PATA (UK) Blog posts

Politics, racism and Early Years

PATA — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 11:56:01 GMT

We are all likely to be aware of the recent ‘raise the flag’ movement and the ongoing political debate around immigration and those seeking asylum. In the early years sector, we often shy away from engaging with political issues and some will claim that politics has no place in a setting. However, children do not exist in a vacuum and they will be hearing and seeing things in their homes and the wider world which they will bring into setting, and which you as educators will need to help them to process.

Some children in our settings are coming from homes where they are exposed to racist language (whether intentionally or unintentionally). Maybe your colleagues are too.

If we allow racism to permeate our settings we are failing our children.

In early years we have a duty to promote British Values which include democracy, individual liberty, the rule of law, mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs.

With this in mind we need to consider whether our settings are an environment where these values can flourish, particularly at the moment.

With this in mind, here are some questions to ask yourself:

1. Are you/your staff confident to deal with racist language used by a child in your setting? Linked below is a very good article by Liz Pemberton who has been running training for us for a number of years on anti-racist practice. She explains the importance of labelling the language as racist, not the individual, but also not shying away from dealing with it directly:

“In my experience, many white early years educators are so uncomfortable with the word ‘racism’, that they bury their heads in the sand and when racist comments are made, they’re often dismissed as ‘not nice’ instead of being named as racist.

“This minimisation doesn’t protect any of the children, it reinforces harm. Silence as a response is equally as harmful because children can interpret this as permission.” Racism Is Happening Among Nursery Age Kids. We Cannot Ignore It | HuffPost Life

2. Does your setting promote ‘tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs’? Do you have books, toys, and other resources which reflect a multicultural society? Are these integrated into your every day practice rather than being something brought out on special holidays? Even if you don’t have children from other cultures in your settings we live in a multicultural world and they need to see other ways of doing things as equally normal.

3. Do you actively welcome people from different cultures? Take the opportunity to view the approach to your setting, the front door and the environment within through the eyes of someone who isn’t from your predominant culture. Do they see anything which indicates to them that you are aware that they may be facing additional barriers to accessing your setting? If you have families from other cultures ask them – is there anything we can be doing/could have done to make you feel more welcome?

4. Are your staff familiar with the concept of being anti-racist? Some of you may have grown up or trained in a time when it was normal to say things like ‘I don’t see colour’. This is not the reality for most people from the global majority and it diminishes the difficulties which are faced in society by people whose skin colour is not white. If we don’t see colour we are less likely to acknowledge and celebrate diversity. It’s not enough to claim to be non-racist, in settings, we need to reposition ourselves as anti-racist in order to truly create a safe and welcoming environment.

If ‘anti-racist practice’ is new to you or you want to know a bit more about what it means we recommend this 3 minute video from Liz Pemberton, produced in conjunction with SEEN and Barnardos: https://www.theblacknurserymanager.com/

You can also read this newsletter/blog from Zelpher Ferguson which digs a bit deeper into anti-racist practice: https://www.aluna-abc.co.uk/newsletter-11

The Anna Freud Centre have produced a booklet which you can work through called ‘helping young children think about race in the early years: https://www.annafreud.org/resources/under-fives-wellbeing/helping-young-children-to-think-about-race-in-the-early-years/

'How Safe Are Our Nurseries' BBC documentary - PATA response

PATA — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 11:42:47 GMT

On Monday (7th April 2025) the BBC aired a documentary called ‘How Safe Are Our Nurseries?’ and there was a lot of debate about the content across the BBC platforms and in other media. You can see the accompanying article here.

The case which the documentary focused on was the tragic death of baby Genevieve Meehan in a nursery in Stockport in 2024. This was a horrific but thankfully rare case and the nursery worker involved was convicted of manslaughter and received a 14 year sentence.

The documentary focused on the Ofsted inspection cycle and the reported manipulation of the inspector’s views by some settings. Whilst this is unacceptable behaviour and we have heard that this does happen, we are confident that for the vast majority of our members, and within our own settings, this is not the case. Some of the practitioners interviewed talked about working well outside of ratios on a routine basis which is shockingly bad practice. Again, we know that this is not the case generally and we have many conversations with members who are extremely cautious about always meeting and often going above statutory requirements. No parent should be concerned about how their child will be looked after when they entrust them to an early years setting.

The documentary should make us all reflect on our own practice and consider what our response would be should we witness something we know is wrong. We are grateful for those staff who have stepped up and reported when they have seen something that they were not comfortable with and we encourage all settings and in particular senior staff to be open to hearing when things aren’t right and acting on that information.

Figures were quoted in the documentary about the number of ‘serious incidents’ reported to Ofsted. This was equated to 75 per week and the implication was that this related to the number of children being harmed per week. It’s important to note that Ofsted only have one form for reporting serious incidents and this can be everything from allegations of serious harm (which may or may not be substantiated) to fire or flood in the setting, and for childminders and the Nominated Individual changes to their health (see the ‘detailed guidance’ here). Additionally as the guidance is relatively vague there can be a tendency to over-report to ensure that nothing is missed. This was acknowledged by Ofsted recently when they published a blog (see here) in February stating that “We have found we are often notified about incidents we don’t necessarily need to know about”

It is very unfortunate that this documentary comes following a series of difficult and damaging announcements in the sector. Firstly the tightening of the application of the rules around funding and the encouragement by some in the media for parents to refuse to pay for additional ‘voluntary’ services, and secondly the announcement last week of the 300 ‘new’ School Based Nurseries and the messaging that these are better for children than the current provision (see our previous blog further down the page).

Families are best served by having a range of provision open to them which is high quality, well funded and best suited to their needs. The vast majority of early years providers and practitioners work extremely hard in very challenging circumstances to make this happen despite low funding rates and the constant message from the government and media that they are not doing enough. We want to support both practitioners and families to ensure that our children are as safe and well cared for as possible and we know that this is a shared aim with our members.

School-Based Nursery Messaging: A Disservice to Early Years Providers and Families

PATA — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 10:45:41 GMT

We have been disappointed to see the government messaging around their announcement this week of 300 ‘new’ School Based Nurseries (SBNs). The implication that SBNs offer a higher quality provision than existing Private or Charitable providers is both frustrating and untrue, and the push to have younger and younger children in the school system is concerning.

We welcome the expansion of Early Years places, particularly in areas where there is a lack of provision and for the lowest income households when we know that these children will most benefit from attending provision at a younger age. Unfortunately the current funding system favours those from households where both parents are working, missing out on the very children that need Early Years provision most.

The assumption that children are best served by schools is an insult to the hard working staff already in the sector. All early years settings are held to the same standards as enforced by Ofsted and follow the same statutory guidance in the EYFS (childminders have a slightly different EYFS but the standards are the same). All settings are required to have their own curriculum which Ofsted assess on. In fact, early years provision which is part of a school (i.e. registered within the school’s provision) is subject to a much less rigorous Ofsted inspection than a similar provider (perhaps even on the school grounds) which is registered separately. A stand-alone provision Ofsted inspection is usually 6 hours minimum, whereas early years provision registered within a school will be a tiny part of the school’s overall inspection.

We also question the financial viability of provision being run by schools. Unless they are going to exclusively use the Qualified Teacher ratios of 1:13 for 3 and 4 year olds (which still requires a fully qualified Level 3 practitioner to be present) it is hard to see how the numbers will stack up once the initial ‘set up’ grants have been exhausted. In our county we have many charitable settings and for some years the Local Authority advised settings who were struggling to form a committee to consider being taken over by the local school. This policy changed in the last few years as those schools who had taken on provision found it unaffordable as staff had to be on LA pay scales and pay into expensive LA pension schemes. (see the Childcare Sufficiency Duty Report 2024 page 33 paragraph 2). The numbers only work if staff are kept on low pay and statutory benefits.

Bridget Philipson stated that “School-based early education tends to be more inclusive – with a higher proportion of children with special educational needs than other settings.” Whilst this might be the case compared to some private day nurseries (particularly the large chains) this is certainly not borne out in our experiences of our PATA Members and our own settings. In our settings we have a high number of children with significant needs and it is very unfair to suggest that we do not cater to and support these children. We spend a huge amount of time completing the meetings and paperwork required for additional support, often without any additional funding. This most benefits the school later receiving the child as the legwork of getting an EHCP has already been done.

We agree that quality early education is the key to school readiness but we don’t believe that this is better delivered by school based provision. All early years settings work hard to ensure that their preschoolers are prepared for the move to Reception, but it should be noted that School Readiness is a goal for the end of Reception not the start (see EYFS page 7). Reception is part of the EYFS and the EYFS Profile check is carried out at the end of this year not the start. We already hear of Reception teachers under pressure to get children sitting for long periods and undertaking activities that are not in the spirit of the Play based focus of the EYFS and we have grave concerns about the ‘schoolification’ of nursery provision where it is run by teachers who have little or no real understanding of the differences in the EYFS. June O’Sullivan of LEYF co-wrote a report on the Twoness of Twos (see here for a podcast discussing this) and it’s really important for SBN leaders to understand that 2 year olds (and younger children in some cases) are not just smaller 6 and 7 year olds. They are at distinct developmental stages and require distinctive care and education support which may be completely alien to a school setting.

Overall the messaging of the government this week has been that School Based Nurseries are good and anything else is substandard provision. We strongly dispute this and encourage the government to reconsider their messaging. Early years educators work extremely hard for low pay and to be told by the government that they are not doing enough or not supporting children is doing them a great disservice.

Considering the crucial role PVI providers will have in the continued implementation of the early entitlement expansion for younger children, we are calling on the government to reconsider their messaging and recognise the vital and valuable contribution of early years educators and reflect this with investment in the sector.

We are contacting our local MPs about this and encourage you to do so too.

How well do you know your curriculum?

PATA — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 10:43:02 GMT

We monitor all Ofsted reports for Early Years settings in Gloucestershire and there have been a number recently where curriculum has been highlighted. In some cases this is because there isn’t a curriculum in place or it isn’t adequate, or because practitioners aren’t able to explain it to the inspector. We also understand that under the new Ofsted inspection framework due in the late Autumn (which Ofsted are currently consulting on) it’s likely that you will be asked about your curriculum in the pre-visit phone calls.

We know that for many small settings being asked to ‘write’ a curriculum can seem like a daunting challenge, but hopefully we can help you to break it down and see that you probably already have something in place. If you’ve got a great curriculum that you’re happy with, keep reading for some tips on supporting staff during inspections!

Essentially your curriculum is what you want the children in your care to learn in the time that you have them. It has its roots in the EYFS and documents such as Development Matters or Birth to Five but these aren’t detailed enough or specific enough to your cohort. It’s delivered through the style of teaching that you use (your pedagogy), for example ‘Planning in the Moment’ or the ‘Curiosity Approach’ but again these are pedagogies and not curricula.

The DfE says that to write your curriculum “you will need to:

understand what children already know and can do
identify what you want children to learn and why you want them to learn it now
ensure the curriculum is holistic and supports the development of all areas of learning, particularly in developing language and extending vocabulary (one of the three prime areas)
plan how will you work in partnership with parents and carers, and other professionals where relevant”

Source: https://help-for-early-years-providers.education.gov.uk/support-for-practitioners/curriculum-planning

Do I need to write a long formal document?

The short answer to this is no! In fact there’s no requirement for you to have a written curriculum at all. However, if you don’t have anything written down you will need to be very certain that your whole team fully understand and can explain what the curriculum is. This is a big ask, especially for inexperienced staff or anyone new to your setting.

It can be great to get your team involved in writing the curriculum – you can identify together the aims for your setting and this can make it feel more ‘organic’ rather than something imposed on them. In one of our settings they have a display board with the curriculum laid out. Staff are constantly adding post-it notes with ideas and suggestions which can be debated and incorporated. No child will ‘complete’ the curriculum.

How will staff remember the curriculum when an inspector asks them?

Firstly, they aren’t going to have to recite it in minute detail, but they will need to be able to talk confidently, show that they understand what a curriculum is and explain how they are using it in practice.

If you’ve involved staff in developing the curriculum it will be much easier for them to talk about it and explain it. If it’s seen as a ‘live’ document which is talked about and referenced regularly they will be more confident. And there’s nothing wrong with having prompts on the walls which staff can show to an inspector to help them to explain. As we said above, one of our settings has a big display with the whole curriculum sequenced, another has small reminders around the room.

In an inspection last year a practitioner mentioned to the inspector that they have visual reminders up of what the curriculum is and the inspector liked it so much she asked for a copy!

If you don’t yet have a curriculum or aren’t confident that it is ‘enough’ we have a ‘Creating a Curriculum’ workshop available as a bespoke course.

Other useful resources:

Blog post on ‘Build your own curriculum’ from FAMLY here

Article explaining briefly what a curriculum is from the Department for Education here

Is your environment inclusive?

PATA — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 13:44:45 GMT

Creating an inclusive environment in an Early Years setting is essential for fostering the development of all learners, especially children aged 2 to 5.

Inclusivity promotes a sense of belonging, boosts self-esteem, and encourages positive social interactions. As a qualified SEND lead and tutor with over 16 years' experience in the education sector, I have seen first-hand how inclusive settings can help develop the cognitive, language and social skills of their children. But what is an inclusive setting? I see this as an environment where every child, regardless of background, abilities or needs, can flourish and have equal opportunities to succeed.

These children will feel good about themselves, feel safe and feel seen. It can be challenging to meet the needs of all children, but an inclusive environment will do its very best to do so and adapt where needed. With a welcoming and inclusive approach, nursery and play school settings can create a foundation for success and well-being that lasts well beyond the Early Years.

In May, I will be leading a training session with PATA that will give you the opportunity to explore the importance of creating an inclusive environment in-depth. I will demonstrate how such settings can benefit children and share practical strategies to implement inclusivity effectively. This session will be full of hints, tips and humour along the way! We will look at differentiated learning resources, adapted environments, inclusive language, diversity and how to utilise specialised support. Sometimes it can feel challenging when trying to identify a child's needs, so we will also discuss the importance of external referrals, assessments and how varied the developmental milestones can be.

