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By Rachel Lawler

The Alliance has called on the Department for Education (DfE) to clarify what financial support will be made available to early years providers affected by the coronavirus outbreak in England.

A number of Alliance members have expressed concerns about the potential financial impact of parents removing children from childcare settings due to illness or self-isolation, particularly in relation to any funded hours the parents claim.

Local authority guidelines
Current DfE guidance () states that local authorities should:

“ensure that providers are not penalised for short-term absences of children, for example due to sickness, arriving late or leaving early or a family emergency through withdrawing funding, but use their discretion where absence is recurring or for extended periods taking into account the reason for the absence and the impact on the provider.�

and that they should:

“ensure that providers are not penalised through withdrawal of funding for short term closures of a setting, for example, as a result of local or national elections or damage to the premises.�

The Alliance understands that a number of local authorities have already confirmed that they would continue to fund providers during closures related to a coronavirus outbreak.

However, there is currently no clear central government guidance on how, or if, this existing guidance applies to coronavirus.

Letter to DfE
In a letter to schools minister Nick Gibb and children and families minister Vicky Ford, who have joint responsibility for the early years, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Alliance, said:

"We know that this is a rapidly-changing situation, and that the Department for Education has endeavoured to keep the sector updated on latest policy, and we warmly welcome recent steps such as the introduction of the dedicated coronavirus helpline for providers, schools and parents.

"That said, we are continuing to receive a high volume of queries with regard to the rules around ‘free entitlement’ funding, and whether or not early years providers will still receive this funding for any children who are absent through either illness or the requirement to self-isolate. While we are aware of individual local authorities who have confirmed that they will continue to fund providers in such instances, there is as yet no central guidance on this. As such, I would be grateful if you would confirm if this something the Department is looking to produce and if so, what the timescales on this are likely to be, as this will provide much-needed clarity to the sector at what is a confusing and worrying time.

"In addition, I am very conscious that for many nurseries, pre-schools and childminders, funded entitlement income is only part of the story, and that the loss of private fees through illness or the need to self-isolate is also likely to have a substantial impact. Given this, it would be useful to know if the Department has made ready any contingency funding to support those providers who may face a significant loss of private income as the result of coronavirus, and if so, how and when this will be made available. 

"Childcare provision plays an vital role in enabling parents to go to work and, in turn, the continued smooth running of the wider economy, and we would hope that this would be taken into consideration in any discussions on this issue."

More information
We’ve bought together all of the latest advice and guidance on coronavirus for childcare providers - the page is being updated daily and includes links to all the relevant government updates.
How to talk to children about coronavirus