Early Years Foundation Stage consultations launched

Please see message below from DfE

 On 22 April the Department for Education launched a consultation on safeguarding requirements within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. This consultation is open to the public and those working in childcare.

 The proposals in the consultation aim to ensure the safeguarding requirements are as comprehensive as possible for providers and are suitably robust to keep children safe. The consultation proposals include:   

• Amendments to promote safer recruitment including new requirements to obtain references and requiring safeguarding policies to include procedures to follow to help ensure recruitment of suitable individuals. 

• Creation of new requirements for following up if a child is absent for a prolonged period of time and amendments to ensure providers hold additional emergency contact details. 

• Creation of new requirements to ensure safer eating.  

• Creation of a safeguarding training criteria annex and a requirement for safeguarding policies to include details of how safeguarding training is delivered and how practitioners are supported to put it into place. 

• Amendments to clarify that early years students and trainees are required to have paediatric first aid (PFA) training. 

• Amendments to ensure that children’s privacy when changing nappies and toileting is considered and balanced with safeguarding need. 

• A small number of other minor changes to the structure and wording of the safeguarding requirements to improve clarity. 

You can respond to the consultation here: Early years foundation stage (EYFS) safeguarding - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The consultation will be live for 8 weeks, and will be closing 17 of June. 

Separately on 22 April, DfE launched an additional EYFS consultation on the experience-based route for early years practitioners, following positive feedback from settings to this proposed change. This proposal recognises the valuable skills and experience that exist in the early years sector, and aims to give providers the flexibility to use staff more effectively by counting those without an approved qualification - but with sufficient experience - in the level 3 ratios. The consultation seeks views from the sector about how the experience-based route should work, including questions about the proposed decision-making model, eligibility criteria and process requirements.

Responses to the consultation are required by 20 May 2024. Take part in the consultation here: Experience-based route for early years practitioners - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).