Dorset Childcare Sufficiency Assessment 2024

2.1 Summary

The data contained in this assessment was collected from a family survey and two provider surveys between July 2023 and December 2023.  From the family survey responses there was an increase of 34% more respondents than the previous survey with 518 total responses giving a broadly representational view from families. 

From the provider surveys (group settings, childminders, school managed provision) there was a response rate of around a third over the two surveys. 

Recent years have proved very challenging for the early years and childcare sector. It’s still not clear what the long-term outlook is going to be for the sector and if there will be a change in demand for places. 

The main issue currently affecting places is the recruitment and retention of suitably qualified staff to work in the sector. It is recognised that many staff have left the sector over the last few years and there is a national decline in practitioners joining the sector, particularly childminders.

The demand for childcare continues to fluctuate according to family circumstances including financial and employment changes with many parents changing their working patterns. Many parents and carers continue to work at home or access a hybrid model of working resulting in less childcare requirements. 

Good progress has been made against the 18 recommendations made in the previous Childcare Sufficiency Assessment 2022/2023. Further actions have been embedded this year to complete the remaining recommendations. So far the progress is:

• achieved - 12
• in progress - 4
• not yet started - 2

Recommendations not yet started have been carried forward into this year’s action plan. 

2.2 Key findings from 2023 / 2024 assessment

Key findings from the 2023/2024 assessment are:

• birth rate continues to steadily decline; with the population of Dorset children aged 0 to 5 smaller than average at 4% with England and Wales at 5.4%
• Dorset net decrease of 6 childminders in the last year with the biggest loss being in the East locality with a net loss of 5 childminders
• overall, the number of group settings has stayed the same in the last year with 8 closing and 8 opening
• the number of childcare places available across the county has stayed broadly the same from this time last year
• on average there is 1 childcare place for every 2.5 children in the county
• supply and demand data tells us Chesil and West locality, closely followed by Dorchester, have the lowest number of childcare places per child in Dorset
• the percentage of eligible pre-school children taking up funded entitlements remains high:
  • 78.6% of 2 year old children benefitting from funded early education
  • 97.4% of 2 year old children benefitting from some funded early education
  • 90.9% of 2 year old children benefitting from funded early education in Good/Outstanding provision
  • 88.9% of 3 and 4 year old children benefitting from funded early education in Good/Outstanding provision
• 23% of parents that responded feel an inclusive option for their children with SEND is currently missing from the range of suitable childcare options offered in Dorset and that a child having SEND needs is a barrier in arranging childcare
• parents that responded reported that the childcare options missing are:
  • before/after school care for school aged children (48%)
  • funded childcare for 2 year old children (33%)
  • childcare for babies (32%)
• at SEN support level Speech Language and Communication needs outweigh all other needs and is over 5 times more prevalent than the second most identified category of social, emotional, and mental health needs (SEMH)
• 34% of childminders report having a child with Special educational needs and/or disabilities in comparison with 81% in group provision
• there are currently 107 children aged 0 to 4 years on a Child Protection plan and 224 within the category Child in Need
• there are currently 27 children aged 0 to 4 years in care
• the quality of early years provision is good; 96% of provision is Ofsted ‘Good or above’ which is better than the national average but shows a slight dip from last year (just 3 group provision and 1 Childminder currently Requires Improvement)

2.3 Recommendations to address key findings and improve outcomes for children in 2024 / 2025:

2.3.1 Sufficiency

Localities and strategic leaders should:

• provide advice, guidance, and support to providers to open or expand their businesses in areas where there is insufficient provision or where we need more provision to meet the new entitlements
• encourage providers to open for longer hours and for more weeks of the year where possible to meet the needs of parents.
• work with the Family Information Service to ensure families can easily access the information they need regarding childcare provision and the specific offer for children with SEND
• work with commissioning colleagues to develop a new ‘Provider self-update tool’
• increase awareness of help with the cost of childcare. Promote entitlements, stretched funding and tax-free childcare to parents of younger children so they are aware before they reach the age they are used
• provide more information and guidance to childminders to enable them to extend their overnight offer of childcare, to include children and young people with disabilities
• actively promote inclusion with childminders. This should be reflected in the locality early years workforce development strategy
• work with the Family Information Service to ensure families can easily access the information they need regarding childcare options and wraparound provision available. Ensure search options include the ability to search by age range to allow for ease of use by parents
• work with Wraparound Co-ordinator and early years providers to ensure sufficient wraparound provision is in place for children 0-14 (including for children with SEND up to 18), to ensure parents can access the employment / training where necessary

2.3.2 Quality of provision

Localities and strategic leaders should:

• alongside communications colleagues, the principal lead for Best Education for All and Education Challenge Leads, develop strategies to improve engagement of schools in completing council surveys
• prioritise support to those early years settings not yet inspected and those RI with an expectation that all providers should be working at Good/Outstanding
• implement process to increase eligibility checking and impact of Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP). Monitoring spend and impact in using the funding and how it would have the most impact on the children with EYPP eligibility
• work alongside the Social Mobility Commissioner to develop longer term plans regarding EYPP in the early years
• further investigate the hours attended by each child receiving EYPP to ensure they are accessing their full entitlement
• further investigation into the number of hours eligible disadvantaged 2 year olds in Weymouth and Portland are accessing
• contribute to the improvement of the Good Level of Development data working closely with partners to provide support to early years and schools in localities with the greatest area of need
• embed oversight into performance management processes of school-managed early years provision by the Early Years Support and Advice Officers (EYSAO) alongside the Education Challenge Lead (ECL) to ensure they are actively provided with EY news, information and invitations to early years events and training opportunities

2.3.3 Workforce development

Localities and strategic leaders should:

• promote childcare and early education as a valued career choice to support the declining childminder workforce. Work alongside the principal lead for Best Education for All to link with the Workforce Priority agenda
• embed outcomes from formal consultation into CSA
• alongside commissioning colleagues, consult with providers around how the council communicates information, surveys, newsletter, updates. Explore alternative methods of communication with them for example social media, reformatted newsletters. Review essential communications we send out over the year asking for information to ensure timelessness and overload

2.3.4 Graduated response, additional needs, SEND

Localities and strategic leaders should:

