PLANS to double free childcare hours for working parents confirmed by the Chancellor.
The chancellor has confirmed during his Autumn Statement, that from September 2017 childcare places for all three and four year olds will be increased to thirty hours.However, Early Years Carers warns the funding that will not be enough. The amount of funding that providers will receive will not cover the costs and could see many Early Years settings going out of business and shutting their doors.The 30hrs free childcare will only be for working parents.
The Chancellor confirmed tax-free childcare would be rolled out across Britain from 2017, helping many parents reduce childcare costs and get back to work full time. This may ease the financial burden on working families, yet places offered may see a decline as providers struggle to make up the difference.
Alongside the financial difficulty proposed through the increase in funded places, providers now have another increase added to their expenditure with the rise in the National Living Wage from April 2017.
Many Early Years providers across the country have taken a stand against the proposed rise in funded places, starting petitions and choosing to opt out of offering places. This may have an impact on the children and families who require places and may have to travel further to find settings who can help.
What can be done further to help this issue?
I’m curious as to how it will work for children who recive 1:1 support.
Personally I think it’s great that children are being offered more time in an educational environment. However I do agree that if the government up the hours, they should up the fund. Private nursery owners are being screwed mercilessly
Government are only part funding the sessions, early years businesses are funding just over half the cost . Up the funding to the living wage then settings may offer parents the funded places, if not they won’t
I welcome this increase. But feel to make up for the short fall, funding for those on income support should be cut. If u are capable of working, but choosing not to, why should your child have free access to childcare? Families in these circumstances are capable of looking after their children and should do so. Obviously this is not the same for disabled families who receive income support/disability allowance. So many parents who go to work struggle to pay for childcare, and it’s a vicious circle. These 30 funded hours will help working families tremendously.
Perfectly understand em giving working parents 30 hours funded but what gets me is thwm giving it to parebts who have no intentions of working. I mean lets face it if your not gunna work for a living either dont have kids or look after your own damn kids coz parents like me are struggeling to afford fees and childcare providers are struggeling to stay open due to not earning enough.
It seems ironic that the minimum wage is being increased to £7.50 per hour, but childminders, carers and others in this industry are being told we will have to work for less than half the minimum wage.
The funding is a great oppontity for families to go out and work and that its offered to all parents not just those on low income, but as a childcare provider to take on a funding child I will be loosing out fiancially, we will be paid a low wage to look after children. I already earn under the minimum wage and work long hours and put so much time and effort to make the children and families happy with my services. Not to mention all the hours spent doing prep and paper work unpaid then to offer 30 hours funding at less than my hourly rate is not fair on the child care providers.
Not only that but we are now going to have to pay into pension schemes for our staff so where is this money going to come from?