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Subject: |
Families, Children and Learning Fees and Charges 2022/23 |
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Date of Meeting: |
10th January 2022 |
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Report of: |
Executive Director Families, Children and Learning |
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Contact Officer: |
Name: |
Louise Hoten / Helen Cowling |
Tel: |
29-3440 / 4529 |
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Email: |
louise.hoten@brighton-hove.gov.uk helen.cowling@brighton-hove.gov.uk
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Ward(s) affected: |
All |
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FOR GENERAL RELEASE
1. PURPOSE OF REPORT AND POLICY CONTEXT:
1.1 The purpose of the report is to review the Families, Children and Learning Services fees and charges in accordance with the corporate policy.
2. RECOMMENDATIONS:
2.1 That the position on fees charged for nurseries as detailed in section 3.3 be agreed.
2.2 That the position on fees and charges for Childcare Workforce Development as detailed in section 3.4 be agreed.
2.3 That the position on fees and charges for the Early Years Quality Improvement
Programme as detailed in section 3.4.6 be agreed.
2.4 That the position on the charges for school meals as detailed in section 3.5 be noted.
2.5 That the position on fees and charges for Adult Education Courses as detailed in section 3.6 be agreed.
3. CONTEXT/
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
3.1 As part of the budget setting process Heads of Service are required to agree any changes to fees and charges through relevant Committee Meetings. The management of fees and charges is fundamental both to the financial performance of the City Council and the achievement of the Council’s corporate priorities. The recommendations agreed by this Committee will be subject to whatever is agreed regarding fees and charges in the budget report presented to Policy and Resources Committee on 10th February 2022 and then by Budget Council on 24th February 2022.
3.2 The council’s Corporate Fees and Charges Policy requires that all fees and charges are reviewed at least annually and should normally be increased by either the corporate rate of inflation 1.5% or actual increases in the costs of providing the service. The corporate rate of inflation is applied to ensure that income is maintained in proportion to expenditure where annual inflationary cost pressures are experienced. The council’s Standard Financial Procedures state that service committees shall receive a report from Executive Directors on proposed fees and charges variations above or below the corporately applied rate of inflation.
3.3 Nurseries
3.3.1 Part of the council’s early year’s strategy is to provide high quality childcare in the most disadvantaged areas to ensure local children can access provision. Council run full day care nurseries are:
· Acorn Nursery – North Portslade Children’s Centre
· Bright Start Nursery – Old Slipper Baths (North Laines)
· Cherry Tree Nursery – Hollingdean Children’s Centre
· Jump Start – Moulsecoomb Children’s Centre
· Roundabout Nursery – Roundabout Children’s Centre (Whitehawk)
There is also one sessional pre-school: Pavilion Pre-school – North Portslade.
3.3.2 The nurseries provide free part-time early education places for low income
two-year olds and three & four year olds and childcare that parents pay for. All the nurseries are based in buildings owned by the Council.
3.3.3 The Council subsidy for the nurseries in 2021/22 was £695k, which includes £100k of pressure funding. The highest subsidies are for the nurseries in Whitehawk and Moulsecoomb where most children just take up their free childcare places and there are the highest number of funded two-year olds. There are also more children with child protection plans and special educational needs and disabilities who need higher staff ratios.
Funding for free childcare places for 2, 3 and 4 year olds
3.3.4 Disadvantaged two-year olds are entitled to 570 hours a year free childcare from the term after their second birthday and a key priority is to ensure there are sufficient high-quality places for these children. Brighton & Hove is funded at an hourly rate of £5.36 per hour. This is the lowest rate in the south east and is significantly below the national average of £5.62. The highest in the south east is £6.04 and the average is £5.72. Rates for 2022/23 are as follows:
|
Age |
2021/22 |
2022/23 |
Increase |
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Two year olds |
£5.36 |
£5.57 |
21p |
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Three and four year olds |
£4.59 |
£4.76 |
17p |
The whole of the two year old amount will be passed on to providers. The pass through for three and four year olds will meet the 95% requirement. It is proposed that the schools’ forum will be consulted on the base rate and the supplements at the meeting on 17th January 2022
3.3.5 All three and four year olds are entitled to 570 hours (15 hours a week, term time only) of free childcare. Funding is allocated by government on a national formula. The gross rate for Brighton & Hove is £4.59 per hour which is significantly below the national average of £4.99. The lowest rate in the south east is £4.44, the average is £4.94 and the highest is £5.93. These figures refer to the total rate paid to the local authority and include inclusion funding and central costs. The council is passing on at least 95% of its funding allocation to childcare providers, with an average hourly rate of £4.42. This is less than the average fee that parents pay for childcare.
3.3.6 Rates for 2022/23 are likely to be published in December 2021.
Nursery Fees
3.3.7 The existing fee policy for the Council nurseries is:
·
3.3.8 The proposal is to increase fees by 1.6%.
This is in line with the expected corporate rate of inflation of
1.5%. The proposals are to:
· Increase the standard hourly rate of £5.74 for all ages of children to £5.83. (£5.75 for children attending Pavilion). This is a 1.6% increase.
