Assessment of Sufficiency

Assessment of Sufficiency

 

Sufficiency of places for Funded Early Education

All 3 and 4 yr olds and some 2 yr olds are entitled to 15 hours of funded early education. Parents of eligible children from the term after they turn 9 months old up to 3 and 4 yr olds, may be entitled to 30 hours. (Visit FISH webpage for more details.) All day nurseries and preschools and some childminders and schools deliver this type of childcare.

 

Sufficiency of affordable childcare

Fees charged

The latest Family and Childcare trust report on average costs [1] for different types of childcare provision show that national level costs are consistently higher than for East Riding as shown below:

	Day Nursery for under 2 year olds (50hrs)	Day Nursery for 2 year olds+ (50hrs)	Childminder for under 2 year olds (50hrs)	Childminder for 2 year olds+ (50hrs)	After school club (weekly charge avg 15 hours)	Childminder after school pick up (to 9pm)
National Cost	£285.31	£279.60	£247.19	£246.95	£67.42	£72.36
Yorks & Humber	£255.98	£256.83	£230.83	£231.73	£58.79	£66.19
East Riding	£246.60	£231.50	£274.00	£231.50	£89.45	£67.80

Although the Family and Childcare Trust data shows that the East Riding average cost per hour is cheaper than the national average, up to date daily rates for day nurseries in East Riding range from £35 to over £55 with half of all day nurseries charging £45-£55 per day. There is no strong association between daily rates and sub-areas, with a range of charges being found in most areas, although the most expensive day nurseries charging £8.50 per hour was located in Hessle. Most preschools charge between £5 to £6 per hour (or £20-£25 per session) but can be as low as £3.50 per hour/session. Out of school clubs range from £3.50-£5 per hour, with school rates sometimes being cheaper again costing a nominal £3+.  However, all these figures are based on data collected on a voluntary basis from settings and are not therefore necessarily up-to-date or comprehensive. These figures do not reflect the cost of consumables charged on top, this is something we have received increased enquires about as childcare providers are altering their funded offers to parents and revising their business models in order to try and remain viable over the coming months/years.

 

Sufficiency of Quality of places

In East Riding as of September 2025, 98% of all PVI providers are judged by Ofsted as Good or Outstanding. This very high proportion of Good and Outstanding settings is also seen in all the sub-areas. There are therefore considered to be no sufficiency issues concerning quality of provision in East Riding.

 

Once a provider is registered on the Early Years Register, Ofsted carries out regular inspections to evaluate the overall quality and standards of the early years provision in line with the principles and requirements of the ‘Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage’. Newly registered providers on the Early Years Register will normally be inspected within 18 months of their registration date and at least once every 4 years after that.

 

The evaluation scale used for inspection

We use a 5-point scale to grade different areas of a provider’s work. From November 2025, we no longer provide an overall effectiveness grade for any provider inspected under the framework. Safeguarding is evaluated on a ‘met’/‘not met’ scale for providers.

 

The evaluation scale for each evaluation area, other than safeguarding, is:

 

Exceptional (highest quality provision): an evaluation area can be graded ‘expected standard’ when all the standards are met – this includes meeting the legal requirements and the expectations set out in statutory guidance, as well as the professional standards required of the particular type of provision, where these apply.

 

Strong standard: an evaluation area can be graded ‘strong standard’ when all the expected standards and all the strong standards have been met.

 

Expected standard: an evaluation area can be graded ‘expected standard’ when all the standards are met – this includes meeting the legal requirements and the expectations set out in statutory guidance, as well as the professional standards required of the particular type of provision, where these apply.

 

Needs attention: an evaluation area can be graded ‘needs attention’ when the ‘expected standard’ has not been met because some aspects of provision are inconsistent, limited in scope or impact and/or not fully meeting the legal requirements.

 

Urgent improvement (lowest quality provision): an evaluation area can be graded ‘urgent improvement’ when it needs urgent action to provide a suitable standard of education and/or care for children and learners.

 

 

Inspection grade percentage across the East Riding – gradings prior to the 31st October 2025. This will be updated to reflect the new inspection framework in early 2026 once a number of inspections have taken place.
 

 

[1] Family and Childcare Trust Childcare Costs Survey 2021