Transparency data

National wraparound childcare programme: methodology for allocating funding to local authorities

Published 27 February 2024

Applies to England

This funding is in 2 different streams, each enabling the delivery of wraparound childcare:

• programme funding - £253 million over 2 years
• local authority capacity funding - £25 million over 2 years

The programme funding is for local authorities to deliver programme objectives. This includes distributing it to providers to set up new provision or expand existing provision.

The local authority capacity funding is for local authorities to use to build their internal capacity to deliver. This could include paying for a designated wraparound lead if one does not already exist.

Methodology

In allocating funding to each local authority, we have balanced a number of costs that different local authorities will face to differing extents. Central to the allocation of funding is the number of schools with primary aged pupils that either do not offer full wraparound provision or only have a partial wraparound childcare offer.

We have taken this information from the January 2023 school census data.

Programme funding

Using January 2023 school census data for each local authority, we determine the number of schools that do not offer wraparound care or only have a partial wraparound childcare offer. For these schools, we assume that they will need at least 2 members of staff to run the wraparound provision.

In schools without any wraparound childcare, basic programme funding comprises of the costs for 2 members of staff for 4.5 hours. This covers 3.5 hours of childcare offer, as well as an hour for setting up and tidying away.

For schools that offer childcare but not full wraparound, funding covers half of this amount, assuming half (2.25 hours) of the extra time required to extend the childcare offer.

We also include funding for additional staffing to support inclusive provision, including for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). There is an additional tranche of funding for food.

All staffing funding will vary regionally to allow for:

• additional costs incurred by regional wage differences
• regional differences in the number of pupils with SEND

This allows us to provide extra funding for schools that face higher staffing costs to get wraparound started.

Funding is also tapered to help childcare programmes get started where attendance may be low in the beginning. As the programme becomes more established, costs paid by parents begin to take the place of the programme funding.

Financial year	Quarter	Taper
2024 to 2025	Q2 (July to September)	0%
	Q3 (October to December)	0%
	Q4 (January to March)	5%
2025 to 2026	Q1 (April to June)	30%
	Q2 (July to September)	60%
	Q3 (October to December)	90%
	Q4 (January to March)	90%

A 0% taper denotes a funding level of 100%, with a 5% taper denoting a 95% funding level and so on.

Local authority capacity funding

The total value of local authority capacity funding at a national level is a further 10% on top of the value of the local authority programme funding. Based on engagement with stakeholders and local authorities on the cost of capacity funding, we have set a minimum funding amount of £40,556 for each local authority with 2 or more schools without full wraparound provision. This will fund a single part-time position to manage delivery of the programme in the local authority for the programme’s duration.

Once we have allocated each local authority the minimum spend of £40,556, we split the remaining capacity funding between local authorities based on their programme funding allocation. As we have based this further funding on the programme funding allocation, it includes:

• the impact of regional wage differences
• regional differences in the number of pupils with SEND
• regional differences in the number of schools in scope for the programme