You can see information about the course and book here.

I have loved collaborating with PATA to offer training opportunities that are designed to work and adapt with your unique setting. Each and every learning space is different, as is every child, so working together and taking from these sessions what works for you and your children is key.

I really look forward to seeing you there or at another of my training sessions soon.

Kelly Turner

Ofsted Consultation - Summary and some thoughts!

PATA — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 13:48:15 GMT

Ofsted have launched their consultation on the changes to the way that inspections are carried out. They want to know views on their proposed plans for inspecting school and other settings, including views on the report card system they are proposing.

A few thoughts:

the consultation information is written as though addressing parents, but it's clear that they also want the opinions of professionals involved (which is you!). Some sections are marked for professionals only and proposals 4 and 5 only relate to state funded schools.
There's an acknowledgement that they need to re-set their relationship which they say they have already started in terms of openness. They share a link to their Inspector training through the Ofsted Academy.
Ofsted talk about the need to recognise that they will inspect sectors differently 'to recognise their priorities and contexts'. They split out Early Years from schools - but we know that provision under a school's registration is currently inspected very differently from e.g. PVIs. If the School based nurseries expansion increases will this create a wider gulf?
They talk about taking context into better account (which we welcome) and sharing excellent practice.
They are open that they intend to focus on experiences and outcomes for disadvantaged children as if the provision is right for them it will work for everyone. This is an interesting concept!

The consultation runs until the 28th April, with the outcome of consultation due in the summer

Changes are planned to come into force in November 2025.

Proposal 1 – Report cards

Aim is to give a more nuanced view than the ‘overall effectiveness’ grade we currently still have in EY. This is positive although there are questions about this will impact on funding as there are currently restrictions for EY providers with RI or inadequate.

The report card system was much more popular with parents in the Big Listen consultation than with professionals, who preferred a bullet point or narrative style judgement.

Proposal is a 5 point scale to grade different areas of work and alongside this a short description summarising the findings.

See a video on this here: https://youtu.be/bAlfI3nHTxI

For EY the areas proposed are:

leadership and governance
curriculum
developing teaching
achievement
behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines
children’s welfare and well-being
inclusion
safeguarding

This compares to the current areas which are:

overall effectiveness
the quality of education
behaviour and attitudes
personal development
leadership and management

They say that these areas have been chosen so that they can answer the question ‘what is it like to be a child… in this provider’ which is something identified as important by children in the Big Listen.

The intention of the report card is to make it easy for parents to compare providers and they specify that ‘parents should be able to compare their local registered early years settings with early years provision in schools…’ which is interesting given the current differences in inspection!

The five point scale is proposed as:

Exemplary (highest quality provision)
Strong
Secure
Attention needed
Causing concern (lowest quality provision)

They expect that most providers will fall in the middle 3 categories with the top one being reserved for truly excellent practice which will potentially be shared through the Ofsted Academy and will be moderated and confirmed by the national quality and consistency panel. The use of 5 categories gives more scope as they rightly say – the current Good judgement covers everything from just out of RI to almost Outstanding. This allows for more nuance.

They talk about shining a spotlight on areas that need improvement rather than a floodlight on the whole provision.

Safeguarding would still be met or not met.

They are also proposing to include data alongside the report cards on the context of the setting. This is to help people make national and local comparisons and compare those working in similar contexts. The data could include characteristics of children/learners including those who are disadvantaged and those with SEND, outcomes (performance data and trends in this) absence and attendance and local area data. There is no comment in the information about whether these would all apply to early years.

Proposal 2: Education inspection toolkits

These are a replacement for Inspection frameworks and will contain the standards against which Ofsted will inspect. Inspectors will have operating guides and specific training to help them apply the toolkits to different types of provision. They describe the quality expected at each point on the scale and set out the range of standards of education and care.

You can view the EY Inspection toolkit here: Early years inspection toolkit

This includes all the areas and is worth having a look at. There is a lot there! In particular look at developing teaching and attainment. Inclusion is thoroughly embedded with each area having an inclusion element as well as inclusion as its own area.

Specifically for Early Years Ofsted say: “The Big Listen feedback told us to adapt our inspection practices to be bespoke and proportionate to the size of settings and the number of hours they care for children. The early years toolkit builds on our existing strong principles while aiming to be more flexible and adaptable to various settings, including childminders and out-of-school providers.” There is a question then about if the toolkit will be suitable for different types of providers.

Proposal 3: Inspection methodology

This is about the process of inspection and how Ofsted will instil their core values of professionalism, courtesy, empathy and respect. With a few exceptions, the reports that we’ve heard of recent inspections (and our own experience) have been that the tone of inspections has already changed. They feel more compassionate and collaborative which is something to be applauded.

There will still be an initial phone or video conversation with leaders. This will start to build relationships, understand the context and explore strengths and areas that leaders are working on. For schools they are removing the ‘deep dive’ methodology.

Start point will be discussing and observing the providers work against the secure column. Leadership of each area is prioritised first, along with inclusive practice.

If the emerging grade for an evaluation area is at odds with the leaders’ views the inspector will ask them who else they should speak to in order to gather evidence within the time available. Professional dialogue between inspectors and leaders will be a priority.

Proposals 4 and 5 are specifically about state funded schools and don’t apply to stand-alone early years provision.

Their summary is as follows:

replace the section ‘grading scale used for inspection judgements’ with the 5-point scale and remove the ‘overall effectiveness’ section
replace the section ‘key judgements’ with the new evaluation areas for each education remit
replace the section ‘what inspectors will consider when making judgements’ with information about our new methodology and links to the relevant toolkit
explain the purpose and intended impact of our education inspections

The proposals in this consultation aim to improve the experience of inspections for professionals and practitioners in our sectors.

Over the next few months, we will be assessing the impact of our proposed reforms on leaders’, practitioners’ and inspectors’ workloads, mental health and well-being, through visits to providers and external review.

In the meantime, we want to hear your views about the likely implications of our proposals.

There are then questions about workload as they are keen not to increase this, and also about any potential unintended consequences.

The main issues that we can see are as follows:

The continued disparity between school-based provision where the EY inspection is a tiny fraction of the whole school inspection and not in any way as in depth as a stand along provision. There is no recognition of this, but where the EY provision is registered under the school registration it’s not clear how this could be rectified.
Are there unintended consequences of the contextualisation? Would it influence providers decisions on who to accept in a setting?
Are the areas (particularly developing teaching and achievement) really the best for EY?
How will funding decisions be made (where currently RI or Inadequate means no additional children with funding).
The ‘toolkit’ appears very onerous on leaders. Will this make it even harder for settings to get willing committees or lead to more frustration for managers working under ineffective committees?
This is a lot of work and major overhaul. Will it really be ready to go live in November?

This link has lots of information including the sample toolkits, a video explaining the consultation and the consultation itself: Improving the way Ofsted inspects education - GOV.UK

World Mental Health Day - supporting mental health in the workplace

PATA — Thu, 10 Oct 2024 12:55:04 GMT

Today is World Mental Health Day and the focus this year is on prioritising mental health in the workplace.

The Health & Safety Executive say that around half of work related ill-health is down to stress, depression or anxiety and that the law requires all employers to prevent work-related stress and support good mental health in the workplace by doing a risk assessment and acting on it.

We know that many staff members and managers over the last few years have found it particularly difficult and are feeling worn down and tired out.

We also know that most people working in the early years and play sectors are doing it because it’s something that they really believe in and where they feel they can make a difference. Add in that feeling of there never being enough time or enough money in settings, and a workforce who often have other caring responsibilities outside of work, are generally on low incomes and may be facing their own health challenges - it’s amazing that any of us are still making it in to work!

So as a part of this workforce (either a manager, committee member or part of a team) what can you do to support your team?

At PATA over the last few years we’ve introduced a number of things to try to support staff wellbeing, but much as we’d like to, we can’t magic up a big budget to bring in lots of initiatives so like most charities, it has to be done on a shoestring.

So what have we done to put wellbeing and supporting mental health front and centre that you might also be able to implement?

At our ‘first day of term’ inset day we had the main session on wellbeing with lots of practical suggestions from the speaker. We’ve reminded staff of these over the last few weeks including sending out hand cream to settings as one of the activities was a calming hand massage. You might not be able to have an inset day but could you ask a staff member to run a short activity in a staff meeting?
Our Supervisions include questions on wellbeing – both in setting and in your home life and we really encourage all managers to have open conversations on this with their staff.
We got some staff trained as Mental Health First Aiders. Sometimes it’s good to have a designated person who isn’t a manager available for a chat. They aren’t mental health professionals, but they do have some tools available to signpost to and are a listening ear. There are still free Level 3 courses around for this if you want to get someone trained.
We have a ‘Wellbeing section’ on our staff website with lots of links to resources that staff can access to support their wellbeing both in and out of work. You might not have a website where you can do this but you could have a board somewhere at work – even if it’s on the back of the toilet door!
We have a ‘Wellness Access plan’ template available for staff to use. This can either be done on their own or worked through with their manager. It can help to identify small changes that can be made to support their workplace experience. As a PATA Member you can access this in the Wellbeing Section of the PATA Members Area (within Employees & Recruitment here)
We signpost to lots of different websites and organisations that offer wellbeing support – we aren’t trained mental health workers and sometimes people need support from specialist services. Being able to signpost effectively and having staff know that it’s ok to ask/talk about something but that you might not be the right person to help them is a great part of an open and supportive culture.

We definitely don’t have all the answers and we’d love to hear what you have put in place and what has worked or not worked!

Below are some links that you might find helpful, and don’t forget that we can organise bespoke training including on wellbeing for your staff. Just get in touch at training@pataglos.org.uk

Useful links:

Marie Curie: Bereavement Support: https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/help/support/bereaved-family-friends/work/employee-resources

GDASS: Supporting victims of domestic abuse - https://www.gdass.org.uk/

Healthy Lifestyles Gloucester: Supporting healthy choices - https://hlsglos.org/

Mental Health Foundation: supporting mental health - https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/

If Morton Michel are your insurers for your setting, your staff can access a free 24/7 counselling helpline on 0333 000 2082. The helpline is run by ARAG qualified counsellors and are able to provide telephone support on any matter causing upset or anxiety – from personal problems to bereavement. If longer term support is required, you can be assigned to a counsellor to for weekly/ fortnightly meetings for up to 6 sessions.

Employment law changes and how they will affect the Early Years and Play sectors

PATA — Wed, 08 May 2024 12:47:33 GMT

With the time pressures of working in Early Years and Play settings, it is often difficult for setting Managers, Owners & Committees to keep abreast of the continual changes to employment law. We have put together a summary of key employment changes to be prepared for and how they might affect the running of your setting.

Minimum Wage Increases and Age Band Changes – 1 April 2024

From 1^st April the National Minimum / Living Wage (NMW / NLW) increases became effective and the age bands changed as below:

NLW for workers aged 21 and over : £11.44 per hour
NMW for workers aged 18 – 20 : £ 8.60 per hour
Young workers aged 16 – 17 : £ 6.40 per hour
Apprentice rate (19 or over and in 2^nd year onwards) : £ 8.60 per hour
Apprentice rate (aged under 19 or 19+ and in 1^st year) : £ 6.40 per hour

Remember to check your staff ages as the NLW age band has reduced to 21 and over (previously 23 and over) and the new rates became effective from the 1^st April, not the date of your payroll. Don’t forget to budget for the additional pension and employers NI contributions (where applicable) and if a salary increase is applicable a new contract variation letter will need to be sent to each employee.

Statutory Holiday Pay & Holiday Accrual – 1 April 2024

The rules on holiday pay have changed meaning that for people working irregular hours, or who are part year workers, rolled up holiday pay (where holiday is paid in the same pay period that it is accrued) is permitted and a 12.07% accrual method for calculating holiday pay will apply. It must be clear on the employee’s payslip each month what is ‘normal’ pay and what is holiday pay.

The rules changed from 1^st April 2024, but can only be applied to a new ‘leave year’. If your leave year, like ours, starts in September, this won't apply until 1^st September 2024.

Note: Rolled up holiday does not mean a pay rate that includes holiday entitlement.

Flexible Working – 6 April 2024

Previously any employee who had worked in an organisation for 26 weeks or longer was entitled to make one formal flexible working request during any 12-month period. The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 came into effect from 6^th April 2024 and this means the following:

Employees:

have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment.
can submit two flexible working requests in any 12-month period.
no longer need to explain the effect the change will make to the employer and how this may be dealt with.

Employers:

must respond within 2 months (previously 3 months).
must consult with employees before a flexible working request can be refused, including exploring alternative options.

ACAS have produced a draft Code of Practice on handling requests for flexible working which can be found on the link here.

This Code provides guidance to employers and employees on the statutory right to request flexible working as set out in the Employment Rights Act 1996 (as amended) and regulations made under it.

Having a clear policy and procedure for handling statutory requests for flexible working can be helpful in making everyone aware of what is expected even if you already operate an informal flexible working request system.

Carer’s Leave Act 2023 – 6 April 2024

This is a new act that allows employees with caring responsibilities to take one week’s unpaid leave per year to give or arrange care for a dependant who has:

a physical or mental illness or injury that means they’re expected to need care for more than 3 months
a disability (as defined in the Equality Act 2010)
care needs because of old age

A dependant could be a spouse, civil partner, child, parent or person who lives in the same household as the employee and relies on them for care.

This is a day one right (i.e. it applies from the first day of employment) and the following applies:

The leave is unpaid if taken.
The leave can be taken as half days, full days or in blocks.
Entitlement is one week in a rolling 12 month period. (If an employee works 4 days per week, they can take 4 days of carer’s leave.)
Notice of a minimum of 3 days must be given for a half or one full days’ leave. If the request is for more than one day, the notice period must be at least double the time requested e.g. 2 days requested, 4 days’ notice must be given.
The request does not have to be in writing.
Employees do not need to give evidence of their dependent’s care needs.
Employers cannot refuse a request for carer’s leave but they can ask the employee to take it at a different time. This can only be done if the employee’s absence would cause serious disruption to the setting. If delayed the employer must:
- agree another date within one month of the requested date for leave
- put the reason for the delay and the new date in writing to the employee within 7 days of the original request, and before the requested start date of the leave.

