a. Childcare to meet the needs of particular groups

Local Authorities and settings should promote equality and inclusion for all children Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities. Bexley does not have a dedicated specialist provision for early years. Instead, we promote and support inclusive practice across all of our settings. Inclusive practice addresses and supports the individual needs of each child. By working in this way, providers ensure their inclusive practice benefits each child in the setting and creates an environment in which all children, including those with SEND, have the opportunity to flourish. This includes removing barriers that prevent children from accessing early education and working with parents to give each child support to fulfil their potential. In terms of sufficiency, anecdotal data tells us that there are not enough spaces for high-end and complex needs, and we know we have enough places, but the places are not necessarily where parents would like them. For example, generally, childminders have spaces for children with SEND, whereas PVIs and preschools might have more limited spaces. Our data also shows that the primary need is around speech and language, and social communication.

Children from families in receipt of the childcare element of working tax credit or universal credit

Bexley does not hold data on which children would fall into this category, however, we have overall sufficient childcare so would assess the childcare for this particular group to be sufficient also.

Children with parents who work irregular hours

Bexley does not hold data on the hours childminders and nurseries operate beyond the hours they have told Ofsted they will be operating. As a Local Authority, we are not aware of any gap in childcare for children whose parents work irregular hours and are aware of some childminders who work irregular hours, for example on Saturdays, to accommodate parents’ work schedules.

Children aged two, three, and four taking up funded places

Play2Learn Funding Take-up by Setting Type

Universal 15 Hours  Funding for 3&4 Year Olds Take-up by Setting Type

30 Extended Hours Funding Take-up by Setting Type

Currently, children in Bexley who are taking up a funded 3 and 4-year-old place are attending a wide range of settings, including childminders, PVIs and school nurseries. With the new funding entitlements coming in over the next year, we anticipate a shift whereby more 3 and 4-year-olds will be attending school nurseries while the PVIs (private, voluntary and independent providers) and childminders take more of the younger funded children.

School-age children and children needing holiday care

The Holiday Activities and Food Programme (HAF) programme was rolled out in 2021/2022. The aim of the programme is to deliver healthy food and enriching activities during the school holidays to school-aged children (5 to 16 years) who receive benefits-related free school meals. The programme offers valuable support to families on lower incomes, giving them the opportunity to access rewarding and enriching activities alongside healthy meals and food education over the school holidays.

Under the terms of the programme, Local Authorities must make places available to children eligible for free school meals for the equivalent of at least 4 hours a day, 4 days a week, 6 weeks a year covering the Easter, Summer, and Winter holidays. Local Authorities and the providers they use have flexibility about how they deliver this level of provision to best serve the needs of children and families in their area. Within Bexley, we currently have approximately 8,000 school pupils who receive ‘non-universal’ free school meals and who, as such, are eligible for this programme.

The funding allocated to Bexley allows us to grant fund-free places for approximately 25 to 30% of eligible children. Up to 15% of the funding can also be used to support non-eligible children who are considered vulnerable.

The programme is flexible and tailored for each holiday using a core team of approximately 25 providers including private, voluntary, and independent out-of-school settings, sports clubs, community groups and Local Authority teams. These settings operate across approximately 30 venues to provide places in the areas of the borough in greatest need.

In addition, several HAF providers also offer paid-for places. Bexley has other holiday playscheme provisions alongside.

During term time, the majority of Bexley schools offer some wraparound care between 8am and 6pm. A number of schools host private, independent or community organisations to provide this offer. 

Find out more about the Holiday activities and food programme

b. Supply and demand of Childcare

Current supply and demand

Bexley currently has 6959 places for children in settings registered on the Early Years Register. Although Bexley does not hold data on vacancies in early years providers, anecdotal evidence tells us that there are sufficient places for Early Years Children. We do not anticipate the new funding entitlements will lead to a large increase in the demand for places as our survey shows that many children who will be taking up the entitlements are already attending a setting in a paid-for place.

Projected supply and demand

There were 605,479 live births in England and Wales in 2022, a 3.1% decrease from 624,828 in 2021 and the lowest number since 2002; the number remains in line with the recent trend of decreasing live births observed before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. We project that the supply and demand will remain largely in line with current rates, however, this may change based on the uptake of the new funding provisions announced by the government.