· Increase the cost of meals by 4p to £2.57 per meal for lunch or tea to increase fees by the inflation rate of 1.6%.
3.3.9 Coram Family and childcare publish an annual childcare cost survey. The 2020 Survey included average costs for 25 and 50 hours of childcare for children under two, two year olds and three & four year olds. The amounts for the south east for children attending 25 hours a week were: Note. These figures are the same as in last year’s report as they haven’t published a 2021 survey yet.
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25 hours
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Hourly rate |
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Children under two |
£144.90
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£5.80 |
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Two-year olds |
£136.12
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£5.44 |
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Three- and four-year olds (based on 10 hours in addition to 15 hours free childcare) |
£53.35 |
£5.33 |
3.3.10 There is a range of help from the Government for parents with childcare costs in
addition to the free early year’s entitlement of 15 or 30 hours. Parents on Universal Credit can claim up to 85% of childcare costs and parents on higher incomes can apply for Tax Free Childcare which will pay 20% of their childcare costs (see paragraph 5.3.1).
3.4 Childcare Workforce Development
3.4.1 It is proposed that charges for early years and childcare providers for childcare training should increase by 4%, rounded to the nearest pound:
|
Training |
Brighton & Hove |
Providers outside of B&H |
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Full day face to face |
£66 |
£105 |
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Half day face to face |
£44 |
£74 |
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Full day online |
£31 |
£62 |
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Half day online |
£16 |
£31 |
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Safeguarding face to face |
£21 |
£42 |
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Safeguarding e-learning |
£19 |
£37 |
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E-learning |
£10 |
£21 |
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Job advertisement |
£74 |
£126 |
3.4.2 The increase in charges is being kept to a minimum, because of the limited ability of early years providers to pay for training.
3.4.3 A fall in applications for training as a result of a price increase would have a negative impact on income generation. We want providers to continue to access our high quality training programme in order to maintain the quality of early years provision in the city.
3.4.4. The national increase in funding for three & four year olds for 2021/22 was 1.3%. We are awaiting information on funding for providers for 2022/23 which should be published by December 2021. Costs for providers continue to rise including NI and minimum wage increases. Income from parental fees may be lower because of changed working patterns as a result of coronavirus.
3.4.5 Benchmarking of training costs with other local authorities is difficult because pricing is not easily available and is not consistent. In addition, some local authorities include training with a subscription for other services.
Early Years Quality Improvement
3.4.6 There is a charge of £150 per module for early years providers completing the Quilt quality improvement programme. This charge is waived for providers with a large number of disadvantaged children to support closing the gap between these children and their peers.
3.5 School Meals
3.5.1 The cost of school meals to the local authority (schools) is inflated annually in accordance with the price review mechanism detailed in the school meals contract as detailed below. The current contract started on 1 August 2018 for a period of 4 years with an opportunity to extend up to 24 months. As a fully delegated service, schools may choose to buy into the contract or make their own school meals arrangements. All secondary schools and secondary academies within the city and the Bilingual Primary School and City Academy Whitehawk provide meals, including free meals to entitled pupils, through their own individually negotiated contracts.
3.5.2 The current charge for school meals in primary schools has remained at £2.20, last increased in April 2018; the new contract requires the payment of the Living Wage (Living Wage Foundation) to employees. Any decision to increase the selling price to parents will be made in June 2022 for implementation from 1st August 2022, and will be based on the April 2022 indices detailed below:
The meal price will be varied in line with the following two indices:
a) Food element
Annual movement in the Retail Price Index (all items) as published by the Office for National Statistics. (Food CHBA)
b) Labour element
The labour element will increase based on the percentage (%) annual movement as agreed by the Living Wage Commission for the UK Living Wage (outside of London).
c) Management Fee
The Management fee price will vary in line with the annual movement in the
Consumer Price Index (all items) published by the Office for National Statistics.
As this is built into the contract terms and conditions, approval by the Children
Young People & Skills Committee would only be sought if an increase
exceeding inflation was being proposed.
3.5.3 Under the current contractual arrangement there continues to be a low fixed cost in the form of a management fee and a higher variable cost for each meal served, this ensures that the contractor should be more inclined to increase sales as we have seen with the previous contract. This budget area is now operated in a way that the need to fulfil a shortfall would be most unlikely and this is being demonstrated through the current contract performance and the continued support of central government grant funded Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM). There are strong incentives for the contractor to grow the service and these are supported by successful partnership working with the Council. The increased cost of free school meals has not been passed onto schools for the financial year 2021/2022, this will be mitigated through the use of the free school meals supplementary grant.
3.5.4 The decision for the price to not be increased to cash paying customers from September 2021 this year was made to try and support and encourage children to choose to have a school lunch during very challenging times. The majority of income from school meals is now funded from Free School Meals charges made to schools for children where guardians are in receipt of a qualifying benefit and grant funding provided to cover the provision of UIFSM.
The potential increase in contract meal prices for August 22 will be much higher than in previous years and schools will be advised of the impact on charges for meals provided for FSM and UIFSM provided and consider the move from the current £2.20-£2.25 or £2.30 for cash paying customers from September 2022.