• provide support and challenge to providers to ensure they are meeting the needs of all children
• work with parents and health partners to support access and promotion of speech and language resources and offer within the Balanced System
• work with early health professionals (health visitors, speech and language therapists, community nursery nurses) and parents, to target early language development
• include in the ESS application form an additional section to complete with SEND/Inclusion training settings have accessed as part of the graduated approach in support of their application, with an expectation that all early years providers access the Dingley’s Promise Inclusion training prior to applying for the ESS funding
• review historic data of children in the early years with an EHCP to investigate how many hours of early education funding they accessed, if they had delayed entry to school and what type of school they attended i.e., Specialist or mainstream
• carry out an audit of WellComm to understand the impact of the toolkits and training on the impact of children’s outcomes in speech, language, and communication targeting those settings who identified children with an SLCN delay
• actively promote inclusion with childminders to ensure all children have their needs fully met in whichever setting they attend
• ensure all children eligible for Disability Access Funding are accessing this support
• ensure all children from any vulnerable groups (CP, CIN, CIC, EHCP, SEN support) are accessing their full entitlement and have differentiated support to fully met their needs to ensure they can thrive and met outcomes set
• work with schools to increase confidence in supporting the phase transfer process from early years setting to school, especially for children with more complex needs
• promote all practitioners to view themselves as SEND educators and actively encourage all practitioners to access the role of the SENCo training
• ensure early years and advice officers are fully trained and confident in supporting the increased need to support children with social communication needs in settings
• ensure all children in care are eligible for early education funding are attending an early years setting and have a Personal Education Plan in place to support quality outcomes
• EYSAO with lead area for CP, CIN and CIC to ensure all children are accessing their full entitlement and provision for these vulnerable children is carefully monitored to ensure quality of outcomes
• further investigation into the number of hours eligible disadvantaged 2 year olds in Weymouth and Portland are accessing

3.1 Population 

The total population of Dorset at the last census data collection (March 2021) was 379,600, an increase of 4% over the last 10 years, lower than the southwest increase overall (7.7%) and places Dorset 18th in England for population size. By 2029 the Dorset population is projected to grow by 4% compared to 5% nationally.

Dorset has a smaller than average under 5's population at 4% with England and Wales at 5.4%. 

Source: Dorset data 

3.2 Birth rate

The annual number of births in England and Wales continues its recent decline, with 2022 recording the lowest number of births since 2002. Dorset reflects this picture with a significant decline in the last 10 years of 25%. Birth rates started falling then and have continued to fall at a steady rate. Dorset saw a lower number of births in 2022 (2,615 births down from 2,755 the year before), than in any year since at least 2013. The current birth rate is 6.9% in Dorset compared to 10.3% in England and Wales.

Source: Office for national statistics

Our data dashboard tells us the East, followed by North and Chesil, continue to have the most births by locality. This information helps us to predict areas population and potential childcare needs in the future.

3.3 Economy 

Dorset has good levels of employment compared to other councils in the Southwest .2.9% of people are unemployed in Dorset (compared to 3.7% nationally) at the end of November 2023. This shows a slight rise since a year earlier.   

79% of people aged 16 to 64 are ‘economically active’ and are either employed (77%) or seeking work (2%). Of those not employed or seeking work, reasons include being retired, looking after the home or family or being temporarily or long term sick and disabled.

Source: Office for national statistics

50% of the parents who responded to the recent surveys said they needed childcare to increase their current hours at work.

3.4 Deprivation

11 areas (out of a total of 219) in Dorset are in within the top 20% the most deprived nationally, 10 of these areas are within Weymouth and Portland and one in West. With 46% of the Dorset population living in rural areas, barriers to housing and essential services are significant in Dorset reflecting the rurality and distance from services.

Source: Deprivation topic data Dorset Council

This data provides much to consider in terms of quality of childcare providers in these areas, cost of childcare on offer, labour market support by providing wraparound services and sufficient free childcare for those wanting to work/train.

3.5 Parent childcare survey

An online survey was sent out to families via all local providers, social media, local leisure centres, council newsletters and the Dorset Parent Carer Council. There were 518 responses, an increase of 34% more respondents than the previous survey giving a broadly representational view of family needs.

From the parental survey responses, overall, in Dorset:

• 90% work at least 15 hours, 85% work weekdays with the rest working a mix of weekends and evenings. 77% of the families responding currently use childcare.
• 51% care for children below school age, 29% care for children of school age and 19% care for both. 
• types of childcare currently used by families in Dorset Council (some use a combination):
  • 77% nursery / pre-school
  • 31% look after own children
  • 21% friends / relatives
  • 12% childminder
  • 11% home childcarer (Nanny)
• 59% of parents responding believe there are enough childcare options to meet their needs. 41% believe an option is missing.

3.6 Childcare options missing in Dorset

The main options families report as missing for childcare in Dorset are:

• 50% school age before / after school care
• 32% childcare for babies
• 30% 2 year-old eligible for free childcare
• 23% inclusive option for child/ren with SEND
• 21% holiday care for child/ren with SEND
• 16% 3 and 4 year-old hours entitlement
• 8% 3 and 4 year-old 15 hours entitlement

The main reasons families need childcare are:

• 57% to enable my child to be with other children
• 54% to enable my child to make progress in their learning
• 51% to prepare my child for school
• 49% to increase my current hours

The majority of the families need this childcare weekdays, school holidays and term time. The main reasons people choose their childcare is that is suits their child’s needs, fits the hours they need and is close to home and/or close to work.  

Over half of the families surveyed find their childcare through recommendations from others. A further quarter use a search engine. Few families (17%) use the Dorset Council Family Information Directory. Most families say that finding childcare is not difficult.

3.6.1 Dorchester

58% have enough suitable childcare options, the most rated missing options are:

• 50% before / after school care for my school age children
• 30% 2 year old eligible for free childcare

The main additional barriers include:

• 44% too expensive
• 28% local providers are full
• 22% sessions are not available at the times I need

3.6.2 West

57% have enough suitable childcare options, the most rated missing options are:

• 65% before / after school care for my school age children
• 37% holiday care for my children with SEND
• 28% childcare for babies
• 28% 2 year old eligible for free childcare

The main additional barriers include:

• 30% too expensive
• 27% local providers are full
• 23% sessions are not available for the times I want

3.6.3 Chesil

In Weymouth, 69% have enough suitable childcare options, the most rated missing options are:

• 50% before / after school care for my school age children
• 33% childcare for babies
• 30% 2 year old eligible for free childcare

The main additional barriers include:

• 33% too expensive
• 27% local providers are full
• 27% sessions are not available for the times I want

In Portland, 87% have enough suitable childcare options, in terms of the missing childcare options not enough responses were collected to this question to conclude. The main additional barriers identified were that childcare is ‘too expensive’ and ‘local providers are not close enough and I cannot travel’. 

