Equality impact assessment - childcare development team

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1. What is the name of the policy or service that is being assessed?

Childcare and Play team which gives service to the childcare and play sector.

2. What are the aims of the policy or service? Whose need is it designed to meet?

In line with the Childcare Act 2006 and the Government 10 Year Strategy for Childcare, the service is responsible for managing the childcare market. It offers support, guidance and training to the childcare sector and makes sure the development of sufficient flexible, available, affordable and high quality childcare provision across Wiltshire. This is for children and young people aged 0-16 years (19 for disabled young people) from 8am-6pm, on weekdays for 48 weeks per year.

The manager of the service overall is the childcare manager. The childcare service supports pre-schools, nurseries, creches, out of school, holiday and activity clubs and childminders. There are eighteen childcare officers and two coordinators who supervise these officers.

The play team support the development of play in the childcare sector and in the community areas such as parish and town councils and leads on the development of Wiltshire’s play strategy. There are two of these officers who report directly to the childcare manager.

The childcare manager leads these teams and develops the strategy for these areas of work.

The service is designed to meet the needs of the childcare sector as described above and to meet the needs of the childcare employers, the workforce of this and the parents of the children (indirectly). It is also meeting the needs of the children and young people in towns and parishes where play is being developed and the children of the local prison population through the development of play facilities at the visitors centre.

3. In what ways might this policy or service affect some groups of people differently? Might some groups find it harder to access the service? Do some groups have particular needs that are not well met by the current policy or service?

• Ethnicity - access to childcare places may be more difficult if parents are from a minority ethnic group where language presents a barrier. This is in areas such as Trowbridge where there is a high Moroccan population and in military areas where there is for example a large Fijian population. The current Families’ Information Service does not offer translation for all of these groups and needs to consider different ways of communicating with ethnic minorities.
• Socio-economic- many families require affordable childcare either in all parts of the county or in rural pockets where transport is difficult and there is less choice of affordable childcare. This applies to parents of two, three and four year olds. These barriers can make access to employment also difficult for parents and this is the case in some areas of economic deprivation.
• Gender - there is only a small percentage of male workers (2.5%) in childcare and access to work for this group may experience some discrimination by the existing sector and by parents. Current policy encourages more men to work in childcare but more could be done to encourage individual childcare settings take on more men.
• Age - childcare providers need to be aware of the new laws relating to employment of older workers. Some may not be aware of the change in law. Young parents may experience barriers to access to childcare through attitude of provider. Some children and young people may experience discrimination from adults where their play equipment is deemed to be too close to resident’s homes. Such cases sometimes bring about the removal of equipment to have it re-sited.
• Sexual orientation - there are no reports of any discrimination in this area by childcare providers so far.
• Religion and belief - access to childcare may be difficult in Wiltshire where minority religions and beliefs exist. Foreign nationals entering the county may find childcare settings have limited knowledge of different beliefs and religions.
• Disability - much has been done with capital funding to make childcare provision more accessible to children and parents since 2008. Physical access for children and parents with disability is in a much better position. However, work still needs to be done to make the service fully inclusive and there is a lack of childcare places for older disabled children and young people as evidenced through the Childcare Sufficiency Report published on the Wiltshire Council web site in April 2011.

4. What evidence do you have for your judgement? Is there evidence of public concern (e.g. complaints)? Have staff raised concerns? Is there local or national research to suggest that there could be a problem?

