Next Tuesday (8 December) Birmingham City Council is expected to approve an ‘emergency increase’ to the funding paid to voluntary and independent (PVI) providers to making delivering the places more sustainable.
It will mean the three- and four-year-old rate will rise by 27p from £3.59 to £3.86 an hour, and the two-year-old rate from £4.86 to £5.24– an increase of 35p. The rates are in-line with the actual cost of delivering the places as highlighted in an independent review by KPMG on behalf of Birmingham City Council, published in June.
Within its report to cabinet, Birmingham City Council stresses that if the funding rate is not increased there is a ‘very real risk’ that a ‘significant’ number of the 550 early years providers in the city will withdraw their provision due to non-financial sustainability. It says that if that happens then the council will be unable to meet its statutory duty to provide sufficient childcare places.
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