3.6.4 North

66% have enough suitable childcare options, the most rated missing options are:

• 38% childcare for babies
• 34% before / after school care for my school age children
• 32% 2 year old eligible for free childcare

The main additional barriers include:

• 45% too expensive
• 28% local providers are full
• 18% sessions are not available for the times I want

3.6.5 East 

73% have enough suitable childcare options, for the remaining respondents only 12 parents said ‘before and after school care for school aged children was missing.

The main additional barriers are:

• 37% too expensive
• 18% local providers are full
• 15% sessions are not available for the times I want

3.6.6 Purbeck

80% have enough suitable childcare options, for the remaining 20%, in terms of the missing childcare options not enough responses were collected to this question to conclude.

3.7 Locality summary

In summary Dorchester and West have the biggest gaps in terms of demand from parents requiring missing childcare options to meet their needs.

‘Before/after school care’ remains the highest gap for provision in Dorchester & West and Weymouth, with ‘Childcare for babies’ as the main need in the North.

In all four localities issues around cost of childcare, local providers being full and sessions not being available at the times needed, are the same common barriers identified.

Recommendation: Encourage providers to open for longer hours and for more weeks of the year where possible to meet the needs of parents.

3.8 Family Information Directory

There is a search facility for parents to be able to find early years providers in the new Family Information Directory it will have the options of searching by age range of children making it easier for parents to search for childcare.

230 early years providers advertise their local offers through the Dorset Family Information Directory and indicate, using a specific ‘flag’, how their provision provides for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Recommendation: Work with the Family Information Service to ensure families can easily access the information they need regarding childcare provision and the specific offer for children with SEND.

4.1 Ordinarily Available Provision

In addition to ensuring enough childcare places, the ‘sufficiency duty’ means that places are good quality, accessible, affordable, and inclusive. There is also a statutory requirement that all childcare providers must fulfil their obligations under the Early Years Foundation Stage guidance (where appropriate), the Equality Act 2010 and the SEN Code of Practice.

The local authority expects all childcare and education settings to be inclusive and provide a graduated approach to support the needs of children that have SEND within the high-quality provision. To support settings to do this, the local authority provides support and advice, and allocates resources based on a child’s need. 

There is an expectation that settings will usually meet the needs of children through their ordinarily available provision, that is the range of support, strategies and activities that are available as part of basic good practice in early years settings to support young children with additional needs without the need for formal diagnosis or specialist support.

Children’s needs may change over time and are identified at different ages and stages. The majority of children with SEND will have their needs met within mainstream provision with access to SEND support that is ordinarily available. Children that require additional support may need an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP) and, in some cases, access to specialist provision. 

Recommendation: Provide support and challenge to providers to ensure they are meeting the needs of all children.

4.2 Early Years SEND Support (ESS) funding

The fund is available to ensure the inclusion of children under 5 who: 

• have low level or emerging additional needs
• may at a later stage, require an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP) 
• have an EHCP in place 

The aim of the Early Years SEND Support funding is to support settings to provide enhanced provision and intervention that will impact on the children’s progress and outcomes. The ‘support’ may take the form of training, physical or sensory adaptations, small group or targeted interventions, or additional targeted adult time to enable the child to meet their targets. 

Where a child has a draft or final EHCP in place settings can request additional funding to support the child to provide the additional provision and support needed as outlined in the child’s EHCP plan. 

Over the last two years 553 children have been funded to ensure SEND provision and support is in place.

An understanding of the range of needs of children in the Early Years is important to support the local authority to plan and allocate resources to meet the needs of children with SEND currently attending provision, as well as the future demand for SEND support and school places. We continue to work with providers to ensure a fully graduated approach is in place and evidenced in all settings so that all children are benefitting from a fully inclusive environment before funding is sought to further enhance this provision.

Recommendation: include in the ESS application form an additional section to complete with SEND/Inclusion training they have accessed as part of the graduated approach in support of their application, with an expectation that all early years providers access the Dingley’s Promise Inclusion training prior to applying for the ESS funding. This will be closely monitored by the panel for impact.

4.3 Survey feedback 

From our survey 23% of parents that responded feel an inclusive option for their children with SEND is currently missing from the range of suitable childcare options offered in Dorset and that a child having SEND needs is a barrier in arranging childcare as their child requires extra support.

81% of group providers and 34% of childminders reported having the children attending their setting have SEND. This is a significant increase of 69% more group providers and 27% childminders are reporting children with SEND needs since 2022. How settings are identifying these needs and reasons as to this reported dramatic increase, need further investigation.

19% of pre-school parents responded to our survey to say their child had a special educational need and/or disability. 32% of parents of school aged said their child had a special educational need and/or disability. More work may need to be done here to support parents with understanding what their child’s needs are and how to support any needs that may be presenting.

One of the current challenges for childcare providers in Dorset is around supporting children within mainstream settings with SEND needs and the phase transfer of these children to their school setting. With a limited amount of special school placements available, difficulties around over reliance on the EHCP process and need for specialist school placement prior to school has arisen. In the period between April 2022 and March 2023 SENDIASS (Special educational needs and disabilities information and advice service), reported the highest number of enquiries were related to 4/5 year olds. SENDIASs report this shift in demand was mainly in relation to exclusions and unsuitable placements. 

Recommendation: Support all practitioners to view themselves as SEND educators and actively encourage all practitioners to access the role of the SENCo training.

Recommendation: Ensure early years and advice officers are fully trained and confident in supporting the increased need to support children with social communication needs in settings.

Recommendation: Work with schools to increase confidence in supporting the phase transfer process from early years setting to school, especially for children with more complex needs.

4.4 Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs)

From school census data 2023/24 Speech, Language and Communication needs, followed by Autistic Spectrum Difficulties are the main categories for which EHCP’s are awarded in Dorset.

At SEN support level Speech Language and Communication (SLCN) needs outweigh all other needs and is over 5 times more prevalent than the second most identified category of social, emotional, and mental health needs (SEMH). SLCN needs remain a high priority, this number of children as a group has remained stable with 657 in January 2022 compared to 656 in January 2023.