We know that a lot of employees in the early years and play sector do have caring responsibilities and that lots of settings are already flexible and where possible (taking account of ratios) accommodate staff needs. As such, you are probably already meeting the requirements of this new legislation. You should ensure that your policies reflect this and are applied consistently and fairly.

Paternity Leave - April 2024

The Paternity Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2024 came into force in April. The changes aim to make paternity leave more flexible for parents.

Parents now have the option to split their two weeks of statutory paternity pay into two separate week-long blocks. These can be taken at any point in the 12 months after the birth (or placement in the case of adoption) and the parent only has to give 28 days notice of when they want to take the leave.

Previously it was necessary to give 15 weeks notice in advance of the expected birth or adoption date of the dates when the parent intended to take the leave. Now they must notify the employer of their eligibility 15 weeks before the expected birth or adoption date, but only need to give 28 days notice of the actual dates that they intend to take.

Redundancy Protection – 6 April 2024

The Protection from Redundancy Act (Pregnancy and Family Leave) came into force on 6^th April 2024. This means that employees who are pregnant or returning from maternity, adoption or shared parental leave will gain priority status for redeployment opportunities in a redundancy situation for a period of up to 18 months after the birth of the child (the actual amount depends on the type of leave taken). This is extending the right which previously only applied to those on maternity, shared parental leave or adoption leave.

Priority status means that these employees should have priority access to redeployment opportunities over other redundant employees. It doesn’t mean that they can’t be made redundant at all.

We recommend that you update your policy to reflect this extension of the redundancy protection but if you find yourself in this situation, we strongly recommend that you take professional advice.

IR35 – 6 April 2024

This is related to self-employed contractors and PAYE. It shouldn’t be an issue as you shouldn’t have anyone self-employed in a setting. If you have, contact us for more information.

TUPE consultation – 1 July 2024

From 1 July 2024, settings with fewer than 50 employees undergoing TUPE transfers will be able to consult directly with employees if no representative is in place already.

Predictable Working Pattern – expected September 2024

This act relates to employees whose hours of work lack predictability such as agency workers, those on zero-hour contracts or contracts that specify core hours that can be varied according to an organisation’s needs.

The Act applies to any worker where there is a lack of predictability in relation to the work that the worker does for the employer or in regard to any part of the worker’s work pattern. This covers a range of things including the number of hours worked, the days of the week worked, the times worked on those days, and the length of the contract.

Whilst employers will have a requirement to respond within a month to such requests, it does not mean that employees will have their working pattern automatically changed. It is only a right to request a change. Employees can only make a request twice in a 12-month period and only for certain circumstances. It is anticipated that there will also be a requirement for employees to have worked a minimum of 26 weeks for the employer, and 12 weeks continuously in that time. Employers should follow an appropriate procedure to ensure the statutory rights of the employee. A consultation on the accompanying statutory code ran until January and the responses are currently being reviewed. Until the final version of this is published you can find the draft code here.

This is unlikely to affect many settings as even for bank staff who may be on zero-hour contracts, the timings and days will be relatively consistent.

Neonatal Care (Leave and Pay) Act - expected date TBC (possibly 2024, more likely April 2025)

Under this Act, employees who are parents of premature babies who are cared for in a health setting for more than one week before they reach 28 days of life will be entitled to 12 weeks of additional paid leave.

This legislation will apply to employees who have been employed for a minimum of 26 weeks prior to leave being requested with an average earning of least £123 a week.

Other employment legislation to look out for which may affect some Early Years or Play settings:

Immigration - expected Spring 2024

There have been a number of announcements aimed at restricting work migration from Spring 2024:

Increasing the minimum salary requirements under skilled worker route
Removing the salary discount for jobs on the shortage occupation list
Increasing the financial threshold for family applications

Should any settings utilise these programmes they should revisit their policies and practices in these areas as it is foreseen that settings using these will incur increased costs.

Fire and rehire – expected Spring 2024

The final version of the Statutory Code of Practice on Fire and Rehire is expected Summer 2024.

A Cultural Capital Christmas?

PATA — Fri, 01 Dec 2023 10:26:29 GMT

Christmas is coming and social media is full of hundreds of craft activities, outings and reels of beautiful children dressing beautiful trees. Settings have tough trays of Christmas themed activities and home corners have become Elf workshops.

But is this really what our children need?

Without wanting to sound like a Grinch, honestly I’m not sure.

It’s great to enter into the Christmas spirit and you probably wouldn’t be working in early years or play if you weren’t a fan of glitter and dressing up, but as we build our children’s cultural capital here are a few things to be aware of:

1. Are we suggesting that Father Christmas and the presents he brings are linked to behaviour? It’s really easy to slip into the ‘be good or your won’t get presents’ mode, but since we all know it isn’t the ‘man in red’ who is providing the presents, we could be setting our children up for disappointment and a sense of failure. There will be children in your setting who won’t be getting presents this year (or maybe any other) because of financial concerns and that has nothing to do with the child’s behaviour. Or maybe you have children whose families don’t celebrate Christmas so they won’t be getting presents either.

It's also good to be wary about list writing (even though letters to Father Christmas can be a great writing activity) and particularly about promising that the letter will get to Father Christmas and the child will get those presents. We’ve all heard of parents scrabbling around for a last minute must have after a surprise request at a late visit to Santa so let’s not add to the pressure by promising that he’ll bring what has been asked for.

Even families who do have the resource to give presents and are celebrating often do it differently. In my family Father Christmas only ever brought presents that went in the stocking, so small things, stationary, chocolate etc. Some families have the main present from Father Christmas and some say everything under the tree has come on the sleigh. Let’s not presume we know and be careful with what we imply is ‘correct’.

2. Are we really being inclusive? If you have children from different cultures and religions are you inadvertently making them feel ‘less’ because their own traditions aren’t celebrated in the way that Christmas is? Did you have a tough tray out for one afternoon for Diwali or something short about Eid, then spend 3 or 4 weeks entirely engrossed in Christmas? Or do you have children from different countries who have alternative stories about Father Christmas? My children grew up in Eastern Europe with ‘Uncle Christmas and the snow queen’ and were very surprised to find Elves and Rudolph when we came back to the UK. Several European countries have Sinterklauss which can be a great tradition to incorporate in our celebrations. Make sure you’re giving space for other stories and not presuming (or implying) that your way is ‘right’.

And what about our neurodivergent children? Are we making sure that they’re able to keep ‘safe’ routines, quiet spaces and not be pushed into joining in things that are for parents benefit and not theirs?

We also need to be mindful of children whose family life isn’t what we might hope for. The emphasis on Christmas as a family time can bring up all sorts of feelings for these children. You may have children who are or have been in care, or children who live in homes where life is chaotic or they experience or see domestic violence. For them Christmas may be a confusing or stressful time. We can inadvertently add to this unless we’re mindful of what we are doing and saying.

3. Are we really being child led? Some settings are amazing at this all year round, and then come December it’s all about the perfect Christmas card and product over process. We run a Christmas card competition every year and the entries that we put through to the public vote are the ones that look like they’ve had least adult input. That’s meant we’ve had a Christmas lobster and a snowman squelch but it’s the child’s expression that’s important.

We know that parents love a Christmas performance and for many it will be the first time seeing their child in this type of activity so there can be a lot of expectation. Some settings use the Story Telling, Story Acting (Helicopter Stories) method as a more low key way of delivering a nativity. If your children are used to this approach it can be really effective. You can see an example of this here.

So hear us right! We’re absolutely not saying don’t celebrate Christmas in all it’s glittery wonder, and we’re absolutely not saying you’re doing things wrongly. We’re just saying take a step back, make sure everyone is feeling included, that what you’re doing is for the children’s benefit and maybe take a little bit of pressure off yourselves and your families in the run up to Christmas.

Here are some links to resources that you might find helpful:

Descriptions of different traditions from countries around the world: https://www.teachearlyyears.com/learning-and-development/view/christmas-traditions

Lesson plans and activities that you can use: https://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/Christmas-Around-the-World-Lessons-and-Activities.shtml

Info on supporting children with additional needs and disabilities (also useful for sharing with parents): https://parents.actionforchildren.org.uk/additional-needs-disabilities/support-home-school/send-christmas/

Domestic violence at Christmas: https://www.ringroselaw.co.uk/2023/11/21/domestic-abuse-at-christmas-2/

Coping when things are tough

PATA — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 11:05:50 GMT

The biggest issue that we’re hearing from settings at the moment is that staff are finding life in setting pretty tough. This is taking many forms – some due to child behaviour, some due to the number of children presenting with potential SEND and some to do with staff’s own wellbeing. Unfortunately we don’t have a magic wand to rustle up additional support or funding to make things easier (and we’re pretty sure you don’t either!) but this blog is firstly to say that if this is you, you’re not alone, and secondly to suggest a few practical things that you can try if you haven’t already!

The cohort of children who are now in Early Years settings have undoubtedly been affected by the pandemic. In their ‘Best start in life Part 1’ document the government say:

“Children in early years settings today will have spent a good proportion of their lives in the pandemic. They have had fewer opportunities for social interaction beyond their immediate family because of lockdowns and social restrictions. Our research into education recovery in early years providers found that these children’s communication and language skills were not as strong as those of previous cohorts. Their social skills, such as turn-taking and sharing with other children, were also less developed.”

While recognising this doesn’t make dealing with the behaviour any easier, at least we can see where some of it is coming from. The behaviours and opportunities that these children had in the first months and years was so significantly different from what came before that we almost need to start from scratch with our assumptions and expectations. It’s also important to remember that every child’s experience of the pandemic, and therefore it’s impacts were different. Some children benefited from parents on furlough with lots of time to spend in the garden or doing activities with them, some children were effectively locked in flats with no outside space and some families experienced extreme stress. There is no one common experience, except that life changed.

So if we need to accept that these are children with a completely different early experience, maybe we need to have more flexibility in our thinking about where children ‘should be’. At the PATA Managed Group inset day back in September, our staff attended training with Tamsin Grimmer on ‘Terrific Two’s’. At the time some staff probably wondered why they were doing it as they only work in a preschool room, but we know that some of the behaviours we would usually expect in 2 year olds are presenting in the older children. (You can book a similar course with Tamsin here: www.pataglos.org.uk/event-5327393). Having the tools to deal with this can help reduce frustration and reframe our thinking on the children that we’re working with.

We can’t get away from the fact that many settings are telling us (including our own PMGs) that more and more children are presenting with what appear to be specific SEN needs. There’s lots of thinking about why this is, including that we’re just better at identifying them earlier. We know that there are huge issues in being able to access the support and funding that is really required, and frustration at the level of paperwork required to even get started on this road. There is some good news – in Gloucestershire we understand that the Educational Psychology team are re-engaged with Early Years and there is an Educational Psychology Services (EPS) daily help line available from 9:30 to 12:30pm on 01452 427070. We also have various training courses and if there’s something that you are looking for but we aren’t offering, get in touch and we’ll see what we can do.

We sometimes get asked about setting admissions policies to limit the number of children with SEN in a setting and while we understand fully why you might want to do this, we would recommend exercising caution. You need to balance the right to inclusion against the needs of your existing children and your staff. Inclusion should always be the first priority and your ‘ordinarily available provision’ should show that you will truly consider the needs of each child and try wherever possible to provide a space for them. Very occasionally though you may have to say no. This could be because of a physical barrier – e.g. some settings in older buildings with multiple floors would struggle to accommodate a child in a wheelchair – although you should consider if you can move things around enough to allow this to happen, or occasionally you might need to suggest looking for other provision where the balance of children with e.g. 1:1 support means that you cannot accommodate any more. We know of one setting who in a cohort of 28 had 6 children who required 1:1. Obviously having an additional 6 adults in the room is going to affect the provision and so either you would need to limit the number of sessions so that all children get some space, or you would help the family to access other local provision. It can also be helpful to ‘spread the load’ with your staff – if a child needs 1:1 support (especially where you don’t have funding) assign different people at different times to support them. Being 1:1 for a whole day can be incredibly draining and it can be good for a child to have a different approach at different times.

If you are in a position where you are having to make decisions such as this then you must note down objectively why you are making the decision that you are. This will help you to explain to the parents and also provide evidence of the rationale for your decision.

So what can we do to help staff to keep going?

Reassure that it’s not just them: we’re hearing the same things from many settings and staff that we speak to.

Reset expectations: being realistic about the situation now (and not thinking back to how things have been in the past) can be really helpful in creating a positive environment.

Refresh training to give staff tools to handle the situations that they are in: feeling confident and supported goes a long way to building a strong team.

Reflect – it’s easy to get so head down that you forget the good stuff. Look for the ‘inch-stones’ instead of the milestones and celebrate the successes however small they might be.

Relax – try and make sure that all staff are sharing the load and getting the time out that they need. Sometimes someone just needs a few minutes of quiet or a cup of tea and they’re ready to re-set. Make sure you have a culture of switching off at the end of your working day and encouraging other staff to do the same.

Our last blog in October was about staff wellbeing and highlighted some tools that you can signpost staff to which will support their mental health and general wellbeing. We strongly recommend having a look at what is available and maybe having some info up in your setting that everyone can access.

We put a lot of focus on building the resilience of children in our settings but we need to ensure that our staff teams also have tools to help themselves. We know that many people are finding things tough both in and out of work so anything we can put in place to support our staff teams is invaluable. Let us know if there’s anything that you think PATA could do to help!

How are you looking after Health and Wellbeing at your Setting?

PATA — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 10:13:54 GMT

Recently PATA were fortunate enough to be invited to a Healthy Workplace event hosted by the VSC Alliance who are an organisation set up to represent the voice of the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprises of Gloucestershire.

We went along to the event with interest and were introduced to a whole host of wonderful, useful, free and easy to access services to signpost staff to regarding healthy living and wellbeing, which we wanted to share with you, our members.

In March 2023 AXA conducted a survey about stress in the workplace which highlighted some concerning statistics:

Work related stress cost the UK £28,000,000,000 in 2022
47% of the country are struggling with mental wellbeing.

