CEY1612
Written evidence submitted by Greater Manchester Combined Authority
1.1. The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is made up of the ten Greater Manchester (GM) councils and Mayor, who work with other local services, businesses, communities, and other partners to improve the city-region. GM is home to more than 2.8 million people and with an economy bigger than that of Wales or Northern Ireland. We want GM to be a place where everyone can live a good life, growing up, getting on and growing old in a greener, fairer more prosperous city region.
1.2. Early Years and school readiness has been a GM policy priority over the last 10 years, in recognition of the importance of the early years period to social mobility and economic prosperity. In 2012 GM developed a model for integrated Early Years services which sought to improve early years outcomes and close the attainment gap at age 5 between children growing up in GM and the England average.
1.3. High quality, early education is a crucial intervention within the model, recognising that it benefits children’s educational, cognitive, and socio-emotional development, and supports parents to access education, training, and employment. 20% of children in GM are growing up in deprivation and early education is a key enabler to close the development gaps between this cohort and their peers which otherwise will have a profound impact later in life and on long-term social mobility.
1.4. Between 2012 and 2019 there was significant improvement in school readiness levels in GM, and the last DfE data publication (2019) before the covid pandemic showed that we had succeed in closing the attainment gap at age 5 gap between the GM and England Good Level of Development (GLD) average for pupils eligible for free school meals.
1.5. However, the impact of the covid pandemic has reversed this improvement with the latest data (academic year 21/22) showing a widening of the attainment gap between GM and the England average and a widening of the attainment gap for children eligible for free school meals in GM and their peers. We find ourselves in a perfect storm of increasing child development delay, increasing demand for family support services alongside long term underfunding of the early education sector combined with acute recruitment and retention challenges.
1.6. We welcome the select committee inquiry as we hold significant concern that the current early education policy will not only fail to close the attainment gap but in fact widen the disadvantage experienced by these children. The disproportionate impact of Covid-19 reinforces the importance of maintaining access to high-quality early education provision and ensuring that as many families as possible can access free early education, if we are to make progress in reducing the attainment gap in the early years and ensure we build back fairer following the pandemic.
Childcare Entitlements
2.1. Affordability of childcare is a key concern for families in GM. Childcare prices are rising due to the increased costs of service delivery which are passed onto to families. Parents are facing multiple rising costs including food, living expenses, travel costs as well as childcare fees. The high quality expected of provision comes at a price; staff must hold qualifications and be well trained.
2.2. In the most deprived communities, families are more likely to experience worklessness or be on the cusp of giving up work when outgoings such as childcare prove too costly. More funding should be available particularly in deprived areas to ensure that families can continue to work and childcare providers can afford to operate flexible, high-quality provision.
2.3. However, there is an inherent tension in current policy between meeting the childcare needs of working parents through provision of flexible, affordable childcare and the role of high-quality early education in tackling disadvantage and closing the social mobility gap in the early years. A review of the current policy needs to reflect this and consider how both objectives can be realised and adequately funded.
2.4. The variable take up of childcare funding and early education entitlements demonstrates the challenges in understanding the current support available. Current application processes do not work for families. Families find childcare funding difficult to navigate, needing to meet different criteria for different types of help, applying to different agencies for support, adhering to specific deadlines throughout the year. A recent GM survey of parents of young children with just over 1000 respondents demonstrated mixed levels of awareness around funded provision:
2.5. A stronger national campaign aimed at communicating the benefits of early education and the range of support available, directed at employers as well as parents, families and wider communities would support with raising awareness. Further recommendations to raise awareness and take up of specific entitlements are outlined below.
2year old free early education entitlement
2.6. While GM has always had historically high take of the 2year old free early education entitlement (FEEE), relative to the England average, this was declining pre-pandemic with over 30% of eligible families not accessing the entitlement. In response, GM commissioned research to better understand how to encourage families to take up the entitlement, especially those from communities with historically low take up. There is significant variation in take up within Local Authority areas and a more place-based approach to understanding the reasons for this and how to engage communities was required. The research highlighted the practical, cultural, and emotional barriers to taking up the entitlements.
2.7. Recommendations to strengthen take up with these groups across GM are now being taken forward, these include:
2.8. The current timing of the Healthy Child review at age 2 and the current eligibility criteria for accessing 2yr FEEE misses opportunities for early intervention with families where developmental delays or challenges are identified with children from 18 months onwards. The GM Early Years Delivery Model advocates for a universal assessment of all children at 18months, recognising that this is a crucial window critical for the early identification of need around early language development, physical development and social, emotional and development and wellbeing. Adjusting the entitlements policy to allow children to take up their place the term of their 2nd birthday, rather than the term after, allows for an additional term of intervention and support.
2.9. A more proactive policy response would also allow local flexibility for professionals to refer families for 15hours free early education, supported through a local discretionary budget. This would ensure 2yr FEEE can be offered to disadvantaged families who just miss out on support due to the economic eligibility threshold under the current policy.
3yr-old and 4yr-old extended entitlements
2.10. There is a developing evidence base that suggests that widening the extended entitlement to all 3- and 4-year-olds would help to mitigate the impact of the pandemic and help address inequalities in the early years. The recent Sutton Trust report, ‘A Fair Start?’ highlights that the extended entitlement is in fact widening the attainment gap for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, by doubly advantaging wealthier families with additional hours of funded early education.[1]
2.11. Failure to extend the 3- and 4-year-old funded early entitlement is a missed opportunity to fundamentally challenge the factors that influence early years outcomes and make best use of early education as a targeted intervention to support the build back better agenda. For families who are eligible for the extended entitlement, the current application process is preventing some from taking up the offer due to language barriers and missing the deadline to obtain their eligibility code. The current process identifies an arbitrary cut off point which families may miss due to circumstances within the household and the increasingly complex lives of working parents. This disadvantages families who then miss out on a term of childcare and destabilises the provider market due to loss of income. Having a rolling application process would better support both parents and providers.