• Ethnicity  – discussion has taken place with the Families Information Service if queries have arisen from staff or parents and together we have tried to make access to childcare places more accessible through linking to the Ethnic Minority Achievement Service. We link to the Army Welfare Service to help in those areas and health visitors refer families to us for 2 year old funding where there is ethnic isolation on army camps
• Socio-economic - families complain to us that their nursery is not delivering the free entitlement (early education grant) in such a way that parents can have it free at the point of delivery and this makes it unaffordable for some parents. This is a national problem and one which we take back to childcare providers for discussion. Parents also complain to the Families’ Information Service if they cannot find affordable childcare in their area. They also voiced their concern through the childcare sufficiency parental survey in May 2010. Although this is a small number of complaints and concerns raised, this is a barrier to employment for some people.
• Gender - childcare providers have mentioned to us that they would like to see more male workers in childcare as role models particularly for older children. This is a national issue.
• Age - we need to do more work for childcare providers as employers to check that they are aware of the current employment law with regard to older workers. We have had three instances reported from the general public of wanting our play equipment taken away due to them not wanting children outside their house. We have re-sited the equipment and continued to press for a greater understanding of the benefits of play. We have found that placing funded two year olds with young parents with child minders has given a special relationship for these young parents. Childcare providers have not shown us discrimination directly but young parents have been reluctant to have their children placed.
• Sexual orientation – as above. We have not had any reports to us of discrimination against same sex marriages or gay relationships either in relation to parents or to childcare provider employment. We will continue to monitor this through our contract with the Families Information Service and through our training for childcare providers.
• Religion and belief - we have not had direct reports of this but monitor it through our training, contracts and liaison with the army welfare service.
• Disability - although much has been done with capital funding to make childcare provision more accessible to children and parents since 2008 we will continue to audit this in our work for the over 5 service. Physical access for children and parents with disability is in a much better position and we have had two instances where we have had to take immediate capital action in the last three years. We have reserved money to do the same again if we need to. We have contact from parents of older children on a regular basis (once every month) where they are not able to find childcare so that they can work particularly in holiday periods. We have an action plan from our childcare sufficiency report to address this.

5. Who have you consulted with as apart of your assessment? What were the results? Have you published the results of that consultation? If so, where?

• Ethnicity – discussion takes place quarterly through monitoring of the contract with the Families Information Service if queries have arisen from staff or parents. We also consult with the Extended Services team. We consult with the army welfare service in military areas. We liaise with health visitors and the traveler education service who refer families to us for 2 year old funding. We consulted on this in our parental survey for the childcare sufficiency report in May 2010.
• Socio-economic - 1,200 parents responded to our parental survey for the childcare sufficiency report and in addition we have had focus groups as part of our consultation. This area of affordable childcare is part of this. In addition we have surveyed all of the childcare providers to ask them their fee structure and published details of costs in local areas in comparison to affordable costs that we have researched. We take note of national trends from groups and research carried out by groups such as the National Day Nurseries Association who have also reported escalating costs of childcare nationally. We have published our report on-line as required by government. The report is on the Wiltshire Council web site.
• Gender - we have a workforce contract with Bright Horizons and through the contract they carry out research to see how many men work in childcare and campaign on our behalf for a greater entry. They talk to young people in schools to gather information and to existing childcare providers about barriers. Our childcare sufficiency panel has childcare providers on it and they have recently expressed concern to us about a lack of men in childcare.
• Age - we continue to consult with childcare providers through training evaluations and through talking to them on a daily basis. We read national sector related periodicals to check we are following national tends and we use the information from our childcare sufficiency report. When there is new legislation we have a duty to inform the childcare providers and in previous instances not all of them have taken account of legal changes. We need consulted with children and young people about where they have wanted play equipment and also with our local members and town and parish councilors. Local residents have been vocal with us when they have not wanted play equipment outside their houses and in some instances they have asked for it to be moved. We have used national research and trends to predict the reaction of childcare providers to young and more vulnerable parents.
• Sexual orientation – This is a monitoring action through our visits to childcare providers and discussions with contract holders.
• Religion and belief - we have not had direct reports of this but monitor it through our training, contracts and liaison with the army welfare service. Regular training highlights the need to provide information for new childcare workers.
• Disability - Our research is based on contact directly with parents, discussions with our contract holders and exchange of information with other teams such as the children disability teams, the Wiltshire Parent Carer Council and national trends and research .We have also had 1,200 replies from parents about childcare sufficiency. Responses to all of these form policy and our childcare sufficiency report is on-line for the general public to read it includes our action plan. We have captured the voice of the child/young person through our links to consultation that the commissioners have done with young people. This helps us shape policy and service. We carried out a piece of consultation with 262 children aged 3-9 years in June 2010 that gave us their views on childcare in Wiltshire it has been very powerful in driving policy. This is our Max the cat report which is also on-line at the Wiltshire Council web site

6. If you have found that the policy or service might have an adverse impact on a particular group of people, can you justify this?

