Will your nursery be increasing fees for under two’s because of the rise in 30hrs free childcare?
Many childcare settings will be looking into raising childcare fees for under two’s to accommodate the 30hrs free entitlement. The government’s push for this free entitlement is going to see other parents suffer. David Cameron’s childcare plan is causing many childcare settings a financial worry as the funding being offer for the 30hrs free childcare is not financially sustainable. This will lead to over half of nurseries not offering this scheme.
The plans to double the free entitlement from 15hrs to 30hrs will mean a rise in fees for younger children. If this happens will those parents be able to afford nursery fees?
Nobody can blame nurseries in raising their fees to accommodate the shortfall in funding, but is this fair on those parents it is going effect?
Jill Rutter, head of policy and research at the Family and Childcare Trust, said without changes to funding there would be three likely outcomes.
“Some nurseries might say they’re not going to offer the extra hours, another possible effect is prices go up for parents outside the 30 hours, for ones and two-year-olds or for extra hours that parents buy on top of the free provision. (Thirdly) If you can’t do that, inevitably, some might go out of business,” she said.
Many childcare providers are all for supporting working families but more needs to be done to support childcare setting in offering these childcare schemes.