3.1. The cost of childcare and the perceived difficulty in securing and relying upon childcare funding, is often cited as a barrier for women (especially lone parents) to enter or return to employment. Working families should expect to pay for childcare but should receive some assistance with this. The process for claiming entitlements needs to be simplified especially in the early years where children are only with a childcare provider for a relatively short period of time.
4.1. The Tax-fee Childcare scheme is problematic with too few families taking up the support. Access to funding to allow parents to work should be simple and efficient, based on proof of employment status and hours worked, subject to routine checks with HMRC or other to ensure that families are entitled. It should not be overly complicated and the cause of significant stress to the extent that it would put families off applying.
Early Years Provision
5.1. Long term low levels of funding, the low status of roles in the sector, uncompetitive salaries, poor career prospects and increasing demands of the role have all had an adverse impact on attracting and retaining a suitably qualified workforce. These challenges have been exacerbated by the covid pandemic which has left the workforce feeling undervalued, unsupported, and struggling to effectively support young children with increasing levels of development delay.
5.2. Workforce challenges are leading to increasing numbers of providers leaving the sector as they are unable to recruit sufficient number of suitably qualified staff – providers in all 10 areas of GM report struggling to recruit level 3 qualified early educators - or deciding they no longer wish to operate in this context. Increased turnover across all levels of the workforce is also impacting on the quality of provision across GM with a decrease in the percentage of providers rated good or outstanding by Ofsted compared with pre pandemic.
5.3. Recent GM research into the current recruitment and retention challenges has highlighted the following key issues:
5.4. The GM research highlighted that inadequate pay remains the number one issue impacting on retention of staff, “we expect the most from the people we pay the least”. While we welcome recent national initiatives to strengthen early years practice and invest in the workforce, without remuneration that reflects the important work of early educators we will continue to struggle to retain staff, as highlighted by provider feedback in GM “workers are being asked to have degree knowledge at less than supermarket wage”. The current cost of living crisis is compounding the drive for people to leave the sector and look for higher waged roles in alternative sectors. In-work poverty levels are increasing for the early educator workforce; GM research indicated that it was either quite common or very common for staff working in early years provision to have more than one job.
5.5. A confident workforce skilled in early years pedagogy with a thorough understanding of child development is more critical than ever to address the challenge of the pandemic on early years outcomes. Latest GLD data for children in GM aged 5 shows a 15 percentage points gap in speech, language, and communication outcomes at age 5 for children eligible for free school meals and their peers in GM. The early education workforce plays an integral role in the early identification of SLC need in toddlers and preschool aged children and delivering targeted interventions to support children. High levels of workforce turnover are both detrimental to the level of skills and experience in provision but also have a negative impact on the crucial relationship between key workers and the children and families they support.
5.6. Our GM School Readiness programme includes work to raise the profile of the early education sector and workforce, implement an EY workforce competency framework to provide a shared description of the skills and competencies required to work with young children and families and work with learning providers to ensure this is embedded in pre and post qualifying training. However, without a sustained funding uplift across the sector to support higher wages, attract high quality candidates and stabilise recruitment and retention, we will continue to experience significant workforce challenges.
6.1. The pandemic has resulted in an increase in children presenting with additional need. There is enormous goodwill in the sector and a high degree of creativity; however, the workforce challenges are resulting in less capacity to deliver fully inclusive provision, especially because of the high turnover rates, high vacancy rates and fewer staff progressing to higher qualified positions. A review of the SENIF funding levels and significant investment in the early education workforce is required to better meet the needs of this cohort.
6.2. There is an opportunity to expand on entitlements guidance to consider the use of SENIF and DSG High Needs Block at a local level for supporting the transition of children with SEND into school. Aligning SEND funding streams up to the end of the reception year in school would also support children and families currently in the process of an Education, Health, and Care (EHC) assessment and not yet in receipt of an EHC Plan.
7.1. Within GM we have excellent providers of early education who offer high quality learning and work closely with parents and communities to ensure children are developmentally ready to start school. The skills learnt and confidence developed in an early learning setting support children to be better prepared for school. All children should have the benefit of a high-quality early learning experience to pave the way for a successful transition to their next phase of learning.
7.2. Children with additional needs miss out more often on this experience due to delays in securing a suitable early education place. Many families with a child with additional needs do not meet employment criteria for FEE funding. They may not work or work fewer hours as they are often the prime carer for their child and have not developed confidence to leave their child with a nursery.
7.3. The importance of a sound theoretical understanding in effective early education approaches is required to ensure that all children are supported to be school ready is crucial. We know that play based approaches should form the foundation of early years pedagogy and is crucial in meeting the learning needs of children at this age, particularly boys who underperform in the attainment data at age 5. Strengthening the understanding of play-based learning within the workforce and with parents and communities is also a crucial enabler of school readiness.
8.1. The reduction in Government Sure Start provision has led to a decline in local resources to support the early help/early years offer. Parent and child activities and groups that support parent/carer well-being and their understanding of the importance of early childhood development. The Family Hubs programme presents an opportunity to reinstate this valuable support; it is imperative that early years deliverables remain central to the programme and that Local Authorities are supported to ensure equitable coverage across communities to prevent and reduce variances in family help and early years support between Local Authority areas.
January 2023
[1] The Sutton Trust ‘A Fair Start? Equalising Access to Early Education’, 2021.