Part 1. General requirements

Universal Offer - General information relevant to all providers

This agreement applies to all Ofsted registered and legally exempt from registration early years and childcare providers in Cambridgeshire. You should read and confirm your acceptance of these conditions to access support from the local authority (or its commissioned support partners), including training and qualifications. 

Key responsibilities of Cambridgeshire County Council (CCC)

CCC has the following responsibilities set out in the Department for Education's early years statutory guidance - Early education and childcare (effective from 1 April 2025):

• The council must seek to secure a free early years place for every eligible child in Cambridgeshire.
• It should work in partnership with providers to agree on how to deliver places.
• It should be clear about their role and the support on offer in Cambridgeshire to meet the needs of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), as well as their expectations of providers, and
• The council must contribute to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people in Cambridgeshire.

Safeguarding

CCC has overarching responsibility for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children and young people in its area. It has several statutory functions under the 1989 and 2004 Children Acts, which make this clear, and the Working together to safeguard children guidance sets these out in detail.

The provider must:

• Follow the early years foundation stage (EYFS) and/or the Childcare Register requirements to ensure they have clear safeguarding policies and procedures in place for responding to and reporting suspected or actual abuse and neglect in line with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Safeguarding Children Partnership Board procedures.
• Nominate a Designated Safeguarding Lead to take responsibility for safeguarding.
• Ensure all staff have training to identify signs of abuse and neglect.
• Have regard to Working together to safeguard children guidance.

Additionally, staff should have access to the Stat guidance template* ‘What to do if you’re worried a child is being abused. Advice for practitioners.'

*Size: 320KB File format: PDF.

Delivery of the EYFS

The early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework is mandatory for all settings and schools that provide early years provision and early years providers registered with Ofsted or with an Ofsted-registered Childminder Agency in England.

The EYFS sets the standards that early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. It promotes teaching and learning to ensure children’s school readiness, and gives children a broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life.

SEND

CCC must strategically plan support for children with SEND, to meet the needs of all children in their local area as per the SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years - GOV.UK.

The council must be clear and transparent about the support offer in Cambridgeshire through its Local Offer. Parents and providers can access the Local Offer support through Cambridgeshire Online | SEND Information Hub (Local Offer).

Providers must have arrangements in place to support children with SEND. They must ensure that owners and all staff members are aware of their duties under the SEND Code of Practice 2014 and the Equality Act 2010. This includes:

• Having a clear approach to identifying and meeting the individual needs of children with SEND.
• Assigning specific responsibility to a member of staff (setting SENDCo), assuming responsibility for SEND, and ensuring access to appropriate training and support as offered by the council.
• Making information available about their SEND offer to parents and the council in support of its Local Offer.
• Utilising the SEN Inclusion Fund (SENIF) and Disability Access Fund (DAF) appropriately, in collaboration with parents, to deliver effective support to children in receipt of that funding.
• Providing information to the council when requested about the use and impact of SENIF.

Supporting disadvantaged children

The council should:

• Support all children to have the best start in life, and narrow the attainment gap for disadvantaged children.
• Promote equality and inclusion, particularly for disadvantaged families, children in care, and children in need, by removing barriers to access to free places and working with parents to give each child support to fulfil their potential.

Providers should:

• Ensure that they have identified the disadvantaged children in their setting as part of the process for checking Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) eligibility.
• Use EYPP and any other available funding streams or support to improve outcomes for individual children within this group.
• Ensure a Personal Education Plan is in place for children in care, working in partnership with social workers, carers and health visitors as required. The information must be shared with the Virtual School Head upon request.

Settings in Cambridgeshire are encouraged and supported to designate an Equalities Named Coordinator (ENCo), for whom training and support are provided by the council. Childminders are encouraged to engage with the ENCo approach and to access materials and training offered through the council.

EYPP provides additional funding to providers to support the quality of early education for eligible children taking up early education and childcare entitlements. The DAF supports eligible, disabled children’s access to the entitlements.

Partnership working

Partnerships will be supported by CCC on four levels:

1. Local authorities and providers.
2. Providers working with other providers, including childminders, schools and organisations.
3. Providers and parents.
4. Local authorities and parents.

CCC should promote partnership working between different types of providers, including childminders, across all sectors and encourage more providers to offer flexible provision alongside other providers.

The provider should:

• Work in partnership with parents, carers and other providers to improve provision and outcomes for children in their setting.
• Discuss and work closely with parents to agree on how a child’s overall care will work in practice when their free entitlement is split across different providers, such as at a maintained setting and childminder, to ensure a smooth transition for the child.

Intervention

For providers who are rated less than ‘Good’ by Ofsted or newly registered providers, CCC has a legal duty to provide information, advice and training on:

• Meeting the requirements of the EYFS.
• Meeting the needs of children with SEND.
• Effective safeguarding and child protection.

The council may intervene across all types of provisions in accordance with its statutory responsibilities under the following circumstances:

• The Ofsted inspection outcome of Requires Improvement.
• Ofsted inspection outcome of Inadequate.
• Ofsted inspection outcome of Not Met.
• Upon consideration of any information published by Ofsted or a childminder agency, including the recent history of childcare provision by a provider at a particular address.
• Where a local authority maintained school has been judged by Ofsted to require significant improvement or has been placed in special measures.
• Ofsted suspension of setting registration.

The intervention will involve one or more of the following:

• The provider will be required to engage with the council as part of the intervention process. An Improvement Adviser will be allocated to the setting, and a Setting Improvement Plan (SIP) will be developed.
• The provider will be required to cooperate with relevant specialists called upon to support any actions identified in a SIP.
• The provider will be asked to provide appropriate representation to any Early Years Rapid Improvement Groups (EYRIG) convened by the council.
• The council will undertake a funding risk assessment to identify if funding can remain where a setting has been judged Inadequate by Ofsted. Where a setting has been judged Requires Improvement, a funding risk assessment will take place to identify if funding can remain for disadvantaged two-year-olds.
• Where a provider registration has been suspended by Ofsted, funding will automatically be withdrawn until the suspension is lifted and the council is satisfied that the relevant actions have been addressed.
• The council will continue to monitor childminder agency providers following a second consecutive ineffective Ofsted judgement inspection of the agency if the agency has assessed the provider as being of acceptable quality.
• Where a childminder or childcare provider is registered with a childminder agency and the agency has indicated that the childminder or childcare provider is not of the appropriate quality, the council will undertake a risk assessment to identify if funding can remain.