Early Years and Out of School settings are already stretched for time, resources and money and being able to adequately address the problem of the wellbeing of their staff and volunteers can feel like an insurmountable challenge. The danger is that it is so overwhelming that it just gets ignored or put to the bottom of a long ‘to-do’ list and it’s never addressed. With the recruitment and retention issues in the sector (including for managers!) you can’t afford not to be looking after the health and wellbeing of your team.

The NHS mental health and wellbeing provision locally and nationally is already stretched to maximum capacity, with people seeking help being put on waiting lists for up to 6 months or longer to access free or affordable support. This can be soul destroying and worsen the mental health of an individual. Settings need to be able to signpost their staff towards quick, accessible resources that can care for their immediate requirements.

Here are a few options that we’ve heard about which might help:

The Wellbeing Line provides a confidential mental health and wellbeing support for anyone working within health and social care in Gloucestershire. They confirmed to us that they would include anyone working in the Early Years or Playwork (OOSC) sector in their remit. It was set up in November 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic to provide support to health and social care staff in a proactive, rapid way. When the initial funding stopped, Gloucestershire ICB (Integrated Care Board) decided that it would fund The Wellbeing Line for another year until March 2024 and they are hoping to continue for the long term as they recognise it as a valuable resource.

Their phone lines are currently open 9:00am – 4:30pm Monday to Thursdays and 9:00am to 12:30pm on a Friday and there is also an email contact. They say that 100% of their initial contacts are answered within two days and up to 78% of their calls for help are currently responded to in one day. They did emphasise that they aren’t a crisis service so if you have a staff member in a crisis situation (i.e. they need immediate and urgent help) they should go through the NHS crisis team.

As well as support for individuals they also offer consultations with managers and leaders, which might be you looking for advice on how to support a team member, or something more specific or at an organisational level. Their wellbeing team also run health and wellbeing champions forums which you can take part in (so why not have someone from within your setting designated as the champion).

The service can be accessed confidentially and free of charge on 0300 421 7500, email: hello@thewellbeingline.co.uk or Visit: www.thewellbeingline.co.uk for more information.

As well as addressing mental health issues we all know that our physical health can make a big difference to our daily lives. Healthy Lifestyles Gloucestershire is another proactive service that you can signpost your staff towards with concerns relating to keeping active, alcohol, healthy eating, weight, smoking or even support when you are a mum to be or mum returning to work and struggling to keep up with work, baby and life beyond.

Staff will be contacted within 3 working days of signing up and the Healthy Lifestyles team will provide them with weekly support (for up to 12 weeks) in person, over the phone or online.

To access the service, you can call 0800 122 3788 or for more information visit www.hslglos.org.

The criteria for accessing this service are that you must be:

over 18 years of age (12 years of age for smoking cessation support)
registered with a GP in Gloucestershire or live in a GL postcode (see below if you are outside of this)

The programmes are aimed at those who are either:

Currently smoking tobacco
Have a BMI over 25
Have current physical activity levels of under 150 minutes per week or
Approaching alcohol dependency

Although the service is only offered to mainly contacts within GL postcodes, they can help with some additional postcodes within the county as well and Healthy Lifestyles are happy to help you with contacts in other areas that you are operating in as there are similar services set up throughout the UK by local councils.

Alternatively if staff are interested in improving their health but want a more ‘hands off’ approach, they can download a free app called Best-You from the App store or Google Play. You can find out more about the app here: https://www.hlsglos.org/programmes/best-you-app/

Healthy Lifestyle Gloucestershire also run MECC (Making Every Contact Count) training which is available for front line staff and volunteers. This will give confidence in everyday situations to give concise health information as part of normal conversations. This could be particularly helpful for staff who have direct contact with parents who might benefit from this type of support. This is free training which you can book onto by clicking on the following link Healthy Lifestyles Gloucestershire Events | Eventbrite. If you want to find out more about MECC you can see an NHS document here https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/making-every-contact-count.pdf

Health and wellbeing at work can be affected by other things going on in staff’s home life and whilst we can’t fix everything, knowing where to signpost to can be helpful. At the event we listened to a presentation from ARA Gambling Service who provide support for those affected by gambling, either as an individual or as the family of someone with a gambling issue. ARAG can be contacted by

Email: info@recovery4all.co.uk, Social media: @ARArecovery4all or for more information you can visit www.recovery4all.co.uk

To bring together information about all these services for your staff, you may find it useful to write a wellbeing policy to support your setting. The Healthy Workplace Gloucestershire, a free initiative (funded through the public health service) provides advice and help to guide you through how to adapt your policies and procedures to optimise the wellbeing of your staff/volunteers within your setting.

Most settings will already be supporting their staff through all sorts of ways, including organising team social outings, mental health and mindfulness awareness, regular team meetings, supervisions and your employee and volunteer contract pack with induction when they commence employment with you. If you want to consider all the wellbeing support that you offer and maybe improve it where needed then you might want to join the Health Workplace Awards.

This is a scheme that guides you through the information you may already have in place and helps you to focus on areas that need improving. Similar in style to Investors in People, this is a free of charge scheme. You can become accredited with a Foundation Level Award and if successful implementing this scheme within your organisation, you may like to go on and complete the Enhanced Level Award. Once the award is achieved you can add the award logo to your social media, website and policy documents. The scheme can help support you with initiatives you would like to implement within your organisation, such as Health and Safety, Back Pain and Prevention, Alcohol and substance misuse, Mental Wellbeing and Stress, Personal Health, Healthy Eating, Stop Smoking and Physical Activity. To sign up to the awards programme and for further information on Healthy Lifestyles Gloucestershire visit www.hwglos.org

If you are interested in developing your health and wellbeing within your organisation but do not have the funding, the VCS Alliance have launched their new funding initiative called Small Grants for Workplace Wellbeing which opened this week.

The VCS Alliance are inviting applications from the VSCE sector groups and organisations in Gloucestershire seeking to implement ideas that support employer / and or volunteer wellbeing. A maximum of 40 grants will be given to successful applicants worth £500.

The criteria to apply are as follows:

Your application must have a clear rationale for how your proposal is linked to wellbeing. Examples include: A team day or social event, Coaching sessions, Backfill to enable an organisation to work towards the Healthy Workplace award, Personal wellbeing, Entry to sports facilities, Entry to green spaces, Access to a wellbeing app
One application per organisation
Turnover less than £500,000
You must have a business bank account
Grant must be spent by 31^st January 2024
The money can’t be used to fund any service or treatment that should be provided by the NHS

If you are interested in applying for the grant, you can click on the following link Small Grants for Workplace Wellbeing Application Form (smartsurvey.co.uk)

Don’t forget to log in to the PATA members area of the website where you can access other wellbeing resources, which are being added to on an ongoing basis.

If this all seems like a lot to do then don’t panic! You’re probably doing a lot for staff wellbeing already and it might be helpful to have a session where you and your team note down all the ways that you already help. Using this list you can then develop either a policy or a place where staff can access resources like the ones mentioned above. You could also have a wellbeing ‘slot’ in all of your team meetings, where you mention one way that you’re offering support, which will really start to develop an ethos of openness and emphasise the importance of wellbeing.

National Minimum Wage - Avoiding the Pitfalls

PATA — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 09:32:23 GMT

Our Finance Manager recently attended a webinar on the National Minimum Wage, which was run by an HMRC inspector who specialises in compliance in the Early Years sector. Below is some information from the session, which we think might be relevant to our member settings. Have a read and if you have any questions get in touch in the normal way!

The Minimum Wage (MW) relates to rates of pay in a Pay Reference Period (PRP),which is the period of time for which someone is paid either weekly, fortnightly, 4-weekly or monthly. MW must be paid for all time worked in each PRP. Failure to pay the MW for all time worked in a single PRP means there has been an underpayment.

Employers are unable to average pay across different PRPs to show the MW has been paid, with the exception of workers who are performing “salaried hours” work.

The two main types of workers in early years settings are Salaried and Timed (hourly paid) and later in the blog you will find additional information which covers term time working.

“Salaried hours” workers:

This is not as simple as earning a salary (nothing is ever simple!). Four conditions must be met and salaried hours workers are:

entitled under their contract to be paid for a set basic number of hours in a year. (HMRC would expect to see the annual number of hours detailed in the contract.)
entitled under their contract to an annual salary for those basic hours. (HMRC would expect to see the annual salary amount detailed in the contract.)
not entitled under their contract to any other payment for their basic hours other than the salary.
not paid more often than weekly or less often than monthly. Acceptable frequencies are weekly, fortnightly, 4-weekly or monthly.

The definition of pay for HMRC purposes is actual money paid to an employee before any deductions are made. Keep in view that pay for MW purposes does not include overtime payments, allowances, expenses, benefits in kind or advances on wages.

Timed Worker Example:

Employee is paid £9.50 per hour and works 142 hours per month. This is made up of:

140 hours at £9.50 per hour = £1,330
2 hours overtime at £14.25 per hour (time and half) = £28.50

Total paid £1358.50.

When assessing MW, the calculation is stripped back to the lowest rate of pay for all hours worked in the PRP, so checks would be made to ensure the rate of pay for the 142 hours was no less than £9.50 per hour. £1358.50 / 142 hours = £9.56. So this is ok.

Warning: For timed workers earning MW, any unpaid working time issues or deductions may result in an underpayment.

Special allowances over and above standard pay: i.e. performs special duties over and above normal duties, don’t count towards MW unless consolidated into an employee’s pay. An example of this would be where someone might get a fixed payment each month for doing SEND for example, that wouldn’t count, but if their rate of pay reflected the additional SEND duties then that would be fine. However, rather unhelpfully there is no definition to determine when an allowance is consolidated into standard pay.

Example: Attendance bonus at Christmas of £100.

Pay 120 hours at £9.50 per hour plus £100 bonus = £1240.00 pay in PRP.

For MW purposes only £1140 is considered (bonus not consolidated into her pay): £1140 / 120 hours = £9.50. So this is ok.

Deductions:

Some deductions can take pay below MW for PRP. For example: deduction for items or expenses connected to the job. i.e. uniform.

Exemptions include accidental overpayment of wages that are deducted or voluntary payments for goods.

Here are a few worked examples which relate to early years and childcare settings:

Example: Setting has a dress code policy.

Employee paid at MW is given 3 tops free of charge but told to wear black trousers and black shoes.
Employee spends £30 on trouser & £60 on shoes: Total £90.

The employee could use the items outside of work but the cost was incurred in connection with their employment. The employee has a reduction in pay of £90, and therefore there will be an underpayment for MW purposes.

Possible Solutions:

Employer reimburses the employee with the cost of the work-related purchases or
Employer does not specify a required uniform.

(PATA are reviewing our Clothing and Appearance guidelines on the back of this information).

Example: Nursery Fees deducted from an employee’s pay who is paid MW.

120 hours @ £9.75 per hour: £1,170
Nursery fees £360 deducted from salary
Gross pay £1,170 - £360 = £810

For MW purposes £810 / 120 hours = £6.75 which is an underpayment.

Solution: employee pays for the nursery services outside of her payslip (cash/Bacs) (like other parents/carers) and as there is no obligation on the employee to use the services provided (as they could use a different playgroup/nursery) this is ok.

Example: Training costs deducted from an employee’s pay who is paid MW. Common for employers to recoup training costs from employees if they leave in a certain time of attending training. If training was mandatory then deduction may reduce pay for MW purposes.

Voluntary training is where a worker chooses further training in their field, it’s not a requirement of the job but the employer agrees to fund it. A deduction for voluntary training would NOT reduce pay for MW purposes provided this arrangement is in the employment contract.

Example: A charge for DBS WON’T reduce pay for MW but the admin charge for a DBS is passed to the employee that would reduce pay for MW.

Salary sacrifice can reduce pay for MW purposes, including salary sacrifice pensions.

Working Time:

Working time includes time spent at work or waiting for work.

We recommend keeping records of working times to demonstrate daily working hours.

Small periods of unpaid working time can directly lead to underpayments of MW for workers at or close to MW pay rates.

Example: Employee paid MW rate. Told to arrive 10 mins before shift start time and expected to start work immediately. This is still classed as working time! Unpaid working time often involves a small amount of time but has a cumulative effect if occurring on a regular basis. If these 10 minutes are not paid then the employee will be underpaid.

If an employee chooses to come in early/stay late to complete work then these hours still count as working time. If you don’t want to pay them, then it’s a conduct issue and you need to ask the member of staff not to do this.

It’s fine to ask staff to be ready to work at their start time (i.e. coat off, bag in staff area, finished cup of tea and chat etc!) But if for example your session starts at 9am and you only pay your staff from that time, but they are (understandably) coming in at 8.45am every day so that they can set up before the session, this would be classed as an underpayment.

Other examples – team meetings after business hours, staying late for parents late to pick up children, training at home, travelling between sites (not usual commute), travel time for training, completing admin outside of working hours.

Do you have to pay training if it’s optional and voluntary? No, provided you have an audit trail to demonstrate that it is strictly optional and voluntary.

Term Time Working:

Can we pay employees a fixed amount per month even though some months they will be working more or less hours? (i.e. a salary which is 1/12^th of annual hours.)

Answer: Yes. Salaried hours provide flexibility on how hours are worked, i.e. employees are not required to work in the school holidays, but are paid an equal part of their annual salary every PRP.

So the employee can be paid a fixed amount each month, to work a fixed number of hours within the year, but the hours within each PRP can vary.

You need to ensure that a worker does not exceed the annual hours otherwise there could be an underpayment.

An employer must keep working time records to be able to demonstrate the MW was paid for the hours worked in total over the year.

Possible consequences:

If an employer fails to correct an underpayment, there is a name and shame policy by HMRC Complaint’s Team together with a penalty fine, which is 200% of any underpayment (reduced by half if it is paid within 14 days).

If however, an employer realises that there has been an underpayment (possibly after reading this blog) and corrects the issue (before any involvement from HMRC), with backdated amendments to pay to correct the underpayment (this is classed as a self-correction) then there will be no penalties for the original underpayment.