Recommendation: review historic data of children in the early years with an EHCP to investigate how many hours of early education funding they accessed, if they had delayed entry to school and what type of school they attended i.e., Specialist or mainstream.

Recommendation: Work with parents and health partners to support access and promotion of resources and offer within the Balanced System.

Recommendation: Work with early health professionals (health visitors, speech and language therapists, community nursery nurses) and parents, to target early language development.

Recommendation: Carry out an audit of WellComm to understand the impact of the toolkits and training on the impact of children’s outcomes in speech, language, and communication targeting those settings who identified children with an SLCN delay. 

4.5 Home Education Support

Currently all early years providers across Dorset in each locality have access to trained Portage consultants. Portage is an educational service for pre-school children with SEND and their families that provides home visit for some families.

Portage aims to play a part in minimising the disabling barriers that confront young children and their families, support the national and local development of inclusive services for children and work with families and settings to enable and be included in their community.

There are currently 321 cases open for children currently receiving support from a Portage consultant.

Providers that have used this service, rate it alongside speech and language support as the second most impactful after the support received from Early Years and advice Officers. Of the parents who access this service, 79% rated Portage as having ‘some’ or ‘great impact’.

We have recently carried out a review of how we deliver services to support children’s access to early education entitlements and learning and this included the Portage Services. We intend to strengthen our approach. We are in the process of making changes to how we provide information, advice and training to the providers, to ensure more children are supported at the right time with increased access to skilled professionals when they need it. 

Recommendation: embed outcomes from formal consultation into CSA.

4.6 Child protection, Children in need and Children in care 

There are currently (January 2024) 107 children aged 0 to 4 years on a Child Protection plan and 224 within the category Child in Need.

There are currently 27 pre-school children in care all of which have a Personal Education Plan. Early Years Advice Officers attend PEP meetings to support effective target setting for the early years children in their settings. The digital Early Years Personal Education Plan is used to record targets and progress on the PEP and early years settings are offered training through the Virtual Schools Team.

All vulnerable children are clearly known by the early years support team. They are discussed regularly through vulnerable child calls and recorded on the early years dashboard. Children of concern are discussed at the monthly ‘Best start in life’ meetings where a team of professionals examine the provision in place for the child and/or family and the actions needed to secure good outcomes for the child.

Recommendation: All children in care are eligible for early education funding are attending an early years setting and have a Personal Education Plan in place to support quality outcomes.

Recommendation: EYSAO with lead area for CP, CIN and CIC to ensure all children are accessing their full entitlement and provision for these vulnerable children is carefully monitored to ensure quality of outcomes.

5.1 Childcare in Dorset 

There are a total of 349 childcare providers in Dorset in January 2024 providing approximately 5969 childcare places.

• 183 group providers
• 127 childminders
• 34 school managed providers
• 5 home childcarers (nannies)

Online surveys were sent to all types of childcare providers including school managed provision in July and December 2023. Respondents told us about:

• their childcare offer
• their operating model
• views on expansion and barriers to this (including wraparound)
• views of the support provided by Dorset Council

Engagement across the Private, Voluntary, and Independent (PVI) including the childminding sector, and also school managed early years provision was less than in previous years across the localities; the timing of one of the surveys lead to less engagement than usually expected.

Recommendation: Consult with providers around how the council shares information, surveys, newsletter, updates. Explore alternative methods of communication with them for example social media, reformatted newsletters. Review essential communications we send out over the year asking for information to ensure timeliness and overload.

5.2 Childcare places

5.2.1 Overall number of settings opening and closing in Dorset

Despite the overall number of childcare providers falling by 5% nationally in the last year (explained by a 10% fall in the number of childminders), Dorset has remained fairly stable.

The number of places available in our early years settings can be calculated in ratio to the estimated number of children. The higher the ratio, the more places are available per child. This is based on the majority of babies not attending a childcare setting and the number of childcare places increasing as the children get older and ready for school.

5.2.2 Total number of childcare places per locality

The council monitors all areas throughout the year to ensure that there are enough spaces to meet the demand. If there is a higher ratio, this means that there are more spaces available for children in the childcare settings. The localities with a lower ratio of childcare places are Chesil, West and Dorchester, indicating a higher demand in these areas. The data collected on childcare places provided by settings is open to some slight fluctuation as currently a central data record of accurate childcare places held by each setting in one source is not currently held. We intend to address this as part of our review into how we provide advice and support to our settings across Dorset.

Recommendation: Provide targeted advice, guidance, and support to providers to open or expand their businesses in areas (Chesil, Dorchester and then West), where there is insufficient provision or where we need more provision to meet the new entitlements.

Recommendation: Work with commissioner colleagues to develop a new ‘Provider self-update tool’.

5.3 Childminder provision

There are 127 registered childminders in Dorset whose local authority support is provided primarily by an EYSAO. Specialist advice is also provided by a Portage Consultant or an Educational Psychologist. 59% of Dorset childminders completed 1 of the 2 surveys sent out between July 2023 and December 2023.

5.3.1 Ages of pre-school children on roll with childminders

Ages of pre-school children on roll with childminders are: 

• 7% 12 months or under
• 45% 1 to 3 year olds 
• 19% 3 to 4 year olds
• 30% primary aged children

There are no children currently on roll with a childminder that are in care of the local authority. Childminders often continue care for children into their school years. The numbers of children under 12 months cared for is low, however this could be because of maternity leave for working parents being up to 12 months. 

87% of childminders responded they operate all year round, with a small number (16%) operating term time only. 1 childminder respondent offers weekend care and 2 offer overnight care. 2 said they would be interested in offering overnight care, with a further 4 saying they would be interested in offering both overnight and weekend care. Only 8 childminders responded to the question on support needed to provide weekend and/or overnight care to children with additional needs, they would like more information on funding and training to provide this service. 34% of childminders report at least 1 child on roll with Special educational needs and/or disabilities. 45% report having at least 1 child on roll with PSED needs and 38% report having at least 1 child with SLCN.

Recommendation: Provide more information and guidance to childminders to enable them to extend their overnight offer of childcare, to include children and young people with disabilities.

Recommendation: Actively promote inclusion with childminders. This should be reflected in the locality early years workforce development strategy.

