This content has been automatically generated from the original PDF and some formatting may have been lost. Let us know if you find any major problems.
Text in this format is not official and should not be relied upon to extract citations or propose amendments. Please see the PDF for the official version of the document.
Deputy R Ward
Chair
Children, Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel By email: a.harris5@gov.je
5th November 2021 Dear Deputy Ward
Jersey Child Care Trust's Response to Scrutiny Review
Re: Review of the Government Plan 2022-2025 –CONFIDENTIAL RESPONSE
Putting families first, the Jersey Child Care Trust is a local charity that delivers a variety of programmes to enable ALL children to have the best start. It is our vision that every child in Jersey has access to the nurture, care and learning that they need to thrive. We aim to identify and meet the needs of children and families in Jersey and focus our support at the earliest opportunity so that we can make the most amount of positive change. Our strategic aims complement and support the strategic priorities of the Government of Jersey, the Child and Young People's Plan and the Best Start Early Years Strategy.
In addition to the information provided on specific sections of the Government Plan 2022-2025 we want to highlight the implications of impending funding cuts on our organisation and the services we deliver to some of the most vulnerable communities in Jersey.
We have recently been informed by the Department for Education that our Government Grant will be reducing by approximately £30,000 in 2022 (Our Grant in 2021 constituted £133,800 of a total income of £623,689). Our Grant has reduced over time although what is most significant is the proportion of our income it now represents. Whilst we appreciate the current climate and pressure on Government to make savings across departments we feel it is our responsibility to outline the impact this reduction in financial support will have on our services and therefore, children, families and the workforce in Jersey.
In our discussions with Government we had indicated that a reduction in funding would have implications for our core business. We were asked by Government during this process to clearly identify which area of our business would be at risk following a reduction in funding. Please see attached document provided to Children, Young People, Education and Skills (CYPES) June 2021. The area of our business identified is the Nanny Accreditation Service which is the only provider of the vital checks necessary to safeguard children, their families and nannies within a home care environment. We feel it is our responsibility to highlight to Scrutiny the challenges and risks removing this service poses to the community.
Safeguarding risk 
Without this service, nannies that provide home based care in a child's home (childminders who look after children in their own homes are regulated by CYPES) would become completely unregulated. This removes a vital safeguarding role, posing a threat to both children and nannies.
Deprofessionalisation
By removing this quality kitemark (a uniform set of high standards, safer recruitment policies and safeguarding checks) nannies are losing the professional status they deserve. There is nothing informal about this kind of childcare and as a community we need to be recognising its value in society.
Losing more than an individual service
The Nanny Accreditation service provides Jersey with far more than just a quality kitemark for childcare professionals as it sits within a wider pool of knowledge as part of our Childcare Information Service. To give you an insight into the scale of our support during the first lockdown period in March 2020 this service supported 71 individual cases for nannies and employers. We have also outlined a few examples in our other paper of situations where our Nanny Accreditation service has been called upon by Government departments to provide vital care in times of family crisis (e.g. when a parent has had to attend recurring Court sittings and when a parent has been diagnosed as terminally ill).
Financial implications for families
The Income Support and Tax systems, Government departments and respective legislation include Accredited Nannies benefiting employing parents. Removing this service will therefore have financial implications for families in our community too.
We feel the decision to reduce funding at the risk of losing a service such as this works in direct contradiction to the aim of Putting Children First'.
We appreciate being able to take part in this process and would welcome your comments or further questions.
Yours sincerely
Fiona Vacher Executive Director
The Jersey Child Care Trust
Putting families first, the Jersey Child Care Trust is a local charity that delivers a variety of programmes to enable ALL children to have the best start. It is our vision that every child in Jersey has access to the nurture, care and learning that they need to thrive. We aim to identify and meet the needs of children and families in Jersey and focus our support at the earliest opportunity so that we can make the most amount of positive change. Our strategic aims complement and support the strategic priorities of the Government of Jersey, the Child and Young People's Plan and the Best Start Early Years Strategy.
Overview of funding structure of the Trust
Last year we delivered all of the following programmes and services for the total expenditure of £623,689 which included a Government grant of £133,800.
The people who make it happen
In addition to its employees, the Jersey Child Care Trust benefits from a wealth of skills and expertise, on a pro bono basis from its Board of Trustees and its growing team of Volunteers. Our capacity, as an organisation, to support families in Jersey is significantly enhanced by this additional resource.
Our Programmes
Best Start Plus Nursery Funding The Programme
The Best Start Plus Nursery Funding Programme supports children who are not meeting their age expected milestones by giving them access to nursery for up to 12 hours a week. All these children come from families on lower incomes who, without our support, could not financially afford a nursery place. This programme is supported by a body of evidence (Silva et al, 2010; Melhuish et al, 2015,2017) which links formal Early Childhood Education and Care with improved cognitive and socio-emotional development. All referrals are made by Health Visitors (some in collaboration with Family Partnership workers at the Child Development Centre) who identify children with a developmental need and/or living with adversity.
Our delivery partners
Identification – We have partnered with Family Nursing and Home Care to implement an identification model which uses an evidenced based tool (Ages and Stages Questionnaire) to identify developmental need. Referrals are then discussed at a multi- agency panel to ensure all those receiving funding meet criteria. This multi-agency team is made up of Government professionals (Family and Community Support, CYPES), third sector partners (Family Nursing and Home Care, Brighter Futures) and representatives from the child care sector (Private nurseries and pre-schools).
