EARLY years funding will be at minimum levels until the final amount is confirmed to Powys County Council (PCC).

The Liberal Democrat – Green Group at PCC believes this is a  stealth cut in the funding.

They are calling on the council’s ruling Independent/Conservative group to confess to the cut,.

The Lib-Dem/Greens say that the primary school  governing bodies have received a letter from the education department saying: “Welsh Government has reduced the Foundation Phase Grant for 2019/20 and the reduced figure is now built into the funding pack.”

This is despite assurances from the Welsh Government that grant funding for  the foundation phase is the same this year as it was in the last financial year.

Lib Dem- Green group leader, Cllr James Gibson-Watt  who represent Glasbury, said: “I have received categorical assurances from the Welsh Government that its early years’ education funding to local authorities remains the same.

“Foundation phase funding is distributed to regional education consortia as part of Welsh Government’s Education Improvement Grant (EIG).

“Powys is part of the ERW consortium and ERW will receive the same grant in 2019/20 as it did in the last financial year.”

“PCC needs to clear up quickly why they are telling schools there will be a cut when funding is apparently being maintained at current levels.”

A spokesman for Powys County Council, said: “We have allocated funds according to a formula agreed by ERW.

“This agrees a minimum amount of funding for foundation phase education in Powys and the other five local authorities within the region.

“This funding has been allocated directly to schools’ budgets.

“The Welsh Government has indicated that the overall funding for EIG to ERW will remain the same in 2019/20.

“However, this has yet to be confirmed in a final grant settlement to ERW from Welsh Government.”

Along with PCC the ERW consortia is made up of Carmarthen, Ceredigion, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire and Swansea Councils.

The Foundation Phase is the developmental statutory curriculum for three to seven-year-olds in Wales.

It is based on the principle that early years’ education provision should offer a sound foundation for future learning through a developmentally appropriate curriculum.

The EIG provides financial assistance to schools, local authorities and regional education consortia to improve educational outcomes for all learners.

This funding must be used to support the requirement to deliver Foundation Phase staff to learner ratios of 1:8 staff to children.

The Welsh Government has committed to providing 30 hours of government funded education and childcare for three and four-year-old children of eligible

working parents for up to 48 weeks of the year.