Alliance raises concerns about impact of latest Children and Family Act changes
13th March 2014
While the Alliance broadly welcomes today’s announcement that royal assent has been given to the Children and Families Act 2014, the charity is concerned that the latest legislative reforms for special educational needs will create more work for already pressurised early years practitioners, with the sector already working hard to adapt to the many other policy changes including the expansion of the two-year-old offer. Clare O’Donnell, an early years practitioner from Yarnton Way Children’s Centre in Erith, an Alliance-managed setting, explains: “It has become a constant battle dealing with the stream of legislative changes and this latest change is yet another priority for us.” Kim Rheinberg, Alliance Project Manager in Hull, also raised concerns that the proposals give insufficient consideration to the importance of early intervention despite Government voicing their commitment to the approach.
Commenting on Part 3 of the Bill, Alliance chief executive Neil Leitch stressed the need for the sector to be given as much time as possible to give adequate preparation for the new framework’s introduction in September 2014.
“It’s vital that the Department for Education (DfE) finalise and publish the Code of Practice, which outlines the requirements for local services, as quickly as possible,” he said. “The Alliance has been preparing ahead for the reforms and are already working closely with early years teams to provide advice and materials; however, time is short.”
Part 4 of the legislation is equally concerning for the Alliance with Neil Leitch, CEO, expressing his disappointment at the introduction of childminder agencies and the impact on quality and support for childminders.
Alliance CEO Neil Leitch also expressed his concerns about the potential impact of agencies on the overall quality of care.
“While we accept that these latest changes now place Childminder agencies permanently into the landscape of early years provision, we remain concerned about the potential safeguarding implication of plans to focus inspecting agencies rather than individual childminders. It is even more important now that °ϲʹ and the government genuinely consults and listens to childminders about their views and experiences and makes changes to proposed policy if necessary. With °ϲʹ’s Inspecting childminder agencies consultation closing on 21 March, we hope that childminder views and concerns are clearly evidenced and reflected in this timely document.
“Finally, we ask that childminders are supported and given choice about how they operate in the new environment. The Alliance believes that they should freely exercise their right under the latest legislation to join an agency without pressure or disadvantage.”
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Notes for editors
- The Alliance has produced a SEN(D) Code of Practice 2014 mini-guide which aims to provide early years settings in the PVI sector with information about the reforms in Part 3 to support then to prepare for the changes in September.
- The Pre-school Learning Alliance is the largest voluntary sector provider of quality affordable childcare and education in England.
- Through direct provision and its membership of 14,000 nurseries, sessional pre-schools and parent and toddler groups, the Alliance supports over 800,000 children and their families in England. The Alliance also develops and runs family learning programmes, offers information and advice, runs acclaimed training and accreditation programmes and campaigns to influence early years policy and practice.
- For information about the Pre-school Learning Alliance, visit our website: