NDNA Survey Finds Nurseries Unlikely To Extend Hours Ahead of Government’s Free Childcare Scheme
Less than half of the respondents to The National Day Nurseries Association’s latest Annual Nursery Survey are ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ to become involved in the government’s incoming scheme to offer 30 hours of free nursery childcare per week to working parents of three- and four-year-olds. Pilots of the new scheme will commence this autumn, […]
Less than half of the respondents to The National Day Nurseries Association’s latest Annual Nursery Survey are ‘likely’ or ‘very likely’ to become involved in the government’s incoming scheme to offer 30 hours of free nursery childcare per week to working parents of three- and four-year-olds.
Pilots of the new scheme will commence this autumn, with a full roll-out planned for next year. Yet 45% of the survey’s respondents said that they were likely to extend the number of free hours they offer, citing concerns that the government funding for participating nurseries would not be sufficient to cover their costs.
The survey was conducted online and heard from 485 nurseries across England (equivalent surveys for Wales and Scotland will follow in due course). 92% of those nurseries surveyed were privately run, 7% were in the voluntary sector and the remainder were maintained.
In the survey report, the NDNA highlights what seems to be a historically high funding gap that works out at an average of £1.68 per hour per three- and four-year-old place. It goes on to note that the current offering of 15 hours free childcare per week for all three- and four-year-olds and some two-year-olds is resulting in an average annual loss of £34,000 per nursery, which is typically made up for by increasing fees.
According to NDNA Chief Executive Purnima Tanuku OBE, Ms Tanuku, “The nursery sector and the Government want the same thing. We all want to make 30 free hours childcare workable and sustainable. To achieve this, the sums have to add up. Urgent steps must now be taken to bring about the funding reform promised by the Government, so an economically viable hourly rate for high-quality childcare reaches the front line.’
Suggestions outlined in the survey report include:
• Ringfencing the early education funding block within funding for schools so that it can be spent on the free childcare offer only • Capping top-slicing by local authorities at a fixed national rate so that as much funding reaches childcare providers as possible • Equalising hourly rates across both private and voluntary nurseries and schools, so that free places can be delivered more sustainably • All nurseries being given full relief on their business rates, irrespective of the sector they’re in, in recognition of their educational and social contribution • Introducing zero-rated VAT on childcare, in order to keep fees low and encourage capital investment in nurseries
You can read the full report here; for more information, visit www.ndna.org.uk or follow @NDNAtalk
