here, I get to make new friends

I really enjoyed swimming and learning to roller skate.

The Early Years and Childcare Service have worked with HAF providers to encourage 61 previously unregistered schemes to become Ofsted registered so that other parents can pay for the provision using current government funding streams.

Sufficiency of provision for school aged children

Demand for before school and after school clubs for school-aged-children is usually met through the schools that children attend if there is sufficient demand to ensure sustainability. If the school does not or cannot deliver childcare, an external provider may want to set up in partnership with the school to provide this service from the school site. Many childminders offer wraparound childcare dropping children off at school and collecting then when the school day ends.

Right to Request

Parents have the ‘right to request’ that schools offer childcare and childcare providers can ‘request to use school buildings’ from where they can operate childcare. It is the responsibility of the school governors or trustees to respond to these requests. For more information see Wraparound childcare.

In the summer Parents Survey, only 19% (185) parents of school aged children (primary and secondary) reported that they knew about the right to request. 81% (785) reported that they did not know about this.

Demand

317 parents reported in the survey that they were currently using formal childcare but needed more before school clubs and 417 reported that they needed more after school clubs. 18 parents reported that they were not using formal childcare but needed a before school club and 30 reported they needed an after-school club.

44 parents completed the ‘unable to find childcare form’ because they were looking for out of school provision.

The government’s intention with the wraparound funding programme is to create over provision and by doing so to test the market as well as create demand. The start-up funding will initially sustain the provider until demand has increased or it can be determined that the places are not needed.

Out of School Providers

This year we have worked hard to find out where there is before and after school childcare in schools. We cross referenced all services on pinpoint, before the contract ended, and have cross referenced with the schools’ census as well as adding the Holiday activities and food (HAF) programme funded providers onto the database where appropriate.

Despite this we may not always know about all schools running before and after school care as there is no requirement for it to be registered separately with Ofsted. Out of school providers were invited to complete

the Provider Self Update, unfortunately the response was poor. As a result, there may have been more places made available than we know about.

Wraparound

The government expect that by September 2026 most primary schools will be able to provide before and after school care, where a need has been shown, or link to other local providers, e.g. childminders or other childcare provision.

Parents were asked in the summer parents survey whether their primary school currently has out of school provision. 729 parents reported their school had a before school club, 744 reported their school had an after-school club, 217 parents reported their school had childcare during the holidays. 132 parents reported that their primary school did not have any out of school provision.

In Summer 2024, surveys were sent to all schools and childcare providers to gauge the provision of wraparound childcare in schools. Results (from the surveys returned, and the provider survey update showed, 107 out of 313 primary schools already have full provision from 8.00am to 6.00 pm (or from 7.45am to 5.45pm i.e. a 10-hour day). 126 schools have partial provision, this could be a breakfast or afterschool club, but not both, or their provision finished before 6.00pm. 42 schools have no childcare provision.

Devon has many small schools, and we are working with childminders and providers to be able to offer a childcare service linked to these schools.

Transport is a major concern in some of the rural areas. Some clusters of schools are investigating ways of transporting children from small schools to a neighbouring school at the end of the school day for childcare.

Ministry of Defence Wraparound Childcare Scheme (WAC)

In Autumn 2022, the Secretary of State for Defence launched The Wraparound Childcare scheme for service families. Eligible Service personnel can register for up to 20 hours per week, per child, term time only of wraparound childcare funding for 4- to 11-year-old children attending before and after school childcare. Service families can check if they are eligible and how to claim WAC funding by visiting the Discover My Benefits website.

In the summer parents survey, 22 families (2.3%) reported that they were already using the funding. A further 180 (18.8%) knew about the funding and would be using it soon (15), chose not to use it (28), or were not eligible (137). 270 families reported that they were unaware of this funding and thought they might be eligible.

Sufficiency of provision for children with parents who work irregular and atypical hours

Parents who work irregular hours could be those who work variable shifts for example hospital staff, police, and supermarket staff. They will also be parents on zero hours contracts. Parents who work atypical hours could be those who work overnight, before 8.00am, after 6.00pm, bank holidays and weekends.