Time Off In Lieu (TOIL):

This is when an employee works additional hours (e.g. to complete training out of normal working hours or to cover for a sick colleague on a day they wouldn’t normally work) and keeps the hours to use in a later month when they have a day off sick etc.

This is acceptable for Salaried Workers as the employee is still being paid for all of the hours on their salary calculation. (HMRC were not clear on when TOIL had to be reconciled however, we would do this at the at the end of the academic year and either carry it forward for use in the Autumn Term or paid if this is the employees preference.)

What about Volunteering?

It is possible for someone in paid employment with a charity to also do voluntary work for the charity, but it must be in a role which is substantially different from their paid role, so that there is no confusion with MW. Hours spent volunteering which are effectively for work included in an employee’s job description would be included in a MW calculation.

Staff can’t waiver their MW rights away even if they say they would be happy to!

The main things that we can take away from this are:

Keep accurate records of time that staff work
Make sure your staff all have clear contracts with contracted hours and hourly rates set out, along with any other payments or deductions noted
Review these regularly to make sure that you aren’t dropping staff below MW
Be clear with staff about what is expected of them (e.g. start times, payment for training, travel expenses, TOIL)
If you realise that there has been an underpayment rectify it quickly and keep clear records of what you have done, why you have done it and when you did it.

If you have any concerns about the way your salaries are calculated or how you are applying all of the ‘rules’ mentioned in this blog, then speak to our friendly payroll service team who will be only too happy to help.

Remember also that if you are thinking about changing how you do your payroll or moving over to our PATA Payroll Service then April / May is the best time to make that change.

Have you considered extending your hours or running a holiday club?

PATA — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 10:00:02 GMT

In the current difficult economic climate many settings are considering ways to increase income. One which is increasingly popular (especially for school hours/term time only settings) is to increase hours by running a breakfast club and/or an after-session club, as well as perhaps a holiday club. This may make the difference in a parent deciding to use your provision if they are working and need that extra cover.

If you are thinking of setting up an out of school club to meet the needs and demands, you first need to consider the existing provision in the local area. Are you located near a school or on a school premises which already has current provision? Often schools run their own clubs for school aged children but it’s always worth checking how viable they are. It may be that by combining early years and school age children you can make it cost effective where the school alone can’t, or you may find that you have enough demand purely from children within your setting and those attracted because of the extended hours.

If you are also thinking about running a holiday club remember it doesn’t necessarily have to run for the complete duration of the holidays. For example you could offer three days at Easter and two weeks over the summer.

Below are some common questions.

Do we need to register the out of school club with Ofsted?

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/childminders-and-childcare-providers-register-with-ofsted/the-ofsted-registers

This link provides information on the different registers. If you’re currently a registered EY setting and you intend to take school age children then you will need to add to your registration for the older age group. If you are purely extending your hours then your settings nominated person must email Ofsted with the updated opening times.

If you are intending to run your additional hours (either extended or holiday club) somewhere other than your registered premises you will need a separate Ofsted registration for this. For example if you usually run from a building on a school site, but intend to run the holiday club in the school hall this will require a separate registration.

Qualifications required

If your out of school club is only for EY children then you continue to follow the requirements for staffing set out in the EYFS. This includes ratios, SENDCo and Safeguarding Lead. You will also need to have staff with paediatric first aid.

If you are caring for children at reception age or older, you must have a designated Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENDCo) on your staff team, as well as at least one staff member with paediatric first aid and a safeguarding lead who has completed appropriate training (in Gloucestershire this would be Level 3 safeguarding through the local authority). All staff should have some safeguarding training and be able to recognise signs and symptoms of abuse, be familiar with the setting’s policy and procedures for dealing with concerns.

If you are providing snack or food options then the staff dealing with the food should have an up to date food hygiene certificate.

Whilst there are no legal requirements (Since September 2014) for staff to be qualified for school age and older children, it is best practice for at least one member of staff to have a Childcare Qualification.

Number of staff required?

For EY children the standard ratios apply (see the EYFS for more information)

Although the staff to children ratio for school aged children has now been raised to 1:30 from 1:8, it is recommended that out of school clubs continue to operate at a ratio of around 1:8 for children up to the age of eight. A ratio of around 1:10 is recommended for children over the age of eight. Most insurers will require these ratios for you to operate safely and be properly covered for insurance.

Remember to always follow safer recruitment procedures when employing staff and carry out DBS checks and monitor Ofsted guidance as they may change over time.

Which Policies and Procedures are required?

If you are already an EY setting then you should have all the required policies in place. You will need to review them to make sure that they cover both your extended hours and extended age range. You may need some additional procedures to cover the running of the club and you will need to complete risk assessments of all activities.

How can we check if the premises are correct for an out of school club?

If you’re planning on running the club from your existing premises or from a school (e.g. if you share a site but the club will be in a school hall rather than your own setting rooms) it’s likely that you’ll already have an area which is suitable to use. You can tailor this to activities and add posters, furniture, rugs etc as necessary.

You’ll need to keep in mind that the EYFS sets out space requirements for EY children but there are no statutory space requirements for older children. However, do keep in mind that older (and therefore larger!) children will need space to let of steam after a day in school!

What additional equipment will be required for setting up an out of school club?

Out of school clubs should be tailored to allow all children to play and a space should be created to encompass this. Many settings will already hold a large amount of equipment that is already recommended for out of school clubs, which includes:

Craft materials
Games (e.g. draughts, bingo, snakes & ladders, Connect4, chess, etc…)
Construction (e.g. Lego, K'Nex)
Sports equipment (balls of all sizes, goals, skipping ropes, bean bags, hula hoops, bats, etc…)
Small worlds (e.g. cars, dinosaurs, Playmobil, etc…)
Role play (e.g. dressing up clothes, bags, sunglasses, hi-vis jackets, play money, etc…)
Quiet area (e.g. rugs, cushions, blankets, books)
Den making (e.g. blankets, tarpaulins, camouflage netting, ropes, cardboard boxes)

If you are operating an out of school club with mixed aged groups, you will have to consider how you will run the club. Running mixed aged groups can be beneficial as younger children can build up strong bonds with their peers, encourage good behaviour, enhance their child development and create a happier more engaging environment. Whilst the challenges of how you separate or integrate the children into activities require careful planning in terms of space and activities, these can be outweighed by the benefits.

Here are some top tips for running out of school clubs of mixed ages:

Older children can be put onto a junior training scheme where they mix with the younger children helping to run activities, pack away and effectively becoming an older sibling to the children they are assisting. Designating older children responsibilities engages their interest and can extend their confidence in social situations.
Children can come together at snack time, or the beginning or end of sessions before they break up into activities, which mimics the social times within a family of varying ages.
Role Play and the quiet area allow children of all ages to interact as the differing ages allow the children to take on different roles at the same time as developing the area of child development specific to their age, such as language, communication and social skills.
Having the correct resources as listed above allows a range of activities to be carried out over a wider age spectrum. i.e., using open ended materials for sports equipment or den making, children can develop their own imagination and tailor the activity to their age.
Looking at the setting through the eyes of a child can help you arrange the space i.e. is it appealing in terms or seating (cushions, chairs, tables), activities.
Be flexible. Listen to and communicate with the children’s needs. This will lead the activities that the children will require for the session and engage their interest.

What does it mean for children under EYFS attending out of school clubs in terms of their learning?

The EYFS states (footnote 5, Paragraph 1.1) that,

”Providers offering care exclusively before and after school or during the school holidays for children who normally attend reception (or older) class during the school day do not need to meet the learning and development requirements. However, providers offering care exclusively before and after school or during the school holidays for children younger than those in the reception class age range, should continue to be guided by, but do not have to meet, the learning and development requirements.”

So if you are an existing Early Years setting, you must continue to meet the learning and development requirements for children who are registered with you. If you are only providing before or after school provision for them then you should be guided by the requirements. For older children there are no such requirements.

Will funding be required to set up the out of school club?

Out of school clubs can be started up on existing funds held within the setting or applying for grants or charitable funds. A good place to start is by contacting your local councils Early Years Team. If you are looking for charitable funds the National Lottery Awards for all or Coop Local Causes could help. Your main cost initially is likely to be staffing, and possible increases in rents (depending on your current building and lease contract). For further information on fundraising, refer to the PATA Members area of the website under Finance and Fundraising.

How much do I charge per session?

This will depend on wages, rent for premises (if any), cost of craft and food. You need to ensure you cover these costs against the number of children to attend per session. The PATA Cash Flow spreadsheet can help you determine your costs, whether you are able to offer discount to children who attend a number of sessions, or pay in advance etc. The cost per session does not necessarily need to be the same as fees already charged for attending sessions during normal operating hours and you can chose to charge per hour/half hour or session depending on what you think will best suit both your business position and your parents. If you are running a holiday club it’s quite normal to charge a ‘per day’ price. It’s worth looking at what other holiday club providers are charging as you might be surprised at how high it is!

Do I need a separate charity to run out of school provision?

If you are a charitable setting who holds the PATA constitution you do not need to change anything to run additional provision as it falls within the stated aims. However, your committee should minute a decision to increase the provision at a committee meeting. If you are a charity which doesn’t have the PATA constitution you will need to look at the stated aims and see if they are wide enough to cover extended provision (particularly children of school age if that is what you are planning on offering). If your constitution doesn’t allow for this contact us to have a discussion about whether it would be in your interests to adopt ours. For other types of organisation you will need to consider whether your governing documents allow for this.

How can I market the extended provision?

Obviously your existing parents are the first place to start. Explain to them what you are doing and why and offer them the first option for registering. Then use all other channels open to you! If you have links with a local school ask them to send out your marketing to all of their pupils, even if you are only offering EY provision. There may be families with younger children who are going elsewhere because they need longer hours. Use your social media accounts including paid for advertising if necessary.

What if my staff team aren’t interested?

It’s always worth asking! You may have staff who might prefer to work compressed hours, so doing 4 long days rather than 5 short but until you ask you won’t know (and they may not have ever thought about it). If you are including EY children then you do need qualified staff (as explained above) so by far the easiest way is to use at least some of your current team. You can take on additional staff though, including to mix in with your existing ones. The same goes for holiday clubs where you may be able to pick up students (including student teachers) who are looking for a few weeks work.

You can lead from the front by being excited about the new opportunities. But ultimately if this is about sustainability and extending the provision is the only way to stay open then you may need to lay this out clearly for your staff.

It’s not a decision to jump into lightly but there are many benefits so definitely something worth considering.

Financial Controls: Protecting your setting and yourself

PATA — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 14:43:50 GMT

We’ve had a few queries in from member settings recently that have made us a little bit concerned about the financial controls in place, particularly for committee run settings.

We thought it might be helpful to just explain a little bit about why you need controls and also what those should look like. This is primarily aimed at charitable settings because the committee is legally responsible for ensuring that the money is properly accounted for and wisely spent, but some of the principals will apply to other types of setting too.

For any charitable setting you must have a treasurer who takes the lead on ensuring that the finances are in order, but the responsibility for ensuring the financial position of the setting sits with every committee member. Some settings have a paid financial administrator and they should work closely with the committee (through the treasurer).

At the very least you should have the following controls in place:

You should have a finance policy which sets out the expectation for all staff and committee and which puts in place enough controls to ensure that no one is put at risk.
Annual budget forecast at the start of each year :

- Is prepared by the Treasurer/Manager/Administrator based on forecast child numbers and staffing levels, along with other projected expenditure.

- This budget should have been reviewed and agreed by the Committee.

- Allows committee to review cash flow for the year ahead.

- Allows the Manager/Administrator to work within agreed budget levels and ensures that non-budget items of income or expenditure are communicated to the Committee via the Treasurer’s finance report.

- Actual income/expenditure should be monitored against the original budget forecast.

A short financial report should be presented at each committee meeting by the treasurer:

- This can be based on financial reporting information from the administrator.

- Should include information on current and reserve bank balances.

- Should report on any recent or future income or expenditure that has not already been forecast in your budget, or any amendments to the budget.

- Should review any potential cash flow issues.

There should be at least two people with access to all bank accounts, including any Reserve accounts. At least one of these should be on the committee (Chair or Treasurer).
You should have dual signing in place for all larger transactions. Your finance policy should set any spending limits. This can be set up with internet banking.
At least two people should have sight of the bank statements on a monthly basis, and they should be available to any committee members on request.
Bank reconciliations of all accounts, including petty cash, should be carried out monthly and countersigned by the Chair/Treasurer.
If you are a PATA Payroll client, we should hold contact details for two individuals, for them both to receive the monthly payroll information.
A receipt should be given for cash transactions, with a duplicate copy kept for finance records. Where large amounts of cash are counted and banked these should be checked and countersigned by a second person.
Avoid keeping large amounts of cash in setting. All cash should always be kept in a locked cashbox, in a locked cabinet with key access limited to Manager/Administrator. You should check your insurance policy to see how much cash in setting you are covered for.

Essentially no one person should be doing anything finance related which isn’t seen by someone else. This is not because of a lack of trust, but is a safeguarding measure protecting all those individuals who are involved in setting finances. The committee as a whole are responsible (and potentially liable) for the financial health of the setting and can only fulfil this obligation if there is openness and accountability. The best way to achieve this is with clear guidelines and procedures.

Even if you think you know everyone involved in your setting very well there are times when people are more vulnerable and you have a duty to remove any possibility of them feeling like a quick solution is to ‘borrow’ from the setting (which is often how financial fraud in charities starts). You never know if someone is struggling financially at home, or is being pressured to find money elsewhere (e.g. if they are in a controlling relationship). By putting in place robust financial controls you are protecting all those involved in your setting.

The most common issues that we see are:

Only one person has access to the bank account
Previous committee members are still on the bank account
Only one person (often the finance administrator) sees the bank statements
Committee don’t receive regular financial reports so only see issues when it’s too late to resolve

These are all fixable issues with just a little bit of work but will bring a lot of reassurance and protection both for individuals and the committee/management team.