90% of childminder respondents work alone however a few employ an assistant, increasing the number of children they can care for. Several childminders have commented it is not a financially viable option and very few are interested in finding out more about apprenticeships and extending their workforce.

Childminders: 

• 83% offer 2 year old funding
• 76% offer universal 15 hours for 3 and 4 year olds
• 90% offer extended 30 hours for 3 and 4 year olds
• 97% offer tax free childcare

5.4 School-managed group provision

There are 34 school managed early years providers in Dorset, local authority support is provided primarily by Education Challenge Lead (ECL) as part of the whole school support offer. Specialist advice is provided by an EYSAO at the request of the ECL. Only 6 school managed group providers completed the survey.

5.5 Group Provision (Private Voluntary and Independent Sector)

There are 183 group providers in Dorset, local authority support is provided primarily by an Early Years Support and Advice Officer (EYSAO). Specialist advice is also provided by a Portage Consultant or an Educational Psychologist. 54% of group providers completed 1 of the 2 surveys sent out between July 2023 and December 2023.

5.5.1 Ages of pre-school children on roll with group providers

Ages of pre-school children on roll with group providers are:

• 5% 12 months or under
• 35% 1 to 3 year olds 
• 39% 3 to 4 year olds
• 21% primary aged children

14 group providers currently support children in the care of the local authority.

66% operate term time only, with 30% operate all year round and 30% operate school hours only.

81% of group providers report having at least 1 child on roll with Special educational needs and/or disabilities. Every setting that responded said they have at least 1 child on roll with SLCN, with several suggesting nearly all the children in their setting has some type of communication needs. 98% report having at least 1 child with PSED needs.

Group providers: 

• 94% offer 2-year-old funding 
• 97% offer universal 3 and 4 year old funding
• 94% offer extended hours for 3 and 4 year olds
• 94% offer tax free childcare

There has been an increase in the number of schools considering opening or incorporating early years provision into their school in the last few years. Schools have seen the opportunity to have control over the quality of the education provided in an attached pre-school, with oversight by qualified teachers from within the school. 

Recommendation: Localities should monitor the use and impact of WellComm and Early Talker Boost in their localities. This metric should be included in performance measures.

Recommendation: Alongside communications colleagues, the principal lead for Best Education for All and Education Challenge Leads, consider ways to improve engagement of schools in completing council surveys.

Recommendation: Embed oversight into performance management processes of school-managed early years provision by the Early Years Support and Advice Officers (EYSAO) alongside the Education Challenge Lead (ECL) to ensure they are actively provided with EY news, information and invitations to early years events and training opportunities.

6.1 Quality of provision

The quality of provision is an integral element in ensuring the sufficiency of places particularly for our most vulnerable children including those eligible for 2 year old funding who should only be accessing their provision at a setting judged ‘Good or above’ at their last Ofsted inspection. Therefore, in addition to the statutory requirements, we also prioritise support to each setting based on a set of criteria, identify those most at risk of losing quality and provide additional support accordingly. Local authorities have a statutory duty to support those settings judged less than good at their last Ofsted inspection and those who have not yet been inspected.

At their most recent inspection in Dorset, of those providers with an Ofsted judgement, 96% of childcare providers nationally were judged good or outstanding. 

Currently 15% of providers are awaiting an inspection, 6% ‘met’ and less than 1% ‘not yet met’. There are 3 group settings and 1 childminder currently working at ‘Requires Improvement’.

6.2 Local authority support 

Support is provided by a team of Early Years Support and Advice Officers offering guidance, support, challenge, and training to ensure the statutory requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) are met. 

Our aim is to challenge and support early years providers to achieve and maintain high quality practice and provision for all children resulting in a knowledgeable and effective workforce, leading to healthy, happy, and safe children, who are successful and develop a lifelong love of learning. By developing practitioner pedagogy through Continuing Professional Development (CPD) opportunities, network meetings and information sharing, we will support practitioners to narrow the achievement gap between disadvantaged children and their peers, and to provide inclusive practice to meet the needs of all children.

Support is targeted to settings to provide information, advice, and training to early years providers who:

• have not yet been inspected
• whose inspection outcome is less than ‘good’ 
• are interested in setting up a new provision
• later years providers whose inspection outcome is ‘not met’

Of the support offered to providers by the Early Years and Advice Officers, 82% of providers responding stated that this support has had ‘some / great impact’.

From the family survey, 85.4% of respondents were very satisfied or satisfied with their current childcare provider.

Recommendation: localities continue to prioritise support to those early years settings not yet inspected and those RI with an expectation that all providers should be working at Good/Outstanding.

6.3 Good level of development data

67.5% of children achieved a good level of development at the end of 2022/23 in Dorset, compared to 67% nationally, however, for children who are eligible for Free School Meals, this reduces to 46% in Dorset (Gov.UK 2022/23).

Whilst broadly in line with national data and the quality of early years provision is mostly good or outstanding, 32.5% of children still did not achieve a good level of development by the end of their reception year, an increase of 4.5% on last year.

Dorset 2022 / 2023:

• 3,199 Number of children in Dorset Council
• 2,159 Number of children with a good level of development
• 67.5% Percentage of children with a good level of development
• 2,144 Number of children at expected levels across all early learning goals
• 14.8 Average number of early learning goals at expected level per child
• 2,243 Number of children at expected level in communication and language and literacy areas of learning
• 70.1% Percentage of children at expected level in communication and language and literacy areas of learning

Recommendation: Contribute to the improvement of the Good Level of Development data working closely with partners to provide support to early years and schools in localities with the greatest area of need.

6.4 Early Years Power BI Dashboard

The early years dashboard sets out the latest data in each of the relevant areas to provide information to inform performance management conversations, ratings, support, and judgements, to ensure easy access to early years data drawn from a number of sources.  

