How an early years apprenticeship provider identified an answer

At The Childcare Company, we do more than provide world-class training. As the UK’s leading early years apprenticeship provider, we also help employers solve challenges. When changes occur, our team is here to ensure that people are properly prepared.

When Chancellor Rachel Reeves first announced that employer National Insurance contributions were set to increase from 13.8%, to 15%, and in addition, the per-employee threshold at which employers have to start paying National Insurance would reduce from £9,100, to £5,000 per year, playgroups, nurseries and childcare providers knew that budgets would be stretched tighter than ever.

These two changes, coupled with National Living Wage increases, and the complexities of supporting children with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND), meant that solutions would need to be found.

With all this in mind, our incredible Client Partnership Manager, Ali Franklin, spotted a way to help a playgroup out of a tight spot. She did everything in her power to ensure they had everything they needed to thrive.

This childcare apprenticeship case study reveals how she did it.

The challenge facing South Bedfont Playgroup

South Bedfont Playgroup in Feltham is a government-funded-only nursery. They have no paying customers. With the increase in the hourly rates paid to staff, in addition to the National Insurance rises, they found themselves in need of some advice.

Playgroup Co-Owner and Manager, Joanne Brunt, could only pay the minimum wage to her employees, which she found both frustrating and upsetting, because of how incredible her team is and how hard they work.

How The Childcare Company and apprenticeships provided a solution

Ali reached out to Joanne, who she had worked with previously. She wanted to tell Joanne about some ways the nursery might be able to save some money in the wake of the upcoming changes to costs.

Intrigued, Joanne invited Ali to visit South Bedfont Playgroup. Ali was taken with the place right away. The space was vibrant, yet comfortable for the children. She also discovered the nursery had a total of 7 children with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (S.E.N.D):

• 2 of the children were non-verbal
• 2 had ADHD
• Another 2 were autistic
• 1 had Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

Caring for and supervising children with these conditions requires a specialist skill set, and they weren’t receiving the full support they needed. Despite this, and the financial challenges the playgroup faced, Ali noted the team at South Bedfont were doing an amazing job. All the children absolutely loved the staff. Ali knew right away that she wanted to find as many ways The Childcare Company could help them reduce staffing costs as much as possible.

By making the most of apprenticeship funding for nurseries, as well as a possible apprenticeship levy childcare apprenticeships transfer, South Bedfont could begin to make some significant savings as well as achieve a high level of early years workforce development.

Financial impact and cost savings thanks to The Childcare Company

Ali set to work right away:

• First, knowing the benefits of apprenticeships for childcare providers, she reviewed all the learners Joanne already had on apprenticeship programmes across all 4 of their sites. Ali discovered Joanne had paid Employer National Insurance for each of them. These were funds she was entitled to claim back. Ali provided step-by-step instructions for how to make the claim. Needless to say, Joanne was delighted!
• Next, Ali went through all of Joanne’s learners that were aged between 16 and 18 when they enrolled on to their programmes. There was a reason for this. The government offers an incentive of £1,000 per learner to employers who have young apprentices in this age group on staff. It turned out that the training provider Joanne had gone through hadn’t told her about it. Ali recommended that Joanne contact them right away. The Childcare Company makes a point of identifying opportunities to save during the early stages of enrolment, so Ali was surprised Joanne hadn’t been made aware. This alone meant there was over £4,000 that could be claimed from this alone.
• Ali then sat down with Joanne to go over all existing staff under the age of 25 who were not yet on any training programme. 9 were identified. Ali explained that if Joanne spoke to each of these employees about undertaking either a Level 3 Early Years Educator or Level 5 Early Years Lead Practitioner apprenticeship, she would be futureproofing her workforce by upskilling them, but also, saving thousands in National Insurance contributions per year. Ali worked out that Joanne could save approximately £3,308.76 per learner, per year. Potentially, if all 9 staff members enrolled, that would be a saving of £29,778.84 for just one year.

In addition, at the time, Joanne would only have to pay 5% of the course fees. The rest would be government funded. However, Joanne chose The Childcare Company as South Bedfont’s nursery apprenticeship training provider (UK) for the new learners. Through the free support and advice we provide to our nurseries and playgroups, Ali was able to secure an apprenticeship levy childcare transfer from a larger company that would cover 100% of the course fees! So, the training would cost the playgroup absolutely nothing.

It is good to have a training provider that feels so engaged with our sector and understands it so well. – Joanne Brunt, Manager and Co-Owner, South Bedfont Playgroup

Why nurseries choose The Childcare Company

The Childcare Company understands the sector, and how every penny counts. The service we provide goes beyond the training alone. We:

• Deliver the highest-quality education for learners
• Help nurseries, playgroups and care centres stay ahead of changes and trends
• Provide free support for things like enrolment, recruitment and funding opportunities

This is why we are the number one choice for childcare training in the UK.

Government policies are subject to updates. Funding options change regularly. However, The Childcare Company keeps a close eye on what’s possible for its valued employers. If there are savings to be made, our team will find them. We’ll assist you in making the most out of what’s available.

Playgroups like South Bedfont are why we do what we do. Our mission is ‘Giving Britain the Skills to Care’. You care about delivering excellence. We care about enabling you to do that. The payoff for us is knowing that we are bolstering a workforce that changes lives for the better.

Start saving with The Childcare Company apprenticeships. Reach out to our team today. Call 01753 596 004, or hit the button below.