The Finances
2021 budgeted cost - £331,575 The Outcomes
How much we did Is anyone better off?
It has helped him develop so much is such a short 98 Children time and his speech has come on loads'
Just great, life changing for him, me and us as a
14 Mainstream family'
private early She has come a long way since starting nursery. She years is now talking and enjoying playing with friends.' settings
How well we did it
Made significant progress
Made some progress
No progress yet
Personal, Social Communication Physical and Emotional
% of children on the programme making developmental progress in 3 key areas
Special Needs Inclusion Programme The Programme
The Jersey Child Care Trust is currently the only provider of individualised support for children with Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities in private nurseries and pre-schools in Jersey. This support is delivered via the Special Needs Inclusion Programmes (SNIP) and our team of specialist support workers who go into settings providing additional support to children who are unable to fully access the setting and learning opportunities on offer. Our individualised support, as part of a team around the child, gives each child the opportunities to make their best developmental progress. Without this Programme, this would not be possible in Jersey.
Our delivery partners
Identification - The Programme team work with the Early Years Inclusion Team (CYPES) who identify children whose needs cannot fully be supported within the ratios of the setting. A steering group for the Programme, again composed of Government professionals, monitors levels of support to ensure optimum opportunities for development are achieved.
Intervention – A team of government child development professionals (Speech Therapists, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, EYIT SENCOs) guide our specialist support workers to ensure therapy goals are integrated within daily routines.
The Finances
2021 budgeted cost - £345,178 The Outcomes
How much we did Is anyone better off?
Since my child has had someone at nursery helping 43 children in 18 mainstream them understand how to take turns and find ways of
private early years settings. communicating things have been far easier for us.
Using the same strategies as their support worker 10,911 hours of support when we are out and about in the community, has
really helped'
How well we did it
Children receiving support showed improvement in the areas of social skills and Independence
Made significant progress Social Skills Made some progress
Made a little progress
Independence 
Made no progress yet
Levels of progress have been affected by the pandemic when compared with previous years due to children experiencing therapeutic services being suspended, disruptions in routines and periods out of nursery for some.
Our Services
Nanny Accreditation Scheme
In line with Putting Children First' we accredit and provide professional support to qualified nannies through our voluntary scheme. We conduct the vital checks necessary to safeguard children, their families and nannies. It is our intention to consult stakeholders for views about extending this scheme and its safeguarding role to unqualified nannies who would meet all other criteria.
Our delivery partners
Customer and Local Services - The Income Support and Tax systems, Government departments and respective legislation include Accredited Nannies benefitting employing parents.
Childcare and Early Years Service – ensuring Government account for this workforce and associated matters, for example during the pandemic.
Jersey Advisory Conciliation Service for both employer and employee.
The Finances
2021 budgeted cost – £34,008 The Outcomes
How much we did How well we did it
41 Accredited nannies 100%
Of our Accredited Nannies met all of our 71 Nannies sought our safeguarding criteria
advice and support
Is anyone better off?
This year has been particularly challenging not only for us as parents but for our children and our nanny. We were delighted when she suggested helping us by reading a story over FaceTime. We did this each evening and the children really looked forward to it. She has been a great help with home schooling too!'
Inclusion Support Service
The Jersey Child Care Trust, in partnership with the Jersey Youth Service, is the approved provider of the universal Inclusion Support Service. This service is open to all children and young people to enable access to activities in the community. Last year despite the pandemic we:
50+ Number of organisations we connected with across the island offering play care, activity and social clubs.
4 Number of families and their children we directly worked with over the summer to ensure positive holiday club experiences.
Finances
We are currently commissioned by CYPES to deliver this service via a separate agreement which runs until June 2021.
Early Years Workforce and Childcare Information Support
Together with our partners (Highlands College, Skills Jersey, Childcare and Early Years Service, Best Start Partnership) and informed by the latest evidence[1], our work is focused on developing the skills, knowledge, quality and impact of the children's workforce in many ways. For example, Annual Childcare and Education Awards, a monthly ''Knowledge Makes Change' E-newsletter, monthly Webinar Series.
In addition, our Childcare Information Service provides listings of childcare, jobs, vacancies and further information for families and the childcare workforce with a significant local online presence e.g. www.jcct.org.je receives between 4,000 – 5,000 visits per month, Facebook page has 2,800 followers and 1,749 engagements in posts in the past 5 days (17-21.05.21). In line with recommendations from The Best Start for Life Report[2] our information is accessible digitally, virtually, by telephone and in person for both families and the workforce.
The Finances
2021 Budgeted Cost - £17,004
Additional capital expenditure every 4 years of £25k to include website development, delivery and hosting.
Note: This element of our business benefits from the experience and skills of our well established team (the majority of whom have been employed by us for over 10 years). This provides us with a challenge when fully costing this area of our business.
In Conclusion
As illustrated, our programmes and services support and work in absolute partnership with a range of Government departments, private and voluntary organisations, playing a vital role in
improving access and support for some of Jersey's neediest children and families.
Jersey Child Care Trust is a charity with integrity and creativity, working flexibly to respond with quality services to meet the identified needs of children and families. As a charity, we have added significant value to our grant of £133,800 from the Government, by delivering vital services benefitting children and families to the total £623,689. In the past four years, we have doubled the number of children we support and doubled the amount of charitably raised funds, highlighting our ability to respond to our community's growing and changing needs.
Jersey Child Care Trust 10 June 2021