Charitable Settings and CIOs

PATA — Fri, 14 Oct 2022 09:52:45 GMT

Have you ever wondered why your setting is a charity? Gloucestershire has one of the highest number of charitable preschools in the country and at times you might be wondering why you bother! At PATA we are passionate about the benefits of charitable settings but sometimes that gets lost in the day to day difficulties. We thought we’d remind you!

Being a charity means that you are there for the benefit of the community. All money goes directly back into the community for the benefit of the children – you aren’t paying shareholders or directors.
Being a membership charity means that parents are directly involved in the care and education of their children. This could be by serving as a trustee on the committee, volunteering in setting or fundraising for you.
You can raise funds for the setting both locally and by applying for grants.

We’ve had a few queries recently about settings that are thinking about changing from unincorporated charities (which most PATA Charitable Members are currently) to a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) charitable structure. On the back of this we’ve been doing some research to see if we think the benefits outweigh the amount of work involved.

There are two models of CIO structure, association and foundation. According to the Charities Commission (CC) guidance you should chose the model which is closest to the current structure of your charity, which for groups using our constitution is the association model. We have investigated two different approved CIO constitutions which have been specifically written for Early Years settings. One of these is under the foundation model and one under the association structure. We would urge caution on following the foundation model as not only does this go against the CC guidance but also against the ethos of the community group.

The main benefit of becoming a CIO is that it reduces the personal liability of the trustees. In short, with the current structure, the trustees are the employers and are in theory liable for any financial shortfalls that the group has (e.g. if you closed and needed to pay out redundancies or had debts, the creditors could chase the trustees for that money). Under a CIO, the charity itself is a legal ‘person’ and so that is the employer/debtor and not the individual trustees. In an unincorporated charity (most groups current structure) the liability can be mitigated with Trustee Insurance which we have always recommended that you have. However, in both scenarios if the trustees have made unsound, reckless or illegal decisions they may still be personally liable.

Many groups are looking at the CIO structure in the belief that it will reduce the number of trustees required, therefore making it easier to recruit and to retain a trustee board. Under the foundation model that we have looked at, the requirement is still for there to be a minimum of five trustees, which is the same as our own constitution. In fact, under our new constitution in extreme circumstances we can give permission to reduce this number further because the Charities Commission have given PATA authority to make changes where required. Under the association model that we have looked at, the number is reduced to three, but the requirement is still that there is a majority of parent members. This would require at least 2 parents and then one additional person, who could be a member of staff. There is a further complication that the member of staff could only join as a trustee once the new CIO has been set up and approved by Ofsted, so this would in reality give you 4 trustees, at least for a cross over period.

Another attraction for the CIO model is that there aren’t fixed officer roles. However, you still need someone to act as Chair for each meeting, someone to act as secretary and someone to act as treasurer. These could in theory change each meeting, but in reality it is likely that you will settle into roles as is the case currently. We often see that the Chair carries the burden of the setting, but actually in our current constitution the Chair has no more or no less responsibility than anyone else. The only specific roles for them are the chairing of meetings and holding a casting vote in the event of a tie.

A further issue with the association model is that parents must ‘opt in’ to membership. In the current model parents with children at your setting are automatically members (one per family). We feel that requiring parents to actively opt in may present problems and it isn’t clear what happens if the parents choose not to do this.

If you are interested in becoming a CIO you would need to register the CIO with the Charities Commission (having found a suitable constitution to adopt), and also register your provision with Ofsted. Because it has a new legal ‘owner’ the Ofsted registration starts from scratch. This means that you lose your current grading (e.g. if you are Outstanding you are no longer permitted to advertise that). If someone searches for your setting it does link previous reports at the same postcode. Ofsted will not necessarily come out straight away to inspect the setting (they can do the registration checks by phone), but you will be due an inspection within the first 30 months of operation.

You will also need to consider that you must change the name on your bank account and with any suppliers. You will also need to do this with your lease, or with the land registry if you own your property. Some types of lease also require registration with the land registry which you are likely to need to pay a solicitor to execute.

If you have adopted our new constitution you should remember that it allows the following:

5 trustees minimum, of which 60% can be non-parents.
Maximum service of 9 years (extended from 6)
Ability for staff members to join the committee (but not be officers). This means that your Manager can be the Nominated Individual for Ofsted, although there must be sufficient checks and balances in place if this is the case.

You have probably gathered from reading this that we aren’t really convinced that the benefits of becoming a CIO outweigh the work and time involved. Our new constitution has been written/amended in response to the issues that we know you, our members, face. We firmly believe that it is a strong constitution for you to have in place, and if you use it, along with the guidance notes, you will have a strong committee in place to support your setting.

Do get in touch if you want to discuss this further!

Energy Saving in Your Setting

PATA — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 11:31:54 GMT

Energy saving tips

The government's Energy Bill Relief Scheme came into effect on Saturday (1st of October). This is to support businesses and charities (including early years settings) with the rises in energy prices. You can see the full details here, but although this reduces the anticipated increases, costs will still go up significantly. Whether you pay for your own energy or it’s included in your rent, you will need to look to ways to reduce your energy use – and of course it’s good for the environment too!

Last year a lot of settings spent a lot of time outside to minimise the spread of Covid. Not only is it good infection control, excellent for children’s development and behaviour but it’s also a great way of reducing energy costs as for the most part you aren’t using any power while you’re out there!

Here are a few suggestions – you’ve probably thought of most of them already but it’s worth being reminded.

Audit your energy use

As many settings are in shared buildings with bills included, you may not have access to bills or be able to monitor your consumption but you can still go round the setting systematically and look to establish where you could be using a lot of energy.

You could create a plan of the setting marking where you have appliances and rate them for (estimated) energy use (high/medium/low). Then you can see if there are ways that you can reduce their use or whether it would be more cost effective to find an alternative.

If you do control your energy contract, do you have a smart meter? If so you could even get the children involved in working out what is power hungry!

Get smart with heating (and aircon if you have it)

Consider when the heating is on and see if you can adjust it down both in terms of temperature and the time that it’s on for. It might take a few weeks to work out the optimum time for it to come on in the morning for opening up to be warm and welcoming. Could you set it to turn off a little bit earlier? It will usually take a while for a building to cool down so it doesn’t necessarily need to be on until the end of the session. Also think about how you use your rooms. If you are always outside until mid morning do you need the room warm until then? If you have active sessions in the course of the day can you schedule those to coincide with cooler periods in the building.

Are you loosing a lot of heat? There’s a balance with having free flow between inside and outside. One of our PMGs is in a purpose built setting with large bi-fold doors. We realised that it was hard to keep warm with the doors open so we installed some PVC strip curtains to help keep in heat while maintaining access. If you want details of who we used please get in touch!

If your building is old and draughty are there things that could be done to reduce heat loss?

Last year was all about keeping ventilation up to control the spread of Covid, and we still need to do that to an extent. This is about ensuring that you are getting the most out of your heating and controlling where the airflow is. That might mean that you open the windows at certain times in the day to ‘flush’ the air through, or it might be that you decide your windows/doors are always open and actually everyone just needs to add an extra layer!

Lighting

Energy saving light bulbs can make a big difference in energy consumption. If you have your own space consider replacing bulbs (either on mass or as the current ones come to the end of their lives) for LED ones. If you share a building perhaps you can raise it with other users/owners.

Warm and Dry

Obviously we need to provide the best environment for our children and also our staff. Damp clothing can make everyone feel uncomfortable and colder so it’s a good idea to consider what you can do about this. For children having good waterproof trousers/coats or puddle suits can make a big difference, along with wellies, duck boots, or even snow boots which keep the feet a bit warmer too. Some of our settings have done fundraising events to purchase these for the settings rather than asking parents to provide them.

We provide our staff with waterproof trousers and jackets as part of their uniform. Perhaps this is something that you might like to consider if funds allow.

If you’re worried about getting things dry then a heated dryer (often available in Lidl or Aldi at some point in the Autumn) can be a cost effective way of doing this. They cost a few pence per hour to run and can be very effective.

A warm drink at snack time if you’ve been out in the damp can also be very welcome. Some of our settings offer warm milk or even sometimes a hot chocolate. There’s nothing more exciting than a hot drink sat on a log outside!

Hot water

Usually there is a thermostat for hot water, could this be turned down slightly? Do you have a boiler or gas combi? If using a boiler, what are the timings, could this be shortened to optimise usage time? Does it need re lagging?

Washing

If not greatly soiled, could a shorter cycle suffice? Lower your wash temperature – modern detergents mean that generally you don’t need to wash on more than 30⁰. Always do a full load. This might mean that you need to rotate resources until you’ve got one! If you have a tumble drier think about if you really need to use it.

Overall auditing our energy use is a good idea regardless of cost increases as we know that the less energy they use, the better for the environment. If you can get children involved in auditing that’s a great learning opportunity and you’ll be helping to support the next generation of eco warriers!

Accredited Training Options

PATA — Thu, 31 Mar 2022 11:07:49 GMT

We’ve had a number of questions recently about training and funding options for settings looking to help their staff to get qualified. We also noticed in the Fees & Wages survey that several settings said that to help the recruitment crisis they had recruited either non or low qualified staff with the intention of helping them to get qualified. This is an excellent solution if you can manage it within ratios!

There are also a number of calls we had where people have done qualifications in the belief that they will make them qualified to work in a setting, but when it comes to checking, they don’t count as full and relevant. Having to tell someone who has applied for a job (and in some cases has been working in the sector) that their qualification isn’t full and relevant is not a nice job!

Is the qualification full and relevant?

The starting point in checking qualifications is always the gov.uk site here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-qualifications-achieved-in-england This gives you the spreadsheet which now has three tabs: Guide to using the document, Pre 2014 qualifications and post 14 qualifications.

The Pre-14/Post-14 split is because on 1st September 2014 Level 3 qualifications were ‘simplified’. Anything started Post-14 (and it is the start date not the end date that matters) must include Early Years Educator in the title. Slightly confusingly Level 2 qualifications weren’t similarly changed until 2019 so anything started before then will be on the Pre-14 list. You will need to know the exact title, awarding body and level. It’s often best to work from a copy of the certificate because the wording is very specific.

Options for Training and Funding

If you’re looking for someone to get qualified there are a few routes most of which can now be completed on the job, without the need to attend college.

Level 2 and 3 courses for Early Years Practitioners

We asked South Gloucestershire College (who are based in Stroud and Bristol) for information on their current courses and funding options. They sent us the following information:

Diplomas

Level 2

The Level 2 Diploma for the Early Years Practitioner

This Level 2 course can be funded for any learner who earns below the threshold of £17,374. The applicant applies for a fee waiver as either a low income or benefit waiver. The college will support the learner to do this.

Links to the course content and enrolment process can be found on the college website here.

Learners apply through the website and the college will then contact them for initial advice and guidance.

Level 3

Level 3 Diploma for the Early Years Practitioner (Early Years Educator)

This popular course can be funded via the National Skills Fund if the applicant meets the following criteria:

Ages 19 or over
Lives in England. (Home postcode evidence will be required)
This will be their first Level 3 Qualification in any subject. (2 or more A Levels are considered a Level 3 equivalent)
NEW FROM APRIL 2022 An applicant may now be funded through the National Skills Fund if they have already achieved a Level 3 or higher if they earn below the threshold of £18,525

Another alternative is that the applicant utilises an Advanced Learner Loan to pay the course fees of £2,495. Applicants do not commence repayments to the loan until at least the April which follows the completion of their course and until they earn in excess of the income threshold of £27,500.

Learners will need to have achieved or be willing to achieve their Level 2 or equivalent in Maths and English before completion of their Diploma. Stroud College can provide functional skills classes at college, or these can be sourced from a venue more suitable to the applicant.

Applicants can apply directly via the website which will prompt an advice and guidance call.

Other routes

Apprenticeships:

This option only costs the setting a small amount in fees and the learner pays nothing.

The learner also gets Maths and English qualifications as part of the apprenticeship.
The employer can pay a lower pay rate if they are recruited as an apprentice (for the first year).
There’s no age limit on apprentices.
The employer has to pay for 20% of their time as ‘off the job training’ although this can include things like attending staff meetings if there is an element of training in them, someone showing them how to do a certain thing (circle time etc), so it doesn’t mean they definitely aren’t in setting. An apprenticeship has to last a minimum of a year and a day.
Apprentices have to work a certain number of hours although this has become more flexible in the last few years, but fewer hours will mean a longer course length.

This is a link to the official information on apprenticeships (here) but you can also ask the training provider.

Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner (Apprenticeship)

This is a new qualification which is run as an apprenticeship and is aimed at those working in a senior role such as Room Leader, Early Years Lead, Deputy Manager or Manager. There are various providers offering this, for example you can see information from one here.

Early Years Initial Teacher Training

There is also an option for anyone who has a degree (in any subject) to train under the Early Years Initial Teacher Training route. This is a one year qualification which is an employment based qualification, but will result in a Level 6 qualification and the ability to be used in a 1:13 ratio for children 3+. This is a great option if you’ve got someone with some experience and a degree level qualification. There is funding available for this which covers the learner fees and also pays up to £7000 towards their wages in setting. You can see more information about it with the University of Gloucestershire here.

Other training opportunities (not full and relevant)

PATA in conjunction with Stroud College are offering a Level 1 course from the 9^th to 27^th May which will take place in our offices in Gloucester. This would be an ideal introduction for any helpers or parents who might be interested in a career in childcare. The hours are school friendly and the course is free of charge. Contact mary.jennings@pataglos.org.uk for more information.

Stroud College also offer a suite of online Level 2 courses relating to the Early Years sector which are attached here. These are great courses for staff to use as Continuing Professional Development before they start their Level 2, between Level 2 and Level 3 or once qualified at Level 3. Attached here is a brand new course Stroud College are offering called L2 Certificate in Understanding Mental Health in Early Years.

We hope that this is helpful. Obviously there are other training providers including Gloucestershire College, Adult Education in Gloucestershire and various private providers such as the Childcare Company.

The world is still a safe place?

PATA — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 13:35:17 GMT

You might have already had conversations with children in your care about what is happening in the world at the moment but it can be hard to know how best to respond. We asked Colette Ricuard from Child Behaviour Solutions here in Gloucester to give us some expert advice...

