Implementing the Flexible Free Entitlement
All 3- and 4-year-olds are currently entitled to a free part-time early education place for up to two years before reaching compulsory school age.
From 2010 the current free entitlement will increase from 12½ to 15
hours per week for 38 weeks of the year, and parents will be able to use it
more flexibly than at present; over at least three days a week. As a step
towards this, from September 2009, all local authorities will be required to
make the offer available to 25 per cent of their most disadvantaged 3- and
4-year-olds. Interim Guidance and a toolkit are now available below to
help local authorities deliver this.
An updated Implementation Toolkit will be available in the autumn.
Guidance
The
Extension to the Free Early Education Entitlement Offer for 25% of 3- and
4-year-olds: Interim Guidance for LAs
Toolkit for Local Authorities: the Extension to the Free Early
Education Entitlement Offer for 25 per cent of 3- and 4-Year-Olds
This toolkit has been developed to support all local authorities in rolling out
the extended free entitlement to 25 per cent of their 3-and 4-year-olds as
required from September 2009. It is a living document and will be updated
as further case studies and information becomes available.
The extension to the free entitlement has been rolled out gradually. The first wave of 20 pathfinders came on board in April 2007.
The 20 authorities are: Gloucestershire, Greenwich, Leeds, Blackburn with Darwen, Rochdale, Telford & Wrekin, Somerset, Hertfordshire, Peterborough, Haringey, Newham, Worcestershire, Sheffield, Slough, Leicestershire, Blackpool, York, Hampshire, Derbyshire, and Sunderland. This group will be joined by a further 14 local authorities (LAs), when the changes are implemented from September 2008.
A second wave of 14 pathfinders will start delivering the offer from September 2008. These authorities are: Brent, Cornwall, Durham, Hackney, Kirklees, Lambeth, Liverpool, Luton, Middlesborough, North East Lincolnshire, Nottingham, Salford, Southampton and Wolverhampton.
Resources and documents
The learning from the Pathfinders has been captured under four
headings:
Project
initiation: planning implementation and assessing parental demand for the
flexible free entitlement
Funding
the more flexible free entitlement
Establishing
new models of provision to deliver the flexible free entitlement
Ensuring
quality and continuity of care in childcare settings offering the free
entitlement more flexibly
Pathfinders Implementation Toolkit
This four-step toolkit has been developed to support local authorities to
deliver the extended flexible free entitlement. The steps can be accessed in
order; moving between each step using the links contained within each, or
selected according to need.
Toolkit
Step 1 - Project Planning
Toolkit
Step 2 - Assessing Demand
Toolkit
Step 3 - Engaging with Schools
Toolkit
Step 4 - Delivery, Communication and Funding
Pilots for 2-year-olds
The pilots for two-year-olds started in April 2006 with an objective to get 12,000 disadvantaged two-year-olds into childcare by March 2008. There are 32 LAs currently involved in delivering the pilot.
The pilot provides disadvantaged two-year-olds with access to free early
education. The main aims are to improve evidence on raising outcomes and on
closing early achievement gaps between young children from different
backgrounds, and to ensure a seamless transition from the pilot to the three-
and four-year-olds offer.
As announced in the Children's Plan, the Government has pledged to offer
approximately 20,000 new places to disadvantaged children over the next three
years (2008-11). In line with the principles underpinning the Children's
Plan, the extended pilots will ensure their remit is more clearly focused on
the whole family; supporting them to tackle the root of their disadvantage, and
helping the child's social and cognitive development through supporting
parents to be the first teacher of their child.
The 32 authorities delivering the pilots for two-year-olds are: Barnsley, Birmingham, Blackburn, Blackpool, Bradford, Cornwall, Derby, Doncaster, Durham, Gloucestershire, Greenwich, Haringey, Hertfordshire, Hull, Islington, Leeds, Liverpool, Middlesborough, Newham, Nottingham City, Peterborough, Portsmouth, Rochdale, Sandwell, Sheffield, Slough, South Tyneside, Sunderland, Telford, Tower Hamlets, Worcestershire and York.
This page was last updated on 15 September 2008