We will fund two-, three- and four-year-old places at weekends and bank holidays enabling providers to claim funding whenever they are open between 6.00am and 8.00pm.

The Summer Term Parents Survey told us a third of parents (27-35%) require childcare before 8am for under-two-year-olds up to primary-school-aged children. This halved for parents of secondary school aged children (15%). Fewer parents reported that they wanted provision after 6pm (11%-14%). Very few (1%-4%) wanted overnight childcare and the same was true for childcare at the weekends (5%-11%).

The low levels of demand make group provision during atypical hours unviable and so childminders are often the best option for parents who need atypical or irregular hours of childcare that can be offered flexibly.

Sufficiency of provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

Early years and childcare providers are required to be inclusive (21). Support for group early years providers with inclusive practice is available through the Early Years Consultants and for childminders and group childcare providers through the Early Years and Childcare Advisers.

21 = Required through the Equality Act 2010 and the Children and Families Act 2014.

Many working parents with children of all ages who have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) can face significant challenges in finding suitable childcare that meets their child’s needs and fits their working hours. The rising number of children with SEND, combined with difficulties in recruiting enough qualified and experienced staff, has increased pressure on the childcare sector. Whilst some funding and support are available for early years children alongside funded entitlements, securing and maintaining places in wraparound and holiday childcare for older children is a persistent issue, even before considering the affordability of these services. However, we are utilizing the wraparound funding as an opportunity to try out ideas to look at this childcare issue.

Support for Group Providers

Early Years Consultants (EYCs) provide the Area Special Educational Needs and Disabilities coordinators (SENDCo) role referenced in the SEND Code of Practice and will offer advice to Early Years Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinators (SENDCos) and relevant staff including the key person (Early Years and Childcare Advisers support childminders with these aspects of their practice) relating to:

• promoting an inclusive environment
• implementing the graduated response
• becoming a new SENDCo
• signposting to other agencies
• completing appropriate referral forms and inclusion funding forms
• professional Development, including regular SENDCo forums
• safeguarding concerns
• EYCs will also provide generic advice relating to specific areas of need i.e., speech language and communication, positive behaviour management and support of disadvantaged children. This advice will enable settings/schools to identify children with additional needs/SEND and promote inclusive practice for all children

Individual Children

Where a setting, school or childminder has taken all the necessary steps to support a young child through a graduated response, but is still concerned regarding a child’s learning and development, they can request (with parental permission) support from an Early Years Consultant (EYC) who may:

• give advice regarding target setting and strategies
• observe a session alongside a practitioner to identify areas of need and consider ways to support individual children
• offer advice to manage tricky conversations with parents and support liaison with partner agencies
• signpost to services who can support individual children in the setting/school
• the focus of this support is to ensure that the setting feels enabled and confident in meeting the needs of all children in the setting

Nursery Plus

Nursery Plus is an educational outreach service funded by Devon County Council, supporting early years settings in receipt of early years funding to meet the needs of individual children identified with additional or Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). There are twelve bases in schools across Devon.

Providers identify the children in the first instance and refer them to Nursery Plus for targeted support.

• during 2023/2024, 550 children were allocated places with Nursery Plus
• 69% (380/550) children achieved the objectives set by the Nursery Plus service
• a further 27% (147/550) did not achieve the objectives but good progress towards them

Early Years Complex Needs (EYCN) Service

The EYCN service is an education-based service for children with significant or complex developmental delay in two or more areas of development. One of these areas must be cognition (acquiring knowledge or understanding).

• the service is affiliated to the National Portage Association (NPA) and is based on the principle that parents and carers are the key figures in the care and development of their child
• it works closely with a wide number of professionals from health, education and care and is made up of a Service Lead, Team Leads, Early Support Advisory Teachers and EYCN Practitioners
• the child and family will be supported by the EYCN team in the following ways:

• home visits by practitioners, providing parents with strategies, skills, and ideas to help their child’s development
• support to access community settings (such as pre-school and nursery; Children Centres and their ‘Step by Step’ groups which focus on supporting children with a disability, and groups specifically led by the EYCN Service)
• the specialist teachers contribute to the Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) process, transitions into settings and schools, supporting requests for Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs)

Between September 2023 and August 2024, the EYCN Service worked with 517 children. Any referrals not accepted are signposted to the right places.