"As a child growing up, I had no appreciation of the fact I only had a choice of 3 TV channels to watch and no idea at all of what a mobile phone was or, for that matter, what social media was. As an adult, I know there were still some very scary things happening in the UK and the world when I was a child, but I was very protected from it.

So in today’s world, what can we do to support the little eyes and ears we work with from the tragedy that is occurring in Ukraine? And how do we answer any questions their parents may have in terms of how to explain it all? After all, in today’s world, with everything we have at our fingertips, there is no getting away from the fact that some terrible things are happening in another part of the world and, given the last couple of years, this may be feeding into pre-existing anxiety, or even creating new anxiety.

Our job is to help the children we work with (and their parents if they need it) cope with what is going on and support the idea that their part of the world is still a safe place to be.

So how do we do this?

It is important to be honest with the children if they have questions. Keep your responses age appropriate and think about the context of what you are saying – young children only need an outline of what is going on. Explain that Putin has been thinking about this and preparing for it for a long time – to dispel the idea that bombs can just be dropped at anytime without any warning. Use appropriate analogies to help the children you work with to make sense of what is happening – maybe, just as an example, somebody they know being mean and unkind to them.

Don’t deny and/or avoid any questions – somebody somewhere else will provide the answers! And they may not use age appropriate language in doing so. And remember, even toddlers are very good at picking up on our body language and when we try to cover things up – so simple and age appropriate honesty is key.

Practically, we can limit how much we talk about the situation in Ukraine in front of children and parents can limit how often the news and/or tv programmes discussing the situation is on. Remember, children often seem disinterested when we are talking and we can mistake this for them not hearing what we are saying – but children do pick up on a lot more than we ever give them credit for!

Finally, look for the positives with the children. There is a lot of kindness and bravery being shown in the face of adversity and it is important our children are aware of this …. For example, the Ukrainian mums offering captured Russian soldiers food and drink and the opportunity to call their own parents; the aid that is being sent to Ukraine by other countries in the world; a large portion of the world coming together to support the Ukrainian people; the countries offering shelter, etc, etc. There is always good to be found, even in the most inhumane of situations.

By finding the good with our children, we can help to restore faith that the world (and in particular our part of the world) is, on the whole, a good and safe place."

We are currently registering interest for our course 'The World Is Still A Safe Place: Supporting Children's Wellbeing' which we first ran at the height of the pandemic. If you would be interested in attending now, obviously with a slightly different focus then please click here.

More than just covid

PATA — Thu, 02 Dec 2021 12:06:47 GMT

More than just covid…

What has your term been like so far? For us it’s been a hard term…not only dealing/coping with covid and everything that brings - such as keeping up to date with the latest guidance, cleaning and sterilising toys and surfaces constantly - but we’ve also had the ‘common’ cold, hand foot and mouth and the dreaded diarrhoea and vomiting bug to contend with.

We know we have to err on the side of caution and therefore with every cough we think…is this a new cough? Is it continuous? Do we need to ask the parents to get the child PCR tested to be on the safe side? But we also know we are coming into the winter months and the ‘normal’ winter bugs are still around. This is where our practitioner instinct comes into play. We know what is normal for that child and we need to follow what we think is best to protect all the other children, staff and families that attend our setting. We know it can sometimes be inconvenient for parents to collect their child but we only call if the child is not well enough to be in setting.

We have kept many of our systems of control in place such as hand wash stations in the rooms and outside, taking the children’s temperatures when they arrive to work out a child’s ‘normal’ the first few weeks of term, as well as cleaning all toys at the end of each session. All of these are now standard practices, which help to reduce the ‘common’ illnesses we see in the winter months too. By being proactive and armed with knowledge, by updating our risk assessments and procedures, we can ensure we are ready for whatever winter ailments come our way!

Hand, foot and mouth

We have had cases of hand, foot and mouth in setting and it’s so frustrating that it is not excludable. First things first, we always notify our parents as we know it ‘could’ be dangerous at the beginning and end of pregnancy. We are covering all bases with our systems of control, and we just make sure the child is fully well in setting as it affects different children in different ways - but we do understand the frustration from some parents when they see a child in setting who has hand, foot and mouth. All we can do is make sure the child is well enough to stay in session and make sure we clean during, as well as at the end of each day.

Common symptoms of hand, foot and mouth

The first signs of hand, foot and mouth disease can be:

· a sore throat
· a high temperature
· not wanting to eat

After a few days mouth ulcers and a rash will appear.

Find more info at: Hand, foot and mouth disease - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Common cold

We all know the winter months bring on coughs and colds, and this winter is no different apart from trying to distinguish between a ‘common’ cough and cold and covid. The symptoms of a cold are not too dissimilar to that of covid (for many children covid seems to present mainly like a cold rather than necessarily the three listed symptoms) which is making our job harder. We need to err on the side of caution and make sure we do what’s best for the children, staff and families of our setting. We hope most parents understand that if we call and ask them to collect their child it is because they are not well enough to be in setting. Additionally, we also ask parents to be completely honest and tell us if their child has had calpol before coming into setting as we can normally tell when it’s wearing off!

Some children struggle more in the colder months with coughs and may need an inhaler to help them. We make sure any child who has an inhaler has their own individual inhaler care plan that states when they need it and how many puffs etc. This is completed with the parent and signed. This is checked each half term (more if needed) and displayed for all staff to see.

Cold symptoms

They often come on gradually and can include:

· a blocked or runny nose
· a sore throat
· headaches
· muscle aches
· coughs
· sneezing
· a raised temperature
· pressure in your ears and face
· loss of taste and smell

The symptoms are the same in adults and children. Sometimes symptoms last longer in children.

More information can be found here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/common-cold/

Vomiting and diarrhoea

We are always so strict and make sure we always stick to the 48 hour rule if a child has had any vomiting or diarrhoea. We all know how fast this spreads through children. Again, we hope by having our current systems of control in place these will help reduce the spread this winter.

More information can be found here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/diarrhoea-and-vomiting/

We recently found this poster and think it’s nice and simple to share with parents:

All childcare settings work so hard to make sure they are safe and secure for children to attend. We always go above and beyond as we have rigid risk assessments and policies and procedures to keep everyone as safe as possible. Every day is a new day, with new challenges to face, but we meet them with smiles on our faces knowing we have the best job in the world. We have made it through a very tough 18 months but we are still standing and ready for the next wave to ride.

When should we notify an illness?

The Statutory Framework for Early Years (EYFS) states that settings ‘must have a procedure, discussed with parents and/or carers, for responding to children who are ill or infectious, take necessary steps to prevent the spread of infection, and take appropriate action if children are ill.’ (EYFS Point 3.45)

It then refers providers to the Government publication: A practical guide for staff on managing cases of infectious diseases in schools and other childcare settings. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-protection-in-schools-and-other-childcare-facilities

This details prevention and control measures (Chapter 3: prevention and control) as well as the threshold of when illness is deemed an outbreak (chapter 4: what to do if you suspect an outbreak) and whom you should contact. It is therefore important that this document is referenced in your policy/procedure so that all staff and committee are aware of the need to follow it with regards to illness within the setting.

In addition to this there is The Spotty Book which is from Public Health England: https://www.england.nhs.uk/south/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2019/09/spotty-book-2019-.pdf

And of course don’t forget that you can always give us a ring at PATA for a quick chat to discuss your options!

Continuous Professional Development: why, what and how!

PATA — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 08:19:06 GMT

We’ve all heard of the term CPD (‘Continuous Professional Development’) but what does it mean to you and your staff. CPD plays a vital role in the success of your setting, your staff and the children within it. Without it, you and your staff won’t be able to give the children in your care the best start in life nor will your staff be able to effectively support you or one another. Every role (whether it be paid or volunteering, supporting the children or in the background doing admin support) within a setting should be valued as it plays an important part in the whole jigsaw puzzle – if a piece is missing or doesn’t fit well then it can cause issues in the long run.

As a childcare professional you are expected to look after the mental, social, emotional and educational development of babies and young children so that is why ongoing CPD for you and your staff is so important.

The Ofsted Inspection Framework criteria for Management and Leadership at Outstanding level states:

“Leaders ensure that they and practitioners receive focused and highly effective professional development. Practitioners’ subject, pedagogical content and knowledge consistently builds and develops over time, and this consistently translates into improvements in the teaching of the curriculum.”

So it’s not just identifying the CPD required (Intention), not just having staff attend (Implementation) but also how this impacts on the setting (Impact). As part of reflecting on your setting and practice it’s good to keep a log of what CPD training you and your staff have completed, why you undertook it and what benefits attending has had on you as an individual and the setting.

Ideally every staff member in your team should be expected and encouraged to undertake regular CPD opportunities to enable them to upskill and maintain their existing knowledge. However, this takes time and money, which as we all know is always limited. However, when you deliberate the cost of sending staff on training, try to balance your budget against the benefits any training will have long term on your provision and staff. Some training is costly, especially to send all team members on it, but in the long run the benefits should far outweigh that initial cost.

Remember, your setting is only as good as the staff within – you can have all the best resources but without outstanding staff to support the use of those resources then it’s not going to work to its full potential.

So what counts as CPD?

CPD isn’t all about attending training courses. It can be covered with any of the following:

Training

- whether this be in person (face to face), interactive on-line (both of which PATA regularly offer), webinars, pre recorded training (watch this space for PATA’s first pre recorded training which will be available shortly) and on-line training that can be undertaken at an individual’s own pace and time (e.g., Noodle Now training – see our PATA Members offer for Noodle Now training)

- Both CPD training courses and accredited training should be offered

Attending conferences
Group staff training sessions (e.g. bespoke training) and cascaded training (e.g. in a staff meeting someone reports on training that they’ve attended or something they’ve read and learnt and shares this with the whole team).
Coaching and mentoring
Observing others
Professional discussion with other Early Years Practitioners
Reading relevant articles – books, journals, magazines, newspapers (including physical publications and on-line)
Blogs – just like this one.

What are the benefits of CPD?

CPD enables individuals to enhance and reinforce their current skills and addresses any knowledge shortfalls and gaps.

Engagement, morale, self-confidence and commitment within the workplace will increase and should result in happier and more committed staff! By having a variety of employees undertake CPD, concurrently or over a period of time you will allow the sharing of best practice and support. Staff potential is maximised and retention of good staff is also improved. CPD also gives you the opportunity to ensure staff’s understanding of practices.

Benefits for the Employee

It ensures their skills are valid and up to date in their current and any future roles. It gives them aims and aspirations to work towards and a sense of purpose. It builds an individual’s confidence and will help them cope positively with change.

Benefits for the Employer

It ensures that your setting’s standards are consistently high, you will see high morale, commitment and wellbeing improved within the workplace. By sharing training amongst all staff enables sharing to take place which helps with team building. You really will get the best out of your staff. You will also be ensuring that you are meeting all legal requirements.

How should you manage CPD within your setting?

Ideally, you should have a planned CPD approach for each of your staff – this is a two way system where you can address areas of CPD that you would like a staff member to attend and staff are also able to advise you of CPD training they would like to do. Ask yourself regularly “where are the gaps?, What does that particular staff member know and do they fully understand it?” Then you should regularly reflect on the gaps and the impact they have on your setting, the other staff and the children you care for. If the same gaps keep being highlighted then it’s time to address them.
Ensure everyone gets the same opportunities for their CPD – staff may have preferences as to how they want to develop – one person may prefer face to face or on-line interactive training whereas someone else may prefer to read books or undertake training at their own pace and time. Sometimes it’s the same staff member asking for training but ensure everyone has the same opportunities and is encouraged to do training.
When recruiting staff try to find out what the applicant’s career development and aspirations are and ensure they are willing to upskill and keep their current skills up to date. With recruitment currently causing challenges, it’s also a key staff benefit for someone to choose working for you if you can demonstrate to them that you will invest in them with CPD.
Staff development is also about listening to all staff, hearing their ideas for improvement and balancing any weaknesses with strengths.
Ask your staff to regularly update you with their CPD – if you are aware they are reading an Early Years publication then ask them about it. It’s not just about the theory learnt at the training and having a certificate to say you attended or what they have learnt from reading a publication – it’s understanding how the theory that was learnt fits in with the children in the setting and how it can be applied to every child. Ofsted will ask your staff questions and whilst it can be easy to give facts and figures it is important for staff to show they truly understand why they are doing something. A great way to check staffs understanding of what they have learnt is to ask a staff member who has attended training to ‘feed’ back to the rest of the team what they have learnt, perhaps in a staff meeting. It’s all well and good having a certificate of attendance for a particular training session but what did they learn and gain from that training that can benefit the setting and children.

What is important to remember is that CPD is continuous – it is a cyclical process which doesn’t end as there will always be new things to learn, changes taking place. CPD comes in various forms and it’s not always about sending staff on training as it can be addressed in other forms. You need to invest time and money in staff so that they can be the best they can be for you.

We will always aim to provide training which is high quality, relevant and affordable and if there is a subject or area that you would like to see covered please get in touch and let us know on training@pataglos.org.uk

Right to Work - the rules are changing

PATA — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 08:41:19 GMT

With everything that has happened over the last 18 months, Britain leaving the EU has slipped down the news feed somewhat. But did you know that an important deadline is looming and one that might affect you if you have staff from EU countries?

The current employment rules around staff from EU (or referred to here as EEA) countries end on 30^th June which is also the deadline for EU citizens who are resident in the UK to apply for settled status. After 30^th June it will be much more difficult to employ EU citizens who don’t have either pre-settled or settled status as they will need to meet the same criteria as those coming from all other countries. In order to employ them you would need to have a Home Office Sponsor licence.

If you have any staff who are EU citizens it would be worth reminding them of the deadline for applying for settled status but you don’t have the right to ask to check it until after 30^th June. If they don’t apply for settled or pre-settled status they could lose their right to live and work in the UK after 30^th June.