3.6 Adult Education Courses
Pound Plus is a term used by the Education and Skills Funding Agency to describe additional income or added value generated by providers of adult education over and above the core Adult Education Budget. It is important because generating additional income allows us to maximise the value of public investment and is used increase the service we can provide to residents
All courses are funded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency. In order to receive this money, we must ensure that public funding is focused on people who need it most, those least likely to participate in learning. We therefore collect fees from people who can afford to pay, unless otherwise prescribed by the ESFA, and use these to extend provision to those who cannot. In addition, we will look to increase the value of funding received for Community Learning using the principles of Pound Plus by working closely with partners to access free or reduced cost resources.
As part of our ‘Pound Plus’ commitment, the Adult Education Hub will fully waive fees for evidenced unemployed people/learners in receipt of one of the following benefits or on a low income:
§ Job Seekers Allowance
§ Employment Support Allowance
§ Income Support
§ Earning Less than £17,000
Other learners may also be exempt from fees that meet the ESFA funding guidance. These may include full time carers of adults, refugees and asylum seekers
For those that can afford to pay and do not meet any of the above the rate of £5 per hour will be charged for the 2021/2022 academic year.
4 COMMUNITY
ENGAGEMENT AND CONSULTATION
4.1 Budget holders with responsibility for specific fees and charges were consulted in the preparation of this report.
5. FINANCIAL & OTHER IMPLICATIONS:
Financial Implications:
5.1 The total Families, Children and Learning fees and charges budget for 2021/22 is approximately £2.4m excluding schools.
The fees and charges recommended in this report have been reviewed in line with the Corporate Fees & Charges Policy and all relevant regulations and legislation. The anticipated recurring financial impacts of fee changes will be reflected within service revenue budgets. Increases to meet the corporate rate of inflation of 1.5% are normally applied to all council income budgets to ensure income is maintained as a proportion of the net cost of service. Increases above or below the corporate rate of inflation require approval by the relevant service committee or Policy & Resources Committee and can result in additional contributions toward the cost of services and/or corporate and service overheads. This can also result in the achievement of a net budget saving to the council. Where this is the case, this will be reflected in 3-Year Budget Plan proposals for the relevant service and will be incorporated within the revenue budget report to Policy & Resources Committee and Budget Council in February 2021. Income from fees and charges is monitored as part of the Targeted Budget Monitoring (TBM) process.
Finance Officer Consulted: Louise Hoten Date: 12/11/2021
Legal Implications:
5.2 Families, Children and Learning Services are entitled to review fees and charges as set out in the report. At the time fees and charges are set they must be demonstrably fair and reasonable in all the circumstances. The report indicates the analysis against which the recommendations have been made and the obligations of the council in relation to the funding of free nursery places.
Lawyer Consulted: Serena Kynaston Date: 15.11.2021
5.3 Equalities Implications:
5.3.1 Equal access to childcare is encouraged by ensuring that the nurseries all offer the universal free early years entitlement of 15 hours a week for all 3 & 4 year olds and eligible two year olds. The entitlement for 3 & 4 year olds with working parents is 30 hours (term time only).
5.3.2 Two-year olds from low income working families are eligible for free childcare in addition to two-year olds from families on out of work benefits. Parents on Universal Credit are entitled to claim 85% of childcare costs. Parents on higher incomes may apply for Tax Free Childcare. For every £8 a parent pays into their childcare account, the government will pay in an extra £2 up to a maximum of £2000. Parents can then use this money to pay their childcare provider.
5.3.3 Equal access to school meals is provided by all primary and special schools through participating in a citywide contract that is the same meal at the same price available to all pupils. The contract specifies that provision should be made for modified meals required on the grounds of cultural, religious or medical requirements.
Sustainability Implications:
5.4 There are no direct sustainability issues arising from this report.
Crime & Disorder Implications:
5.5 There are no direct crime and disorder issues arising from this report.
Risk and Opportunity Management Implications:
5.6 The services included in this report rely on being able to achieve their income targets in order to maintain the level of service provided.
Public Health Implications:
5.7 The opportunity to receive a free school meal or meal for no charge (UIFSM) is extremely important to a substantial number of children from low income families, for whom a school lunch may be the only balanced meal they will eat in a day. Research shows that when children eat better, they do better. Whether families are paying for school meals or are entitled to them for free, children are more likely to concentrate in the classroom in the afternoon after eating healthy school lunches in a pleasant environment. This also improves their health and their learning about making better food choices. Research also shows that children eligible for free school meals are less likely to: do well at school, continue into further education, or secure higher paid jobs. Therefore, ensuring that these children eat and gain the benefits of the free school meals they are entitled to, really will make a difference to their ability to learn and succeed.
6. EVALUATION OF ANY ALTERNATIVE OPTION(S):
6.1 Alternative options considered for the nursery fee increases included limiting the number of free hours that children can use each day and further increasing the hourly charge for the hours that parents pay for in addition to the free hours.
7. REASONS FOR REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS
7.1 To agree and/or note the Families, Children and Learning Services Fees and Charges for 2022//23.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Appendices:
None
Documents in Members’ Rooms
None
Background Documents
1. Fees and Charges Analysis – 2021/22