The annual headcount, which is carried out every January, informs early entitlement funding levels in different areas in England, and this year takes place during the week beginning 18 January.
The move has been confirmed in guidance sent to local authorities, Coronavirus-related support for submitting an Early Years Census 2021 return.
The guidance explains how to record funded early years places for the early years census in light of the impact of Covid-19.
It says that councils should fund children who are absent for reasons such as self-isolation, or because their parents have chosen to care for them at home because they are worried about sending their child to their setting during the coronavirus pandemic.
The move will come as reassurance for private and voluntary providers that they will receive early years entitlement funding for children that are not currently attending nursery due to coronavirus, but are on their books.
The guidance, which was sent to councils yesterday, states that for providers who are currently open, the Department has taken the view that ‘where a child is reasonably expected to attend Early Years provision, and that provision is made available to them by the provider, their expected hours should be recorded in the Early Years Census.
‘This means children who, were it not for the impact of coronavirus on either their own personal circumstances or on the operation of their Early Years setting, would be attending Early Years provision. This includes children who have previously attended the provision and children who were expected to start attending the provision in January.’
Local authorities and providers should record the expected weekly hours a child usually would have received in situations where the child is:
- self-isolating due to exposure to coronavirus (usually a period of 10 days) in census week
- ill in census week
- absent due to parent/guardian caution (fear of child catching coronavirus), if the provider remains open to the child and they have not altered their parental declaration relating to expected hours with the provider
- absent due to parent/guardian choosing to care for child at home, only if the provider remains open to the child and the parent/guardian has not altered their parental declaration relating to expected hours with the provider
- clinically extremely vulnerable and is therefore shielding in line with government advice
If a parent/guardian has informed a provider that they are reducing their child’s hours (i.e., a change in the parental declaration), local authorities and providers should accurately record the new hours for the purposes of the census.
For providers who are currently closed, the guidance given depends on the reasons for closure.
A census return for 2021, recording the contracted/expected hours provided, should be made in situations where:
- the provider has attempted to remain open, but has closed for a period of time for reasons such as:
- staff shortages due to illness
- staff shortages due to self-isolation
- the provider has closed due to government guidance, for reasons such as:
- temporary inability to access the site premises (for example, a PVI setting whose landlord or trustees have temporarily refused permission to operate on the site for COVID-related reasons).
- numbers of staff shielding make it impossible to provide the funded entitlements.
The Early Years Alliance said nurseries and pre-schools would welcome the news, but that the DfE must ensure that all local authorities adhered to this guidance when funding providers for the spring term, so that providers do not face a postcode lottery.
Commenting, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said, ‘This announcement offers a welcome reprieve to the many providers who had been told by their local councils that they would only receiving Government funding for children actually attending their setting, despite the fact that national government guidance currently states that people should remain at home wherever possible.
‘What's more, while we welcome this as an interim measure, we are conscious that means many settings will still suffer a significant drop in income compared to previous years, especially those settings who would normally have seen a large wave of new registrations at the start of the spring term which this year have not materialised, and those who have seen a decline in demand not just this month, but for the past several months.
‘As such, we continue to urge the Department for Education to go a step further and commit to funding providers at pre-Covid levels. It is also vital that those providers who are heavily reliant on private income, and not government funding, are not forgotten - they too need urgent financial support if they are to remain viable throughout this crisis and beyond.’
A DfE spokesperson said, 'Keeping nurseries and childminders open will support parents and deliver the crucial care and education for our youngest children. Current evidence suggests that pre-school children (0<5 years) are less susceptible to infection and are unlikely to be playing a driving role in transmission.
'We have issued advice to support early years settings for census week. Children should be counted if they’re attending as usual and our advice helps guide providers and local authorities on how to complete the census accurately and consistently, including in situations where children are temporarily not in attendance for reasons including illness, self-isolation and where settings are temporarily closed. Providers should contact their local authority for guidance where they are unsure.'
The guidance has not yet been published on the DfE website but is available here