Tory childcare expansion 'won't work' without help for struggling nurseries
Pouring cash into free childcare hours won’t solve deep-rooted problems facing nurseries and parents, MPs have warned.
The Commons Education Committee said the Government’s pledge to deliver 30 hours a week of childcare to children under five by September 2025 won’t work without help for nurseries left “straining to survive”.
Working parents of three and four-year-olds in England are eligible for 30 hours of free childcare per week under current rules, which will be expanded from next year. But in a report today, MPs warned that "structural problems" with funding and staffing in early years must be urgently addressed to ensure families can access quality childcare.
It comes after a survey by the Local Government Association found 88% of councils are worried that looming nursery closures will undermine capacity.
The Committee said expanding provision "should not come at the expense of quality" and sounded the alarm over plans to ease rules governing the number of children per staff member. MPs were "deeply concerned" about proposals to relax the ratio of staff to child from 1:4 to 1:5 in England from September, in line with Scotland and parts of Europe.
Nursery apologises after child with Down's syndrome ‘treated less favourably’
Parents are often left baffled by the complex patchwork of childcare entitlements (Getty Images/iStockphoto)The report said ministers should scrap business rates and VAT to ease the pressure on struggling nurseries which have been hit by rising costs.
It warned that "close attention" should be given to how funding is distributed - as "settings in disadvantaged areas already struggle more than those in more affluent areas, yet we know that it is children from disadvantaged families that can benefit the most".
The Government should also ditch the “free” hours label which is misleading to parents, and call them “funded” hours instead, the MPs said. The Committee also called for an overhaul of the “complex patchwork” of childcare entitlements to help baffled parents.
Robin Walker, Tory chairman of the Education Committee, said: “The childcare market is facing significant challenges in affordability and availability, with unprecedented staff turnover and nurseries closing, despite massive demand from parents who want a career and to provide for their families but struggle to find affordable services. It is clear that ministers have more work to do to address this.
“Simply extending the number of hours that the Government calls free will not work unless the funding rates accurately reflect the costs of providing high quality early education and childcare. "
Early years' providers warned they face a "perfect storm" of staffing issues and years of underfunding.
Purnima Tanuku, Chief Executive of National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) said: “Here is yet another report laying bare the challenges facing the early years sector. The Committee has made some important recommendations but without a magic goose laying golden eggs, nurseries will struggle to make this a reality.
She warned that without tackling underfunding in the sector "the funded childcare policy could fail".
Neil Leitch, Chief Executive of the Early Years Alliance, said: "Not only have years of severe underfunding plagued the sector but the worst staffing crisis in decades has created a perfect storm which must be addressed if the sector has any chance of survival in the coming years.
"If that wasn’t bad enough, it’s likely that the upcoming sector expansion will be dangerously underfunded and will place unrealistic expectations on providers already on the brink. But, if the Government had properly listened to our countless calls for sector support and funding, they would have known this."
Dad in stitches over 5-year-old daughter's sassy response to homework question
A Government spokesperson said: “We are rolling out the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever, set to save a working parent using 30 hours of childcare up to an average of £6,500 per year and give children the best quality early years education.
“To make sure that we are supporting our fantastic early years workforce, we will be investing hundreds of millions of pounds each year to increase the amounts we pay childcare providers. We also are consulting on how we distribute funding to make sure it is fair.”
* Follow Mirror Politics on Snapchat, Tiktok, Twitter and Facebook.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
