kirby "It will work. Everyone had this panic about the 2 year old places and that worked out fine."
The point is though, it hasn't worked out fine.
"None have gone without a place in my area."
Our authority can't buy anywhere near enough places for the demand, let alone all the people who are entitled but then don't demand their place. They are hundreds of places short.
Our Nurseries have been subsidising each and every place. That's just for 'the place'. The funding then doesn't allow for any additional funding for children with SEN/D, or with huge social and emotional issues, or for the settings who have to attend regular CP meetings, fill in referrals, support families.
Nurseries just can't afford it, and I know already of some Nurseries who have been taking the funding but are withdrawing from the scheme now as they can't afford to do it.
Spartan "Our school only does morning sessions currently. So they will be able to increase theirs to accommodate".
Where I live and work, all school Nurseries are already full, all day ~ how do you think they are going to magic up the extra hours? It's either ignore the 30 hours requirement, or only be able to reach half the children.
Countryandchickens "I think this is a really good policy. I've been surprised at the resistance to it on here, in fact." - I don't think huge numbers of people on here think it would a bad thing if the government were putting their money where their mouth is. Fact - the EEE and 2 yr funding is not working due to lack of funding, so I think people are trying to understand how they are expecting twice as many hours to suddenly become available.