The early years dashboard includes:

• summary – setting data, active numbers, types of providers
• contact – current support being provided by EYSAO’s by locality and description
• RAG ratings - settings summarised by a set of criteria identify through Red, Amber and Green ratings those most at risk of losing quality and in need of the greatest support
• Ofsted – current inspections by locality, type and description
• funding – number of funded children by provider, number of hours
• birth rates – births by locality and town

7.1 Average rates charged by childcare providers

(All costs are average £ per hour)

Childminder:

• 5.34 Dorset - Privately funded under 2
• 5.35 Dorset - Privately funded 2 to 3 year old
• 5.35 Dorset - Privately funded 3 to 4 year old
• 5.37 Dorset - Privately funded school aged
• 5.31 Southwest
• 6.16 Nationwide

Group provision:

• no data Dorset - Privately funded under 2
• 6.75 Dorset - Privately funded 2 to 3 year old
• 5.52 Dorset - Privately funded 3 to 4 year old
• no data Dorset - Privately funded school aged
• 5.24 Southwest
• 6.34 nationwide

7.2 Additional costs

Childcare settings are often making charges for meals and snacks. Some childminders make an additional charge to parents for items such as: enhanced resources, art and craft materials, outings, wipes, nappies, snacks and everyday consumables. Some request a voluntary contribution for these items (often to top up the rate funded by the government to the hourly rate they charge).

80% of group provisions and 50% of childminders have increased their fees in the last 12 months.

159 parents who responded said the cost of childcare was too expensive and a barrier to accessing childcare, however 240 parents also commented that childcare was affordable and manageable. The majority of parents said they spend more than £250 a month on childcare.

Recommendation: Increase awareness of help with the cost of childcare. Promote entitlements, stretched funding and tax-free childcare to parents of younger children so they are aware before they reach the age they are used.

7.3 Funded early education

7.3.1 2 year old funding

A targeted offer of 570 hours per year for the most vulnerable 2 year old children, from the school term after their 2nd birthday is available. The aim is to reduce levels of inequality and narrow the pre-school educational gap between disadvantaged and better off children. 

78.6% of 2 year old children benefitted from full 15 hours funded early education in 2023 – 2023 compared to 73.9% nationally.

97.4% of 2 year old children benefited from some funded early education in 2023 – 2023 compared to 93.7% nationally.

90.9% of 2 year old children benefitted from funded early education in Good/Outstanding early years provision in 2023 – 2023 compared to 95.8% nationally.

Whist the percentage of eligible pre-school children taking up funded entitlements remains high, we have seen a significant decrease in the percentage of 2 year old children benefitting from full 15 hours funded early education from last year. We predict to see this increase with the expanded entitlement offer in place from April 2014.

Recommendation: Further investigation into the number of hours eligible 2 year olds are accessing with a focus on disadvantaged children in the Weymouth and Portland area.

7.3.2 2 year old progress checks

The number of children aged 2 to 2.5 years old meeting or exceeding the expected level of development in 2022-23 was lower than in the previous year, new statistics published by the Department for Education (DfE) have revealed. 87.9% of Dorset children tested in their Ages & Stages Questionnaire at 2.5 years are at, or above, the expected level in all five areas of development (Communication, Social, Fine Motor, Gross Motor, problem solving skills)

7.3.3 3 and 4 year old funding

A universal offer of 570 hours per year for children from the school term after their 3rd birthday. Children receive early education, focusing on the specific learning needs of very young children. The aim is to prepare children so they are ready to go to school and to prepare them for lifelong learning.

From September 2017, children of most working parents became eligible for an extended offer of a total 1,140 hours per year (38 hours per week). 

97.4% of children accessed their 3 and 4 year old entitlements in Dorset in 2023 compared to 94% nationally.

88.9% of 3 and 4 year old children benefitting from funded early education in Good/Outstanding provision compared to 93.9% nationally.

7.3.4 Summary

All this data helps us to plan for the supply and demand of early years and childcare to meet the needs of families and to manage the childcare market. 

In areas where employment levels are low, we would expect more providers to be receiving this funding and we may need to plan for more places for 2 year olds.

In areas of high employment, we know that there are more working families who will be eligible for the 30 hours extended entitlement, and families that need childcare all year round and throughout the school holidays. Therefore, these areas need to have more places for 3 and 4 year olds and for school aged children and places that are available all year round.

7.4 Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)

We are committed in Dorset to ensuring that our most disadvantaged children can access all the funding they are entitled to access good quality early education and have the best possible start to life outcomes.

At age 5, disadvantaged pupils are 4.8 months behind their peers in 2022, a wider gap than in 2019 (4.2 months) and its highest level since 2014 (when it was 4.9 months). Source: Education Policy Institute, executive summary 2023.

In Dorset between April 2023 and January 2024 we had a total of 800 children in receipt of EYPP. 

Only 75% of childminders are routinely checking for EYPP eligibility, with 7% unsure what this is. 83% of group providers are routinely checking for EYPP eligibility.

Recommendation: Further information for settings to actively encourage checking for Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) eligibility. Monitoring spend and impact in using the funding and how it would have the most impact on the children with EYPP eligibility. 

Recommendation: Work alongside the Social Mobility Commissioner to develop longer term plans regarding EYPP in the early years.

Recommendation: Further investigate the hours attended by each child receiving EYPP to ensure they are accessing their full entitlement. 

Recommendation: Ensure all children eligible for Disability Access Funding are accessing this support.
 

8.1 Introduction

The government announced in the Spring budget that by September 2025 working parents will be able to claim 30 hours of funded childcare a week and this will be made available for children from 9 months old up until they attend school.

Eligible working parents of 3 and 4 year olds already get 30 hours a week of funded childcare. The increased offer will be rolled out in stages to allow childcare providers time to be able to implement the changes, making sure the places that are needed are available when the offers are introduced.

From:

• April 2024, working parents of 2 year olds will be able to access 15 hours of funded childcare (per week over 38 weeks, 570 hours per year)
• September 2024, 15 hours of funded childcare (per week over 38 weeks), 570 hours per year) will be extended down to the age of nine months for working parents
• September 2025, working parents of children aged nine months and upwards will be entitled to 30 hours funded childcare (per week over 38 weeks, 1140 hours per year) right up to their child starting school

The implications for early years and childcare in Dorset means there will potentially be a significant demand for childcare from April as we expect more parents to take up places for childcare once their childcare is funded.

8.2 Parent feedback

52% of parents reported that they intend to take advantage of the additional funding for 2 year olds in April 2024.

35% said they would not be using this funding.

13% were unsure at this point.

8.3 Provider feedback

67% of group providers responding currently already have a waiting list, 53% of childminders.

27% of parents that responded said a barrier to accessing childcare was that their local providers were often full.

40% of group providers and childminders would like to increase their capacity and most of these have the ability to. However, the predominant reason cited as the main barrier in being able to expand is lack of staff. Larger premises and resourcing are the main areas of support needed in order to be able to expand their provision.

