Purpose

The decision to partially utilise the £98,000 capacity funding to recruit additional place-planning capacity has been made to ensure the Local Authority can effectively meet its statutory sufficiency duty within a short delivery timeframe to March 2027. The current team is under significant pressure due to multiple high-profile DfE programmes, including school-based nurseries, early years expansion,
wraparound childcare and free breakfast clubs, making additional capacity essential. The role being recruited is already established and has demonstrated
success in expanding provision across wraparound and early years entitlements, providing confidence in delivery. This work will be led by Kirsty Hanberry, SAC
Lead, ensuring strong strategic oversight. Alongside this, the Local Authority will commission targeted support to enable existing HAF and early years providers to become school-aged childcare providers, including support with Ofsted registration. This combined approach will increase sufficiency, expand provider capacity and ensure more parents can access childcare and associated funding schemes.

Decision

Local Authorities have a statutory duty under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006 to secure sufficient childcare for children aged 0–14 (up to 18 for disabled children)
To support delivery, the Doncaster Local Authority has been allocated £98,000 capacity funding, which must be spent by March 2027. The purpose of this funding is to increase Local Authority capacity to plan, develop and sustain a sufficient school-aged childcare offer.
Within the expansion programme, Local Authorities are expected to:
Lead local strategic planning with schools and providers
Ensure provision is sufficient, accessible and inclusive (including SEND)
Monitor demand, gaps and take-up
Report on delivery and outcomes (ODR – Operational Delivery and Reporting)
We would like to recruit an additional Place Planner to sit in the Early Education and Childcare Team to support mapping of existing Childcare in Doncaster.

Alternative options considered

Alternative options were considered but discounted. One option was for the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) team to manage and utilise the funding; however, this was not progressed due to existing capacity constraints within the team, and their Head of Service expressed a preference for the Early Education and Childcare
service to lead on delivery. A further option to create a new role was also explored, but this would have required job evaluation and a full recruitment process, delaying implementation and reducing the overall impact within the limited timeframe to March 2027. The preferred approach therefore ensures timely use of funding, maximises impact, and directly increases capacity where it is most needed.