There is no mandatory requirement for retrospective checks on EEA nationals who were employed on or before 30^th June 2021. However, you are only protected against penalty if you can provide robust evidence that you carried out an initial right to work check in line with correct guidance at the time of employment. Therefore, we recommend as good practice, and in order to ensure you meet legal obligations, that you audit all your existing staff team (to prevent discrimination) and check their right to work after the 30^th June.

There is a legal obligation on employers to check the right to work in the UK for all new employees. To prevent discrimination you should do this for anyone who you are employing, even if it seems obvious that they are British or because they may be known to you. For those who are British Citizens this is as simple as asking to see their passport or if they don’t have a valid one, their birth/adoption certificate in conjunction with an official document showing their National Insurance number. For the full checklist of suitable documents see here but please note that we expect this list to be updated after 30^th June: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/774286/Right_to_Work_Checklist.pdf

You must make a copy of these documents in a format that cannot be altered (e.g. a photocopy) and you must keep this for the duration of their employment and for two years afterwards. You should note on the document the date that it was checked. You may already have some of these documents as part of your DBS checking procedure.

If you aren’t able to use actual documents, you can also check an employee’s right to work digitally here: https://www.gov.uk/employee-immigration-employment-status

If you have undertaken these checks and followed the Code of Practice (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/969123/An_employer_s_guide_to_right_to_work_checks.pdf) then you have what is known as a ‘statutory excuse’ if it’s later found that the employee had been working illegally. This means that you wouldn’t be prosecuted. If you haven’t done them, or aren’t able to prove that you did, you may be liable for fines of up to £20,000 per employee.

As this legislation requires staff to hand over a lot of personal information they need to be confident that you will deal with it within data protection legislation and store it safely and securely, so it’s very important that your data protection policy and practices are in place and adhered to.

It is expected that the government will issue further guidance closer to 1^st July so keep an eye out for this – we will also flag this via Facebook.

Oral Health

(Past member) — Thu, 27 May 2021 11:43:14 GMT

If you’ve started looking into the new EYFS or you’ve been on any of our training over the last few weeks you’ve probably wondered about oral health and the requirement for settings to include and promote it. In this blog we’ll take a short look at what that might look like in settings.

Government guidance says that oral health has been included in the EYFS because:

“Nearly a quarter of 5 year olds in England have tooth decay, with 3 or 4 teeth affected on average. Tooth extraction is one of the most common procedures for children under 6 in hospital. Extraction is also the most common reason for hospital admission for children aged 6 to 10. Children from more deprived backgrounds are more likely to have tooth decay.

Children who have toothache, or need treatment, may have pain or infections. This can have a wider effect and lead to problems eating, sleeping, socialising and learning.”

It is therefore important that the early experiences a child receives in your setting promotes oral health in a positive way. These early experiences can have long term impact and will help children understand the importance of keeping their mouth healthy. Obviously as early years practitioners you are well placed to meet these needs.

Part of your role will involve investigating, along with the children, mouths and teeth and how to treat them well, promoting good cleaning and eating habits and ‘normalising’ dentist visits. It’s important that children understand that the dentist is someone to trust who takes care of them and their personal health and hygiene.

It doesn’t mean that you have to have a teeth cleaning programme. Some settings may chose to - although be mindful of current Covid guidance that you should only be dry brushing. It does mean that you should be making and taking opportunities to talk about oral health and to promote all the elements (including tooth brushing) that support it.

Here is some helpful government advice on how you can promote it with additional useful links below - https://help-for-early-years-providers.education.gov.uk/get-help-to-improve-your-practice/oral-health

We are looking into training to see if there are any local providers who could deliver something to support practitioners - we’ll let you know how we get on! In the meantime you could:

keep on promoting healthy food choices that support oral health,
make learning interactive and encourage the children to get hands on cleaning the teeth of your toys,
have books and activities available around teeth cleaning and dentists, and
consider how you may improve parents awareness so that what you do in setting is reinforced at home.

Additional information/resources:

https://www.dentalhealth.org/downloads-and-resources

https://www.dentalhealth.org/childrens-teeth

https://www.bristolearlyyears.org.uk/health/public-health/supervised-toothbrushing-in-early-years-settings/

This site has some good infographics that you can share on your social media: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-matters-child-dental-health/health-matters-child-dental-health

DBS: to check or not to check?

(Past member) — Wed, 12 May 2021 09:30:12 GMT

DBS: to check or not to check?

This blog post came about after PATA staff members and other member practitioners attended the free SCR (single central record) webinars held by GSCP (Gloucestershire Safeguarding and Children’s Partnership). During the webinar, advice was given that leaders and managers should not be checking staff’s DBS status via the update service other than if there is a specific concern regarding that staff member. Additionally, that in doing so it could be seen as discriminatory practice if you do not have your whole staff team on the update service (and are therefore only checking some, not all, staff).

PATA’s advice, and practice with our own PMG’s, is that all staff should be on the update service and have their DBS status checked, with their permission, annually as part of their on-going suitability check. This advice therefore surprised us and sparked discussion as to how we proceed, both in terms of advice we give our members, as well as our own PMG procedures.

We sought further clarification from GSCP. Their decision was taken from guidance made by the wider GCC, other local authorities and Ofsted; that settings should have a robust safeguarding culture in place which runs throughout the organisation and includes practices such as safer recruitment, ongoing suitability checks, through to allegations management. They want settings to move away from reliance on DBS checks for assessing suitability as these are only relevant on the day the check is done.

Their advice is that settings should state in their code of conduct/behavior policy that staff must notify the setting of any involvement with the police, and that this, together with a culture of robust safeguarding, where staff feel able to disclose and are given the opportunity to disclose (on going suitability, supervisions etc.) is what is required. They stress that reliance on DBS checks should not replace robust SG procedures alongside safer recruitment knowledge and that the only time we would check the update service or request a new DBS (other than for a new recruit) would be if we had a specific concern about that staff member.

PATA recognise, and have always advocated for, robust SG systems and practice to be in place in settings, and we agree and support the knowledge that practice, policies and procedures should form the majority of your SG culture. However, taking all this into account PATA still feel there is a place, and a need, for an update check annually as part of ongoing suitability. We feel it closes the safeguarding circle – where most is covered by your robust practice, policies and procedures but that an annual check via the update service completes and closes it.

We therefore questioned this further with both LADO and GSCP and have clarified that for our PMG groups we will continue to check all staff via the update service with their permission and backed up by their contracts that state:

Child Protection

Your employment is subject to:

initial DBS clearance (paid for by PATA)
initial registration and remaining on the DBS Update Service (paid for by you) for the duration of your employment
your annual completion of the ‘Ongoing Suitability to Work with Children’ form
adherence to our Safeguarding Children and Child Protection Policy

This therefore remains our advice to our members: that all staff should be on the update service and have their DBS status checked annually as part of the on-going suitability process and with their permission. However, unless your whole staff team are signed up, you would not do this as it may be considered discriminatory.

We would recommend that your whole staff team are therefore on the update service. In order to do this we suggest a contract change, via consultation with your staff team, to get something like the clause above put into contracts. Your setting would then pay for new DBS checks and your staff team are then responsible to sign up to, and keep signed to, the update service for the duration of their employment with you.

So what should a robust culture of safeguarding actually look like in your setting?

The Early Years Hub posted a short interview on facebook with Julie-Ann Morris, Senior manager in the Early Years Policy Team at Ofsted (https://www.facebook.com/505842819507187/posts/3839697662788336/?sfnsn=scwspwa). The interview explored what is expected from Ofsted when they inspect the safeguarding and child protection elements of the Education Inspection Framework (EIF).

As with GSCP, Ofsted say it is about having a culture of safeguarding in your early years provision. Not just the policies on your shelf, but that staff know the policy contents and have an understanding of how it is applied in practice. In this way the culture of safeguarding becomes embedded throughout the setting.

Julie-Ann Morris talks about three main words in relation to safeguarding and the EIF:

Identify: this is about providers identifying risk and children who may be at risk. Inspectors will undoubtedly get the policy off the shelf to look at but will also speak to staff to check their knowledge of identifying abuse, and that practitioners are not thinking in a rigid way but are able to think outside of unconscious bias.

Ofsted inspectors will use Learning Walks to question about safeguarding practice, ensuring staff are aware of safeguarding and who to go to with concerns. That it is no longer just recognising signs and symptoms of abuse and neglect in children, but going a little bit further now with grooming and exploitation and the methods groomers are using. Within the framework it is about helping providers get out of unconscious bias of exploitation and grooming, that it does not just affect teenagers but can start in children’s early years.

It is also about identifying need for early help. This is important because identifying issues, such as abuse, at an early stage, and getting the vital services on board to support, is so key for children to go on and achieve future success.

Helping: this is about knowing when to help children and when it’s appropriate to engage others. With regards to safeguarding and the EIF this encompasses relationships with children. It is about having quality interactions and key person relationships and knowing your children deeply. Safeguarding culture sits over these relationships and is embedded within your practice because of them. If you know your child you can offer help when it is needed, knowing when to step in and get people to give specialist support where you may not be able to.

Managing: Safeguarding in an early years setting is also about the adults and managing includes allegation of adults who may be presenting a risk to children as well as your safer recruitment process. Inspectors would look at your recruitment processes, ensuring leader and mangers are fully aware of what suitability checks entail and questioning if there is a whole recruitment package in place to ensure adults are suitable to provide care for children. Again, Inspectors will look at your written policies but then check leaders, mangers and staffs knowledge of the whistle blowing process and who they speak to in the event of an allegation against an adult.

So, with regards to safeguarding and the adults in your setting, how to create a space where they feel able to disclose sensitive information about themselves or others and taking into account all the information above what do you need to do to ensure a robust safeguarding culture that does not solely rely on DBS checks?

Create an ethos of openness within your group, by;

Having a sound recruitment process where a member of the interview panel holds safer recruitment accreditation and your interview questions and criteria are marked in the same way and are non-discriminatory.
Having clear contracts, job descriptions and staff handbook (if applicable) to ensure new and existing staff are clear with regards to their safeguarding requirements.
Having a sound induction process that covers safeguarding practices and procedures (with details of how to report abuse/suspected abuse and details of GSCP’s allegation management process).
Having regular performance management sessions with your staff. This would include staff supervisions where you follow the same format and ask the same questions to all. Within this there should be an open question about whether the staff member has anything to discuss or disclose with regards to safeguarding. This would include disclosure of any police contact. (Failure to disclose police contact, even a speeding ticket, could therefore lead to disciplinary action). These sessions should be friendly as well as professional.
Staff meetings where time is given to discuss concerns, not just about children, but about any other adults.
Having an open door policy so that staff know there is always someone available.
Having a trained safeguarding champion on your committee (if applicable).

EYFS and PATA's training offer

PATA — Fri, 07 May 2021 10:35:14 GMT

Your early years curriculum

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets out the ‘curriculum’ for early years education. It sets the standards for the learning, development and care of children from birth to 5 years and as Ofsted registered providers you must follow it.

The EYFS gives seven areas of learning that will shape the educational programme within your setting. Your programme (how you deliver your curriculum) must include activities and experiences involving the seven areas of learning and development but it is up to you what this looks like and how you deliver it. But your curriculum will be delivered mostly through play in the seven areas as follows:

communication and language
physical development
personal, social and emotional development
literacy
mathematics
understanding the world
expressive arts and design

Additionally, in planning and guiding children’s learning activities, practitioners must consider the different ways children learn and reflect these in their practice.

Within the EYFS the early learning goals summarise the knowledge, skills and understanding that children should have gained by the end of their Reception year. The assessment requirements detail when and how you assess children’s achievements, and when and how you should discuss progress with parents/carers.

There's a helpful gov.uk information page on the early years curriculum here.

Your own educational programme

What your educational programme looks like and how you deliver your activities taking into account the seven areas of learning and development is up to you. As long as you meet the requirements set out in the EYFS then you will be delivering a round and full curriculum.

You may choose an ethos such as Planning In The Moment, or you may choose to blend this with other planning. It will depend on your staff teams’ experience, skills, knowledge, depth of understanding of child development, and dynamic.

Birth to 5 Matters or Development Matters?

These are two documents that support practitioners to implement and deliver the statutory requirements of the EYFS. They both provide non-statutory curriculum guidance and it is therefore up to you as a setting to decide if you want to follow one, or both of them. Both provide details on what to expect when, and how to support children reach the early learning goals and are created by early years experts. In considering and investigating both documents, there are differences between them:

Birth to 5 Matters (Bto5): is a long document which used Development Matters 2012 as a starting point. Praise for it is that it covers gaps missing from the new Development Matters (such as the sub strands that have disappeared) and so provides a step-by-step guide that may be useful to support less confident staff teams.

Development Matters 2021 (DM): is a slimmed down version where they have chosen to use fewer and broader stages and praise suggests it is easier to move more fluidly between them. Also, that this document emphasises practitioners moving away from paperwork to work with children.

Criticism of DM is that it expects a certain level of knowledge of staff teams and therefore may not work as a stand-alone document for less experienced staff, but this can also be cited as a positive as it supports staff teams on their journey rather than telling them how to do it – a criticism of Bto5.

So, if you feel confident in your practice and want evidenced support, DM may be for you, however if you are starting your journey, then gaps can be filled by Bto5. Many settings will potentially choose a main document and feature it as part of a range of documents that they use. In this way you can use both to support your practice.

Ultimately, both are high quality documents and there are positive elements in each. PATA would not recommend one or the other simply because we don’t know your staff teams, and we feel that it is only you and your team that can make that choice based on how you work together.

PATA’s training programme

With all this in mind PATA aims to provide a rounded programme of training that enables managers and practitioners to make their own informed choices as to what methods and techniques they want to develop within their own setting. As a supporting organisation, with many member settings, we know the make-up of staff teams and the difference of leadership and management, will affect and impact upon what you can, and sometimes want, to deliver. We therefore feel it is important that we offer impartial and diverse training opportunities for you and your staff teams to access.

We understand we aren’t the only providers offering high quality training, but when considering training for your staff teams, particularly in relation to the EYFS reforms, be mindful of who is delivering it as some providers are directly linked with DM or Bto5 and may therefore not deliver an objective summary.

Debs Adams (PATA Project Support Officer)