70% of group providers and 48% of childminders reported that they plant to extend their provision to offer to 2-year-olds in April 2024.

22% of childminders and 63% of group providers intend to extend their offer to 9 months old in September 2024 and continue this offer with the 30 hours offer in September 2025.

8.4 DfE data

The DfE Galaxkey data base estimates 357 places will need to be created in Dorset by September 2025 (26 in April 2024, 52 in September 2024, 357 in September 2025).

8.4.1 Shortfall of supply April 2024

The areas that will have shortfall of childcare hours in order of greatest need will be:       

Littlemoor & Preston	1,690
Winterborne & Broadmayne	977
Melcombe Regis	579
Sturminster Newton	305
Wimborne Minster	267
Cranborne & Alderholt	242
Charminster St Mary’s	185
Puddletown & Lower Winterborne	117
Lytchett Matravers & Upton	111
Lyme & Charmouth	107

8.4.2 Surplus of supply April 2024

The top 10 highest areas that will have a surplus of supply will be:       

Sherborne West	-2,555
Gillingham	-2,029
Dorchester West	-2,023
Corfe Mullen	-2,021
Chickerell	-1,752
West Purbeck	-1,432
Stour & Allen Vale	-1,426
Rodwell & Wyke	-1,244
Sherborne Rural	-825
Wareham	-813

9.1 Introduction

Wraparound childcare provides childcare that ‘wraps around’ the conventional school day directly before and after the school day during school term time for school age children. It also refers to provision in the school holidays. 

The majority of wraparound school is provided by schools, through breakfast and after school clubs. Provision is not usually separately registered with Ofsted and is reviewed as part of the school’s overall Ofsted inspection. The quality of this childcare for school aged children remains the responsibility of the school, unless Ofsted registered and then EYSAO support the provision.

9.2 Supply

9.2.1 School based wraparound provision

131 schools in total in Dorset.

Data taken from 41% response from schools replying to survey and Galaxkey data:

• 20 schools offer full wraparound 8 to 6pm
• 30 schools provide before school provision to 5.30/5.45pm
• 19 schools provide before school provision to 5.00/5.15pm
• 9 schools provide before school provision to 4.15/4.30pm
• 52 schools provide breakfast club only
• 2 schools provide after school provision only
• 28 schools shave no wraparound on site

Of the schools that responded support needed to develop wraparound offer (in order of most referenced):

• more staff 
• more resources
• larger premises
• training to support their offer.
• transport hire

41% anticipate some additional barriers in providing wraparound provision for children with SEND and additional needs.

9.2.2 Provider based wraparound provision

73 providers provided information about their wraparound provision.

Approximately 25% of group providers provide wraparound provision and 63% of childminders. 

4 of these childminders say they have the capacity to increase their numbers.

35% of group providers have the capacity to increase their numbers – 28% reference they would need more staff to do this and then larger premises.

9.3 Demand

9.3.1 Parent feedback

363 parents responded to questions about their current wraparound arrangements and potential future needs. 60% currently use wraparound as part of their childcare provision.

Wraparound provision currently used by parents and:

• 77% use breakfast club
• 57% use after school club
• 25% use holiday club

Wraparound provision most needed by parents and:

• 77% need after school club
• 60% need holiday club
• 48% need breakfast club

Most parents need wraparound provision ‘some days term time’ (66%), indicating a need for a flexible booking arrangement with providers.

Where parents prefer to access wraparound provision for their children:

• 58% at school
• 27% at nursery / pre-school
• 15% at a childminder

Recommendation: Work with the Family Information Service to ensure families can easily access the information they need regarding childcare options and wraparound provision available. Ensure search options include the ability to search by age range to allow for ease of use by parents.

Recommendation: Work with Wraparound Co-ordinator and early years providers to ensure sufficient wraparound provision is in place for children 0-14 (including for children with SEND up to 18), to ensure parents can access the employment / training where necessary.

9.3.2 Primary reasons for needing wraparound provision

Primary reasons for needing wraparound provision are: 

• 39% to increase current hours
• 23% to return to work
• 16% other
• 12% to access education / training
• 9% to look after my other children
• 1% to enable my children to be with other children

9.3.3 Barriers to accessing wraparound provision

Barriers to accessing wraparound provision are:

• 31% too expensive
• 29% not available
• 20% timings don’t suit parents’ needs
• 12% other reasons
• 8% already have suitable childcare

9.4 Current 3 and 4 year old funded children uptake data

There are 1629 currently children using some of the extended hours i.e.: they are taking over the free 15 hour entitlement if their parents qualify (working). We are making an assumption that these children are probably likely to need wraparound provision at school age.

810 children are using all 30 hours, this group are highly likely to need wraparound provision.

9.5 Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF)

Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF) is part of our wraparound provision for children and young people attending school. School holidays can be pressure points for families due to increased costs (such as food and childcare) and reduced incomes. For some children this can lead to a holiday experience gap - with children from disadvantaged families less likely to access organised out-of-school activities; and more likely to experience social isolation and ‘unhealthy holidays’ in terms of nutrition and physical health. The holiday activities and food programme (HAF) is a response to this. 

We have worked with 72 providers this year who have offered just over 30,000 places in venues across the county, approx. 10% increase in the number of providers on last year. 

Easter: 1337 children
Summer: 2052 children
Christmas: 983 children 

Very importantly around 42% (877) of the children attending the HAF programme during the summer holidays identified with SEND needs.

Due to the overwhelming success of the local HAF offer Dorset Council is fully engaged with HAF 2024 and is determined to make an even greater difference for low-income children. 

Key developments for 2023/2024 include:

• work with partners to develop the uptake and offer for secondary age young people 
• ensure that all our providers are confident in offering the right support to children with mild and moderate SEND needs
• develop our partnerships with Special Education Schools to provide more activity for eligible children with complex needs
• investigate ways in which families who are socially isolated can access provision
   

10.1 Dorset initiatives to improve outcomes 

The Children, Young People and Families Plan 2020 to 2033 sets out what we will do to support the commitment to give every child the Best Start in Life and Best Education for All. We have introduced a range of initiatives in the last 12 months to support our youngest children and their families in achieving this ambition.

10.2 Provider support

Of the local authority support offered to providers, the support of most impact was that given from the Early Years Support and Advice Officers with 82% of providers responding that this support has had ‘some / great impact’.  Portage and the Speech and Language service are the next most highly rated services of support.

