Today’s news review looks at a report by the Pre School Learning Alliance on the cost of childcare.
Childcare funding
On Thursday, 29 September, the Pre School Learning Alliance put out a report claiming that childcare costs are likely to increase over the next three years due to changes to early years funding.
The story was picked up by the Telegraph and BBC Online.
The claims that nurseries will have less funding do not acknowledge that the allocation of money will be made much fairer and take into account both current and expected cost pressures. We are also investing billions of pounds into the sector each year.
A Department for Education spokesperson said:
We are investing a record £6 billion per year on childcare by the end of this Parliament, including £300 million per year to raise the hourly funding rate for nurseries, playgroups and childminders. As a result of our proposed changes – including allocating funding more fairly across the country and a requirement for local authorities to pass on 95% of funding to the frontline – the vast majority of providers can expect to see their funding increase.
These changes will come into effect from April next year and are based on evidence that takes account of current and expected cost pressures.
More detail on our 30 hour free childcare offer can be found here.