Little Owls review

Letters have been sent out from Leeds City Council to all parents and carers of children attending Little Owls nurseries. These provided details of the proposals and how to engage in the decision-making process. As a result of early feedback received from those who engaged with us, a decision has been taken to delay the proposed implementation date until the end of August at the earliest. The engagement period is open until 4pm on 23rd May.                                     

Fifteen separate engagement sessions have been arranged for parents and carers to attend and a dedicated email account has been set up littleowlsreview@leeds.gov.uk for anyone to submit their views on the proposals. All feedback is being collected and will be presented in summary as part of the final report to Executive Board.                                     

Parents on waiting lists will not be directly consulted. However, once we have a final decision on the proposals, the outcome will be shared with Parents who are being offered places to ensure they have the relevant information to support them in making an informed decision prior to accepting a place.

Engagement sessions have been undertaken at each Little Owls site with the entire staff team facilitated by the Service Lead. This was an informal opportunity to thank staff for their hard work, acknowledge the pressures within early years, discuss the financial challenge that the Council is facing and enable them to have a voice and share any queries or worries.                                     

Elected Members as part of Executive Board, agreed the proposal move forward and then Full Council agreed the potential budget implications of the proposed review.               

Elected Members in areas where a setting is subject to potential change have then had further direct engagement relative to the individual setting. Briefings have been offered to all Elected Members in wards affected by the proposals, and many have already taken place with several more scheduled before the end of the engagement period.

Should the proposal to close Little Owls Gipton North, Little Owls Chapel Allerton and Little Owls Kentmere go ahead, these nurseries would not close any earlier than the end of August 2024.                                     

If the proposed closures go ahead, your child will be guaranteed alternative childcare at another Little Owls nearby. If this is not suitable, parents and carers will be signposted to Family Information Service to explore private, third sector or school nursery provision.                                     

If your child transfers to another Little Owls, transition visits will be arranged with their keyperson.                                  

A pause had been placed on offering new places at the three nurseries proposed for closure to enable them to prioritise places for those children who would be impacted. The nurseries will once again be able to admit new children, subject to staffing, once this process has been completed.                                   

We are guaranteeing places at nearby Little Owls and will make every effort to make sure children transfer with staff they already know and feel safe with.                                  

Between September and February, informal sessions have been undertaken at each Little Owls nursery with the entire staff team. These provided an opportunity to thank staff for their hard work, acknowledge the pressures within early years, discuss the financial challenge that the council is facing and enable them to have a voice and share any queries or worries.                                     

The service will seek to do all that is possible to reduce, minimise and mitigate any compulsory redundancies.                                  

It is anticipated that staff displaced because of closures could be flexibly deployed within the service and we will aim to transition staff with children where possible.                                  

Compared to the wider Early Years sector, Leeds City Council employee terms and conditions are favourable in comparison with the private sector. The recruitment issue is compounded by a national recruitment crisis in the early years sector.      

We actively advertise vacancies within the service both internally and externally through our jobs website.      

There are no further proposed closures planned as part of this review and decision.                                     

Yes, Children’s Centre family services groups such as the baby group are continuing.                                     

As your child will be supported to transfer to another Little Owls nursery, your fees will remain the same. However, all Little Owls are subject to an annual fee increase which usually takes place in September.                                     

Families whose children take up a place at an alternative provider will be subject to those providers own fees.                                  

The Council is expected to end the financial year of 2023-24 with an overspend of £39.5m. The Council cannot sustain overspends of this magnitude without risking intervention by Government, which we have seen in other Local Authorities.              

In addition to our proposals regarding Little Owls, we are reducing some of our management and staffing, closing some of our own services and reducing expenditure.              

Over 14 years of austerity, Leeds has protected both adults and children’s social care. They now represent 63% of our budget, compared to 40% in 2010. However, we are now in a position of being forced to reduce services we have protected to date.              

Whilst financial impact is not the sole driver, we cannot avoid the fact that the City Council is currently facing significant financial pressures.

Little Owls fees are reviewed and increased on an annual basis whilst trying to retain affordability. We do have a marketing strategy; the challenge currently is that we do not have sufficient staff to increase occupancy/ intake.                                     

This issue is due to the exchequer placing tax free childcare monies into a suspense account. We are aware of the issues and are addressing this; even when all tax-free childcare money is credited to our accounts it will not address the savings that we need to achieve. The introduction of the new FAMLY business system is intended to prevent these issues from occurring; managers are working hard to embed this new system, please alert us to any anomalies and bear with us as we work to address any anomalies with invoicing.                                     

Whilst Leeds' population has indeed increased over the last decade, that is not necessarily due to a rise in birth rates, which have been factored in by our sufficiency team when working up these proposals. Population increases have largely been driven by people living longer, immigration and urbanisation trends.                                     

The challenges Leeds City Council are facing are within the financial year 2024-25, and there is no way to predict any outcome, nor would it be responsible to make decisions based on an uncertain outcome.                                     

Whilst the government is increasing FEEE places from September, these will not change the financial picture significantly for Little Owls.                                  