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Individual Inclusion Fund

The Early Years Consultants (EYC), Early Years Complex Needs and Nursery Plus teams have continued to promote the SEND Individual Inclusion Funding application process to ensure all providers are fully aware of this support. Through their Area SEND Co-ordinator role, the EYCs have offered additional advice with regards to the identification of children’s needs and evidencing an ‘assess, plan, do, review’ process that settings are then able to include in the application process. EYCs and the Early Years Complex Needs and Nursery Plus teams have worked with individual settings to ensure that the funding is utilised to have maximum impact on progress.

The funding panel have noted that there continues to be waiting lists for therapy and delays in assessment.

There are six funding panel meetings a year, three routine meetings and three meetings to respond to applications coming in between the routine meetings. Inclusion funding is only given for the funded time that children attend.

In the figures below and in tables 17 to 20 some children may be counted more than once because the count is made term on term; so, if a child is funded for more than one term, they will be counted more than once.

1527 children have been funded through the SEND Individual Inclusion Fund in 2023/24 an increase of 40 since 2022/23.

Table 20: Comparison of the number of two-year-old children in receipt of individual inclusion and targeted funding between 2022/23 and 2023/24. N.B: These are the most disadvantaged two-year-olds:

Two-year-olds (targeted)	Number of children funded 2022/23	Number of children funded 2023/24	Direction since 2022/23
Level 1	60	42	↓
Level 2	81	98	↑
Level 3	12	7	↓
Total	153	147	↓

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service

Table 21: Number of two-year-old children in receipt of individual inclusion and working parents’ entitlement from Summer 2024:

Two-year-olds (working parents)	Number of children funded Summer 2024
Level 1	5
Level 2	11
Level 3	0
Total	16

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service

Table 22: Comparison of the number of three- and four-year-old children in receipt of individual inclusion funding and the working parents’ entitlement funding between 2022/23 and 2023/24:

Three- and four-year-olds	Number of children funded 2022/23	Number of children funded 2023/24	Direction since 2022/23
Level 1	243	300	↑
Level 2	301	297	↓
Level 3	56	38	↓
Total	600	635	↑

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service

Table 23: Comparison of the number of three- and four-year-old children not in school that are in receipt of either the 15-hour universal entitlement or the 30-hour working parents’ entitlement and in receipt of individual inclusion funding between 2022/23 and 2023/24:

Three- and four-year-olds	Number of children funded 2022/23	Number of children funded 2023/24	Direction since 2022/23
Level 1	513	565	↑
Level 2	694	687	↓
Level 3	127	112	↓
Total	1334	1364	↑

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Early Years and Childcare Service

Disability Access Fund (DAF)

The Disability Access Fund (DAF) is intended to aid access to places for three- and four-year-olds who are in receipt of the Disability Living Allowance, by supporting providers in making reasonable adjustments to their settings. Providers are entitled to receive a one-off payment of £828 per year.

204 children have been funded through the DAF in 2023/24. This is 20 more children than were funded in 2022/2023.

Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) Programme

There were 1089 children who had special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) who were eligible for Free School Meals (FSM). In addition, there were 538 children with special educational needs and disabilities, who did not meet the free school meal criteria, who also attended the HAF programme.

Overall, there were 1627 children with SEND accessing a HAF place.

Table 24: Number of children with special educational needs and disabilities accessing the Holiday Activities and Food Programme:

	Primary	Secondary	Total
Free School Eligible – SEND	701	388	1089
Non-FSM eligible SEND	345	193	538
Total	1046	581	1627

Source: DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL (2024), Holiday Activities and Food Programme

Local Offer

Information on education, health, childcare and social care services and support for children and young people (0-25) with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), can be found in Devon County Council’s Local Offer, with more information on what is available for 0-5 year olds in Devon and provision.