Services rated with less impact were the Educational Psychology, specialist teacher input and the health visitor service. Reasons for this include:

• most providers have never accessed the specialist teacher service or educational psychology
• settings report access to a health visitor at the current time can be limited

When asked what support made the most difference to a) practice in settings, b) children’s progress, c) families progress, the most frequent answer given in all questions was that advice received from a specialist early years practitioner in relation to a particular child’s additional needs had the greatest impact.

The areas early years providers request as needing support in were SEND, and Finance/Business support. The next most area asked for support was in the changes to the EYFS.

In response to this we are reviewing what our support to settings looks like. We have also offered the business tool.

10.3 Recruitment and retention

13 group providers and 9 childminders reported being at risk of closing in the next 12 months.

The issue of recruitment and retention of staff within the Early Years sector is part of a national picture. Childcare providers registered with Ofsted nationally have reduced 5% since August 2022, with a falling rate since 2016. More providers are leaving the childcare sector than joining. Most of this decline is due to a fall in the number of childminders (10% fall). The number of places offered by providers registered has reduced by 1% indicating the number of places is falling more slowly than the number of providers.

In Dorset 31% of providers are recruiting now with a further 22% needing to recruit soon. Half of these are having difficulty filling these vacancies. The biggest reported issue is regarding using apprenticeships to develop the work force as many providers live in rural areas and it makes access difficult.

In Dorset we are addressing this issue as a priority and are in discussions with the DfE about how we address these challenges. Plans to address this include:

• early years lead role with a focus on workforce development 
• childminder briefing sessions to share information and promote child-minding as a career choice
• links with secondary schools to promote careers in early years
• links with multi-agency colleagues around careers and employment for NEETS (not in education, employment, training)
• links with DWP and Job Centre to promote and feature early years careers across all age groups
• links with providers of early years qualifications to promote early years careers
• promotion of the national ‘Do something big’ recruitment campaign

10.4 Boost hours

In the summer 2021 and 2022, we offered boost learning opportunities for children going to school through COVID recovery funding. These were children who were delayed in one of more of the Prime Areas of Learning, Physical Development, Communication and Language and Personal, Social and Emotional Development. Last year in 2023, we have provided almost 14000 hours of additional early education funding to almost 500 children. 

10.4.1 Feedback

Feedback:

• it really helped mu child with self-regulation
• for my child with SEND this was especially helpful for the family and for him to prepare for school
• it allowed staff to work 1:1 on speech and language target activities
• he had more time to work on the targets in his EHCP
• more opportunity to visit the primary school he would be attending
• he could really build up relationships with his peers

10.5 WellComm

WellComm is a speech and language toolkit for screening and intervention in the early years from 6 months to 6 years of age. The toolkit is designed to help screen children's speech and language skills and to help provide immediate support where required.  In the past year 50% of group settings have engaged in using WellComm. Initial qualitative data suggests that setting have found this a very useful tool in supporting children with their speech and language development.

10.6 Library service and early years SEND offer

The Dorset Library Service already offer a range of activities and events for children across the County. These are inclusive sessions, and everyone is welcome. 

In collaboration with the Dorset Parent Carer Council, we have been working with the Library Service sessions aimed specifically for families with children who have additional needs are now in place. SENsational story and play sessions are now available in 8 libraries cross Dorset for families to explore their local library whilst spending time with other parents and carers who have young children with additional needs.

10.7 Music service

Dorset Music Hub offer a free music resource library containing a range of instruments and sensory items to create memorable musical experiences for young children. These resources are completely free to borrow for up to one year.

A series of early years music videos have been developed to model singing activities, create musical environments and a bank of songs and rhymes that practitioners can use in their settings.

10.8 Dingley’s Promise Inclusion Programme

Dorset Council are one of ten local authorities working with Dingley’s Promise on this Comic Relief funded project designed to support the duties and requirements of the Childcare Act to secure sufficient childcare.

We entered a commitment to work with Dingley’s Promise to increase the number of young children with SEND accessing early years and childcare places in Dorset through 4 interdependent workstreams:

1. Up-skilling the workforce through 10 online courses 
2. Supporting strategic planning around early years inclusion
3. Co-production with families
4. Sharing success and advocating for change

So far, 288 Dorset practitioners have signed up to Dingley’s Promise training and 368 individual modules have been competed so far. Moving forward we have a detailed action plan of how to further engage settings, toddler groups, library staff, parents etc, in this resource.

10.9  Sustainability fund

A small grant-based fund from cabinet underspend was available for all settings including childminders, to apply to in support of long-term stability of their setting and support any sufficiency issues. Settings were able to apply for up to £5,000 and have funded projects such as, creating outdoor areas to provide for further children to access a setting, additional large equipment for children with additional needs, investment in structures to ensure accessibility for all children. 

10.10 Healthy Movers

Healthy Movers is a program designed to improve children’s physical development to support their social and emotional wellbeing. The Healthy Movers approach has been effective at increasing children’s physical, emotional and social development as a foundation for improving language, communication and literacy.

In Dorset just under 100 settings signed up to take part in the Healthy Movers training to learn the principles of the program and roll out across their setting.

10.11 Southwest Stronger Practice Hub

The southwest early years stronger practice hub provides advice, shares good practice and offers evidence-based professional development for early years practitioners. Originally part of the DfE early years Covid recovery programme, this program continues to be offered until late 2024.

10.12 EY experts and mentors program

As part of the southwest stronger practice hubs package, the Experts and Mentors program, initially part of the DfE early years Covid recovery programme involved early years support being offered to settings to include leadership support, coaching for leaders, mentoring for practitioners and whole setting support. It was expanded to offer support to childminders and early years settings were invited to refer themselves to the program to request the support of an expert and mentor.

In Dorset 4 childminders took up this program and received.

10.13 Block play

Dorset’s Early Years Block Play Project is principally aiming to improve Dorset outcomes for maths, particularly for our girls. Block Play is proven to promote spatial awareness and research indicates how scaffolding spatial reasoning appears to support the development of number sense. Around 60 delegates from all localities have signed up to be a part of this project. We have provided each setting with a set of wooden blocks. The training has been put together by the Jurassic Maths Hub and Devon Advisory Service. Dr. Ruth Trundley, the lead trainer has led numerous action-research projects around raising numeracy attainment particularly in the youngest age-range.