Self Evaluation Toolkit – Business

Business disciplines are not traditionally skills that one would associate with early years education and childcare but,theirneed within the workforce has become more and more prevalent with the advent of increased demands placed upon settings by statute, regulatory bodies and communities.

To help settings increase and hone these skills this toolkit outlines the fundamental areas a setting would need to be aware ofto increase the settings’ effectiveness.

Hampshire County Council’s Services for Young Children has a philosophy of not prescribing methods of managing and operating settings but empowering their management and providing tools and commonly requested (and required) training courses where practicable, tohelp them operate to a level that will meet primarily the needs of children, the community at large and regulatory bodies.

Two of the current primary business issues are the balance between quality of practise against setting sustainability and the need for effective leadership and management within the setting.A number of the non-business issues already outlined within this toolkit this have a very important part in defining the direction of the business i.e. vision.

As an appendix to this toolkit is a Business Health Check, this incorporates the elements that need to be addressed, by working through the health check and addressing any weaknesses (with support from your Business Support Officer as necessary) setting management will feel more assured regarding the longevity of the setting.

Using the Health Check.

To use the descriptors effectively apply an evidential approach to each one.

For example the descriptors below will align with evidence that the practice in question is in place, if it is appropriate for your business.

Inadequate but establishing / Satisfactory and Developing / Good and enhancing / Outstanding maintaining and innovating

So for example if your business is a charitable company limited by guarantee, and you did not file your returns with Company’s House and the Charity Commission on time, then you would evaluate yourself as “inadequate but establishing” under Management and organisation – fulfilling the legal requirements of your organisation structure. (point 3) If however you had robust systems in place to ensure this could not happen and a member of your management team or the company secretary took responsibility for it then you might evaluate yourself as “Outstanding maintaining and innovating”

The Health check addresses …..

Market Research

Market research (definition)

“Process of making investigations into the characteristics of given markets, e.g. location, size, growth potential and observed attitudes.” Chartered Institute of Marketing 2010

This is the understanding of the wider communities needs in respect of childcare and support for young people and families.

Management and Organisation

This is identifying what type of legal structure the organisation has and what are its vision, goals and objectives and understanding why.

The organisation should have a clearly defined structure which will outline levels of responsibility for the role holder. These areas of responsibility will then be broken down into role or job descriptions so that each post holder knows what they have to do to fulfill their role.

This clarity in roles and responsibilities is vital in ensuring leadership and management roles are defined and understood.

Once clear about roles and responsibilities there are a number of tools that can be utilised to maximise effectiveness, from a human resource perspective these can include job and person specifications, appraisal systems and training plans or more generically SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats) / PESTEL (Political Economic Social Technological Environmental Legal) analyses.

Business Planning

There are a variety of templates and definitions for a business plan, non are definitive and it really is for the author to compile as it deems appropriate but it can be considered that “A plan is an idea until it is written down”

To achieve organisational goals, objectives and the ultimate vision, planning needs to take place. Writing it down focuses the mind, empowers all contributors and communicates the message to relevant stakeholders ensuring continuity and clarity, an organisation is far more likely to achieve its objectives if they are planned.

Please see these business planning documents as compiled by Surestart:-

Financial Planning and Management

Financial sustainability is imperative, without this there is no setting irrespective of levels of quality or inclusivity.

Financial controls by way of forecasting, at least monthly management accounts (comparing actual against forecast) and end of year accounts are all methods of defining and measuring financial performance. This information must be used to help plan and “execute” the operation.

It is important for settings to appraise its financial situation, i.e. borrowing, banking arrangements regularly to ensure that it is not costing any more than it should and that all other costs are controlled.

A variety of cashflow templates have been written by the Business Support team and is posted on the Services for Young Children website there are also other branded software packages on the market to support these functions.

Funding and Fundraising

There are a variety of different ways to fund early years settings. Currently the government pays for 3 and 4 year old children to uptake 15 hours “free childcare” within an Ofsted registered early years setting from the term after their third birthday until they go to school.

Because these payments are restricted to just the 15 hours then there will need to be a parental contribution for hours above this level.

For privately owned entities there may need to be a capital injection by the business owner at the start up phase or throughout of the operation to ensure sustainability although for “not for profit” entities it may be possible to access funding through grant giving organisations.

It is possible for charitable entities to access “Gift Aid” through Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

Premises

A premises protocol has been written by he Business Support team and is posted on the Services for Young Children website

The purpose being to ensure that settings have security of tenure for an appropriate rate that will not compromise the setting or landlord and allow a long term relationship, resulting in continuity for parents and security for the setting and its stakeholders.

Employment

Early years education and childcare is a service “industry”, therefore it is people oriented and its “customers” are people (i.e. not businesses).

Therefore the setting staff are its assets and they must be appropriately qualified, trained and experienced to deliver the appropriate level of care and education.

Qualifications on their own aren’t a reflection of a persons ability, this will often be reflected in their attitude, this will include their ability to develop relationships with the children, the children’s parents, their colleagues and other stakeholders i.e. members of the Local Development Team, landlord, committee members, etc.

Staff are a huge proportion of the overall cost of the setting so it is important that their effectiveness is measured as opposed to the number of practitioners within the setting.

Recruitment

To ensure that the right person is recruited for the right role an effective and stringent recruitment procedure needs to be in place, this ranges from the organisational chart, through to the point someone is issued with a contract of employment and inducted into the setting.

Hampshire County Council’s Services for Young Children has issued guidance on recruitment

Because of the needs of settings to safeguard both children and staff members a safer recruitment process needs to be followed, this will ensure all staff members are CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) checked and that any breaks in their employment are accounted for.

Hampshire County Council’s Services for Young Children has issued guidance on safer recruitment

Registration

There are a number of registrations that need to take place but the most obvious is the need to register with Ofsted. Without this registration you will not be permitted to operate and could be prosecuted if you fail to comply.

The registration needs to be appropriate to the organisation i.e. for sessional or full day care and if you are outside of the compulsory registration requirements you can join its voluntary register.

You will also need to register with Hampshire County Councils Services for Young Children so that the setting is eligible for the Extended Flexible Entitlement grant.

If you are preparing food on site you will to be registered with your local authorities environmental health department.

Quality Assurance

There are a number of quality assurance schemes for early years settings, most of which are listed in other areas of this toolkit.

From a business context high quality provision is the best marketing tool possible, if parents are happy with the service the setting provides they will tell their friends, therefore it is worth checking the return on the investment of a quality assurance program.

Marketing

Marketing (definition)

“Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.” Chartered Institute of Marketing 2010

There are many aspects to marketing and this is closely linked with market research ….. it is imperative that the setting management knows and understands its marketplace, how it can engage with it and retain its population as “customers”.

It is advisable to compile a marketing plan, cost its activities and forecast its return in respect of numbers of children attending the setting and the amount of money that is generated and then compare them to the actual and if there is a variance ascertain why and impart any changes to ensure the relevant target is met.

Services for Young Children – Business Support Team – October 2011