Over the last year, we have worked with our providers to emphasise the importance and benefit of overbooking, to minimise the impact of no-shows and reduce the number of wasted places. This has helped most of our providers, particularly those who fill their bookings but haven't always had full attendance, to bring their attendance up to meet or exceed the number of places they have been allocated.

In Bexley, we have also been tracking provider bookings closely as soon as the vouchers go out to parents.  The percentage of booked places has been added to a spreadsheet and colour-coded to show the providers who have filled their bookings, and those who we may need to provide support to.

This has been beneficial in ensuring that providers are being proactive in marketing and filling their places.  Our HAF Coordinator can intervene and provide support where necessary.  It also allows us to realistically assess whether a programme is financially viable and make decisions to either reduce their number of spaces, or recommend that they cancel their programme. We’re then able to redistribute places to other providers who have large waiting lists.  We can also use this data to make informed decisions when planning the overall programme for the next holiday period.

To encourage families who are on waiting lists to book onto other provision, we will be asking providers to limit their waiting list capacity. This will hopefully help to increase uptake for another provider who may not have filled their places.