A survey of parents showed the following

Data provided by the Office for National Statistics.

The following shows parents’ preferences by setting type when looking for childcare:

c. Affordability, Accessibility and Quality of Provision

Cost of Childcare in Bexley

Bexley is an outer London Borough, and the costs of childcare are largely in line with the rest of outer London. According to the annual Coram Childcare Survey, the prices below are the average per hour for children aged under 5. The data from Bexley was collected by the Early Years Team:

The below shows a comparison between the average prices for 50 hours per week of childcare for 3 and 4-year-olds:

Data provided by Coram Family and Childcare Survey 2023.

Accessibility of Childcare in Bexley

For those that did not, the following reasons were given:

Quality of Childcare Provision in Bexley

The below shows the breakdown of the inspection results of recent Ofsted inspections:

Where appropriate, all childcare providers must register with, and be inspected by Ofsted who award them an overall grade for the quality of their provision. Childminders and PVI providers (nurseries and preschools) are usually on the Early Years Register. Schools with nurseries have an overall inspection grade for the whole school and most also have a separate early-year graded report. Both schools and early years providers have four possible Ofsted grades: 

• 'Outstanding' 
• 'Good'
• 'Requires improvement'
• and, 'inadequate'

Some providers are still awaiting their first full inspection. As of 31 March 2023, there were 390 Bexley providers on the Early Years Register. Of the 390, 297 Early Years Providers were inspected in Bexley. 

Data provided by Ofsted. 

Each setting in Bexley is allocated an Early Years Support Officer and an Early Years Adviser who are the setting’s first point of contact for information, advice, and guidance. Every private, voluntary, or independent setting is contacted regularly during the year, according to their level of need. During a contact, officers provide information, advice, and guidance as well as challenge managers and SENCOs around the quality of provision, inclusive practice, and the welfare requirements. Additional assistance, training and contacts may be required to address any issues in the setting. Depending on the needs of the setting, this may take the form of targeted or intensive support. A similar approach to assistance is taken with childminders, where the allocation of officers is organised according to the ward in which the childminder lives.

To ensure new childcare provision is of high quality, the Support Officers and Advisers carry out Welcome to Bexley visits. These visits provide the foundation for building a strong working relationship with providers. The advice and guidance given during these visits encourages all new providers who establish childcare provision in the borough to have a good starting point, by receiving robust and high-quality support.

In order to maintain high-quality provision in Bexley, during all visits, Officers and Advisers record the requests that settings or schools make for engagement in the 50Qq programme or for professional development (training or consultancy). Settings and schools are then signposted to the training opportunities that are available to book via the Bexley Services Network website facility, or a bespoke package is arranged. The training currently made available is well attended and helps us to ensure that settings have access to the information, advice, and guidance they need to maintain good practice in regard to Safeguarding, and Learning and Development. We have created extensive training to support settings to implement the updated EYFS Framework, and to work with the Development Matters Guidance. As part of our traded services, we also offer settings and schools bespoke packages which include training (either pre-written from the existing programme or written specifically for the setting), facilitation of team meetings, setting health checks, and any other assistance the setting may require.

We have a robust system in place for ensuring children’s transition to school is well supported. Support Officers and Advisers work directly with their allocated settings to identify any children who may need additional support during transition and encourage settings to share this information directly with receiving schools. We also support schools with moderation by facilitating sessions for schools to discuss judgements and have professional conversations.

d. Gap Analysis

Identified gaps

Bexley has identified that we currently have sufficient childcare and will have enough places to meet the needs of the expanded entitlement in April 2024. However, we have identified some gaps, including:

1. Care for children, both Early Years and school age, with high and complex needs
2. Spaces are not always available in the part of Bexley where parents are looking. However, Bexley is not a large borough and there are good transport links
3. Spaces are not always available in the type of provision that parents would prefer as a first choice. Parents are supported to understand the different types of provision, and to chose that which is best for their child
4. The childcare expansion will change the landscape of places required, and changes to business modelling will change the offer
5. Any existing gaps will likely be exacerbated by the childcare expansion