The Early education and childcare guidance (22) states that local authorities must clearly publish how those without access to internet or people with special educational needs and disabilities can access information. Local authorities should also provide a brokerage service for parents needing further support to find childcare suitable for their needs, signpost parents to the Family information Service and ensure that parents of children with special educational needs or disabilities can access relevant information about childcare quickly and easily.

In Devon parents can access Find Childcare in Devon for a list of childcare providers and tell us if they cannot find the childcare they need.

Our brokerage service is provided by the Early Years and Childcare Advisors in respond to the Unable to find childcare forms.

22 = Early education and childcare – Statutory guidance for local authorities (publishing.service.gov.uk) Part C Information to Parents C.3, C.13, C.14, C.15.

Focus for September 2024 – August 2025:

• sufficiency of places all year round for children under five
• expansion of before and after school places for primary school aged children
• creation of more holiday provision for all children
• specific Hotspot areas
• support recruitment and retention within the sector
• improve information for parents
• the quality of provision
• accessibility for children with SEND
• the charges made by providers and their admissions processes
• ensure sufficient places for targeted two-year-olds
• all providers completing the Provider Self Update
• financial impact of the October 2024 budget on the sector

Actions arising from the report:

Relating to the sufficiency of places:

• promote DfE funding streams: School Based Nurseries, Breakfast clubs, Childminder Start up Grants, Childcare Expansion Capital Grant, particularly in areas where provision is most needed
• identify schools where there is surplus capacity that could be used for nursery provision
• enable the Childrens Centre buildings, which will not be needed for Family Hubs, to be used to accommodate childcare provision all year round
• identify suitable premises from where childcare could operate

Relating to the take up of the funded entitlements:

• monitor the take of funded places and hours by children with SEND and follow up where children are not accessing a place and where children are not accessing the full entitlement hours. This will be used to inform a review of Individual Inclusion Funding as well as ensuring accessibility, inclusion, and sufficiency
• work with colleagues in Childrens Services Social Care to support the take up of targeted two-year-old places and hours and ensure that Children in Care, Children who were previously in Care and Children in Need are supported to access places and funding to improve their life chances
• monitor the take up of the current entitlements and the new entitlements and ensure that there is sufficient childcare and early education to meet the demand of parents for children from 9 months to the start of reception from September 2025

Relating to parents:

• provide information to parents on the support that is available to help them with childcare costs and explain what charges, which are made by providers, are acceptable
• work with providers to build greater flexibility and affordability into their provision for parents, especially where provision is open all-year-round but does not enable parents to stretch the funded entitlements
• continue to survey parents regularly to gain a greater insight into the demand for childcare. Strive for a greater response from families with children under five

Relating to the quality of provision:

• monitor the quality of provision
• support settings to sustain their quality or improve where Ofsted have judged them as requiring improvement or inadequate through Early Years ONE Devon
• provide a range of professional development opportunities to ensure settings meet the statutory duties including those related to safeguarding and develop their skills and knowledge in providing high quality inclusive practice for all children

Relating to recruitment and retention of staff:

• promote recruitment and retention campaigns, nationally and locally
• continue to work in partnership with Learn Devon to deliver early years qualifications
• continue to work with Bootcamps – Train 4 Tomorrow to deliver play work training for those entering the sector
• encourage childminding as a career, especially in rural areas, by promoting the new DfE flexibilities to support childminders in joining and remaining in the profession

Relating to information and its management:

• increase the completion of the Provider Self Update and accuracy of data
• continue to monitor the Provider Self Update submissions to support our understanding of where provision is offered, identify where there are gaps and provide support to develop provision in these areas
• further develop the Find Childcare in Devon website to support parents to find childcare

Find out more:

• Email childcareinfo@devon.gov.uk for childcare sufficiency enquiries
• Email eyef@devon.gov.uk for early years funding enquiries
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