Leeds is not expected to have a sufficiency issue due to the expansion of FEEE places as the city has experienced a falling birth rate for the last 5 years.                                  

The Council’s Sufficiency and Participation team have been working closely with providers about their capacity and conducted assessments of the provision available across the city ahead of the roll out. No issues are currently being reported but will be regularly monitored.                                  

There is regular lobbying going on at a high level between the Council and the government.                                     

All children currently attending at any of the three Little Owls nurseries proposed for closure have been guaranteed a place at another Little Owls nursery nearby. To enable this, a pause had been placed on offering new places at the three nurseries proposed for closure to enable them to prioritise places for those children who would be impacted.                                     

Our sufficiency team has done a thorough analysis of the local areas around each Nursery. For the proposed closure nurseries, we are guaranteeing spaces at nearby Little Owls nurseries. We are also aware through conversations with several childcare settings, of vacancies across the 0-4 age group at alternative childcare providers local to the three proposed closing Little Owls. Understanding the local childcare market is key to planning childcare places and as birth rates have now fallen for 5 years, vacancies.                                  

For the purposes of assessing sufficiency, the city is divided into 42 Childcare Planning Areas (CPA). This allows for demographic analysis at a local level, where the Sufficiency Team can monitor birth trends and population changes alongside the demand and take-up of childcare places, to ensure sufficiency of provision in each CPA.                                  

As families move in and out of an area, the use of NHS data for all children aged 0-4 supports the planning of places across the city, as well as monitoring where children attend childcare in comparison to where they live. The council’s annual Childcare Sufficiency Assessment provides further information on birth trends and take-up in each CPA and can be accessed here.

As childcare provision is not statutory, there is no specific distance measure and childcare take up is down to parental choice. Although planning childcare is done at a local level, there are areas of the city where families do travel out of their local area to obtain childcare for various reasons such as work. An example of this is the Little Owls Chapel Allerton, where only 55% of families attending the setting live within a one-mile radius.                                  

The Market Sounding Exercise (MSE) is a way for the Council to assess interest in potentially selling or transferring ownership of some Little Owls nurseries to experienced childcare providers. It's not a formal invitation to bid or express interest. The aim is to understand the market's level of interest and gather information to make any future procurement process more focused and efficient.                                     

This exercise is expected to last a minimum of 4 weeks.                                  

Not necessarily. If the MSE demonstrates that there is a sufficient level of suitable market interest, the council may make a recommendation to formally invite the market to submit proposals in order to identify the most suitable childcare providers that could take on the running of the nurseries (on a case by case basis) via a TUPE transfer of existing staff and through a lease/purchase of the premises.             

Whilst this could mean a private provider taking on provision, there are many schools and non-profit organisations in the sector, including in Leeds.                                  

Additionally, should there be no interest, or no suitable providers interested from the market there are further options that could be explored. These include the council merging little Owls nurseries or outright keeping them.                                  

The MSE will help inform the council’s next stage of decision making on potential future arrangements for the nurseries. Following the MSE, the council will use the insights gathered to recommend how to move forward with managing the nurseries.                                     

If the Little Owls nursery your child is currently at is part of this proposal, the outcome of the MSE will determine how your child’s place may be affected. However, it is not possible to know the outcome of the MSE and what might be proposed following this just yet.                                     

All arrangements would be subject to the providers terms and conditions, and they will advise you on this.                                     

They were suspended temporarily to prioritise places for children from the proposed closures sites. Parents have now confirmed their preferences so we will resume admitting new children, subject to staffing.                                  

Other providers may be better able to attract staff. Currently our nurseries are not running at full occupancy due to the recruitment challenges. We rely heavily on agency staff which brings an increased cost.                                     

By reducing the size of the Little Owls estate and flexibly deploying staff in the remaining Little Owls nurseries we hope to increase occupancy and income.                                     

No, this will be open to all                                     

Between September and February, informal sessions have been undertaken at each Little Owls site with the entire staff team. These provided an opportunity to thank staff for their hard work, acknowledge the pressures within early years, discuss the financial challenge that the Council is facing and enable them to have a voice and share any queries or worries.                                     

The Market sounding is just an exploration of other options and providers. Staff are being supported through regular communication via their managers.                                  

No, the Council still has a sufficiency duty to ensure that there is enough provision in each area. However, depending on recruitment and retention of staff we may need to explore merging the nursery with another Little Owls nursery.                                     

The 4 week MSE process is to explore if there is a market interest out there, as it is commercially sensitive and providers will not formally be submitting their interest at that point, it would not be appropriate to invite parents. However, we are keen to involve parents as we assess provider suitability.

The buildings are being considered as part of the MSE in the first instance. This could involve a lease arrangement or a sale if appropriate. However, if a provider were to be found that could meet the sufficiency need for the area within their own existing nurseries, then there would not be an obligation for them to take on the building.                                     

If the Little Owls nursery your child is currently at has been identified as one for Leeds City Council to ‘retain’, then your child's place would not be affected.                                     

There won't be any significant changes to staff in the nurseries that remain open.