Process
Two Year OId Pilot Timescale
From summer 2009 we will be contacting the families of the 430 children about the offer and working with providers and children’s centres to develop outreach and family support. We will be seeking appropriate providers in the areas where the children live.
Eligible Providers
Eligible providers are those which are accessible to the 430 children selected to participate so long as they meet the quality standards set down for the pilot. This includes early years providers who are registered by OFSTED to deliver the Foundation stage curriculum including childminders who are part of an accredited childminder network. Maintained schools and nursery classes are not included. We will be writing to all eligible providers to invite them to participate in the Pilot.
Parental Choice
Eligible families who want to take up the offer will choose an eligible provider that they wish to use.
Part of the Family support offered may include impartial support to help the family to choose a provider.
There is no application process for parents.
Requirements of the offer
- Families must be offered the maximum allocation of early education/childcare hours (15 hours) per week. This does not mean they have to take up the full allocation of hours, and indeed take up should be related to the needs of the individual child. The offer can be delivered sessionally or flexibly.
- The minimum session length for a two year old is 2 hours
- Families must be signposted to wider support which may include skills, training, employment or more family-specific areas such as benefits. This will take place via children’s centre contact
Agreed Eligibility Criteria - Summary of DCSF Guidance
The Minister has given a strong steer that the extension of the Two year old pilot must focus on economically deprived families. This must be the foremost factor in deciding eligibility for children on the extended pilots. Funding to local authorities is based on national data which uses Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) to identify the eligible 25% of two year-olds in each Local Authority (LA). In Kent this is 430 children.
Eligibility criteria must be:
- tightly focused on economic deprivation;
- data driven;
- broadly applicable (so other LAs could apply the model in the future;
Kent’s Free Entitlement Working Group agreed that eligibility criteria should also be:
- clear and easily understood
- fair and transparent
- easy to administer
- non-stigmatising
In this context the agreed eligibility criteria for the Two year old pilot in Kent are as follows:
All families accessing the pilot MUST meet the following criteria:
Children living in the most disadvantaged Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs) in Kent and who would be eligible for free school meals.
Children are eligible for free school meals if their parents receive any of the following:
- Income Support (IS);
- Income Based Jobseekers Allowance (IBJSA);
- Employment Support Allowance (Income Related) (ESA(IR));
- Support (Home Office subsistence vouchers or accommodation for asylum seekers) under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999;
- Child Tax Credit, provided they are not entitled to working Tax Credit and have an annual income, as assessed by the Inland Revenue, that (for 2008/2009) does not exceed £15,575;
- the guaranteed element of State Pension Credit.
Ensuring the Participation of Vulnerable Children
In addition to the above criteria, priority will be given to ensuring that the opportunity to participate in the pilot is offered to all of the following groups of vulnerable children living in the most disadvantaged LSOAs selected for the pilot. It would be superfluous to attach secondary criteria related to vulnerable children as all children who would qualify for free school meals and who reside within the selected LSOAs will be invited to participate in the pilot. However, through children’s centres, priority should be given to outreach to and the monitoring of take-up of the offer by children who fall within the following groups:
- Those on the Child Protection Register
- Asylum seeking/ refugee families
- BME families and children with EAL
- Children from families with 3 or more children aged under 5
- Those with teenage parents
- Those with lone parents
- Those who have parents with health issues or disabilities
- Families where there is domestic violence
- Families where there are substance misuse issues
- Children with speech and language needs
- Children who are looked after
- Children in temporary accommodation
- Children with developmental or learning delay
- Children with disabilities
- Children experiencing emotional and behavioural problems
Verifying Eligibility
In developing the Two year old pilot an important issue is to avoid stigmatising families, hence (with the support of the DCSF) these places (with accompanying family support) will be marketed as an “opportunity” rather than as a benefit. Initial eligibility regarding benefit receipt and the age of the child(ren) will be identified by JobCentre Plus and confirmed through the parent’s completion and signature (with the help of the family support worker if required) of a simple form. The parents and providers will be contacted directly.