• Ethnicity - we considered translations for a number of ethnic minority groups for the Families Information Service contract. This would have involved up to 72 different language translations and hard copy. This was not considered to be economically viable, although we continue to seek other methods of getting information to these groups.
• Socio-economic - we try to balance business sustainability with affordable childcare. We also have a duty to supply sufficient childcare in all areas. To do this we are not always building an affordable model. We balance this by referring parents to the Families’ Information Service to access as many benefits as possible to make the childcare as affordable as possible. Sometimes parents fall outside the benefit range but find the fees challenging. Our action mitigates this as far as possible.
• Gender- running a campaign about men in childcare may make the existing group feel more marginalised. This campaign is important to move the percentage forward and so is done for the greater good.
• Age - not in this area.
• Sexual orientation - not in this area
• Religion/belief - high lighting separate religions or beliefs as part of a campaign may seem like positive discrimination but this is for the longer term benefit.
• Disability - promoting childcare for children and young people can highlight the difficulties that this group face but does also change culture and provide better service in the longer term

7. If the impact cannot be justified, what do you intend to do about this? Are there changes that you could introduce which would make the policy or service work better for this group of people? Is further research or consultation required?

• Ethnicity - we will continue to monitor this at quarterly monitoring and if the ethnic minorities increase, have particular needs or express a change to their situation we will respond to this.
• Socio economic - we continue to be challenged by rural pockets and nurseries charging high fees. If the balance outlined in section 6 does not work, we will use revenue funding to sustain or build childcare provision for parents in these areas. This will depend on the number of people affected as we have to have long term sustainable children and not just raise expectations.
• Gender - we will need to continue with this if our funds allow as the research shows that the underlying benefits for children are also important. This cannot always be measured by cost.
• Age - not in this area
• Sexual orientation - not in this area
• Religion/belief - we will continue to seek low-cost high impact solutions.
• Disability - this is a very important area and so we will work hard to make sure that we are looking at our actions, reviewing all policies and responding to new initiatives and parental needs.

8. How will you monitor the take-up or impact of the policy or service in future?

• Ethnicity - through contract reviews and future childcare sufficiency work .We will also make sure we continue to liaise with the army welfare service and take note of discussions with health visitors.
• Socio-economic - by responding to parental complaints about cost of childcare, by reviewing policy alongside national direction, by reading about research from the national day nurseries and working with the families information service. By issuing contracts to our childcare at children centres that embed affordable childcare.
• Gender - by continuing to respond to national trends and by working with our contractors.
• Age - by designing training for our childcare providers to take account of changes in the law, by conducting consultation with children and young people to capture the voice of the child and working in our communities to make sure that older people understand about play in our communities.
• Sexual orientation - through our training to the childcare sector
• Religion/belief - by comparing with national trends, by monitoring our contracts and through our next parental survey.
• Disability - through our contract monitoring, through our three yearly parental survey and through our integrated work with bodies such as the Wiltshire Parent Carer Council by taking account of the views of children and young people through our play partner parties.

9. What actions do you plan to take as a result of this equality impact assessment? Please state any resource implications

• Ethnicity - consultation with the whole team the extended team and our partners including contractors.
• Socio-economic - through consultation with our childcare providers, the Early Years Reference Group and the childcare sufficiency panel.
• Gender - by consultation with the childcare sector through the childcare sufficiency panel and with our workforce development contractors (Bright Horizons)
• Age - consider training for childcare providers, update the Committee roles and responsibilities training, continue to consult the voice of the child (annually) and to promote the placing of children of young parents with our child minders.
• Sexual orientation - to continue to challenge any discrimination if we meet it in the childcare settings.
• Religion/belief - to continue to show good practice and offer training to cover this area. To work with our army welfare groups to make sure any changes to military population are covered.
• Disability - to continue to refer to the action plan for childcare sufficiency, to look annually at the development of suitable provision and to supply revenue funding to make sure this happens.

10. There is a legal requirement to publish the outcomes of Equality Impact Assessments. Please outline how / where this will happen

Through the Wiltshire Council web site and the Schools and Learning Branch strategic plan

11. Name of person completing form

Childcare Manager

Date assessment completed

June 2011

Last updated: 5 March 2012