Free childcare - a farce?

[aliatalia]

Does anyone think the government decided to offer free hours of childcare as an election strategy, which they don't care about or will share details on unless they win?
All local nurseries have said they won't offer it, so I'm guess they decided to fund it knowing that no one will be able to take it up!

It was announced as a policy with clearly very little research into the feasibility of it. Yes affordable childcare is a big issue and it deserves a lot more airtime and consideration by those in power. But a promise with very little detail or backup is exactly what this is, and I strongly doubt they have any intention of making sure they can deliver on it.

I assume the point is that some providers know or believe their private client group won't pay the extra necessary to make the increased funded hours viable. The top up fees can't 'just' increase. They can increase to the amount that the market will bear, and no more.

It was just a sound bite from the Tories to pretend they care.

The Government are going to have to make sure that they actually cover the full cost of the funded place. The main issue is that there is a massive lack of qualified staff as the pay is so low. I earn 18p an hour more as a nursery practitioner than I do working my evening retail job. Add in the stress, paperwork, challenging children/parents, it's not an appealing job.

I'm amazed by how many people I see basing their future plans on this random promise from a dying government who won't be in a position to make it happen.

Lots of nursery’s don’t ask for top ups as a part of the funded hours scheme there should be opportunity for children to access the hours without a cost.
Some nursery’s are talking about offering the hours only within a set time of day, such as 12-6pm, knowing most parents would then pay for 7-12

Our nursery just announced the price increase from Jan and also what the funded hours fees will be. They're adding extra fees on top of the funded hours which means we'll be back to square one with the fees being close to what we already pay. Pointless. But I do feel for the nurseries trying to recoup the costs with extra staffing needed etc. The system is broken, I might as well not be working as the fees are already astronomical.

There is the opportunity though, they are pre-school nurseries.

If you only want to access the fully free, term time short days covered by the 30 hours then join a preschool nursery.
A private day nursery can make up whatever requirements for the hours that it likes.
For the vast majority of parents using private nurseries paying for 7-12 and then not 12-6 is hugely preferable.
Considering free preschool nurseries already exist why should parents who use private nurseries not be able to access help with fees too?

I know a nursery that is offering it, no top up fees and it’s got an outstanding ofsted in a lovely area but they are the only one.

I imagine it will come in (up to the point of what can come in before the general election) but most nurseries will have to charge a huge top up.

Have they not just told you details on the current funded hours?

Nurseries haven't been given any information on the new funded hour price they will receive from their LA for the start of the expansion of the hours in April so I don't know why a nursery would guess and provide parents with a price from April using the new funded hours for 2 year olds.

I think people are just hopeful that the childcare sector has hit breaking point and needs reform now rather than further increasing costs.
When I have 2 in full time nursery it will total £550 a week and that is including the older one receiving the current 30 hours for 3 year olds.

Jeremy Hunt did address the shortfall issue and is looking to fix it given they have acknowledged there's a problem. Hence why they are rolling it out slowly so the nurseries have time to adapt etc.
It probably has already occurred to them that if they don't offer enough the nurseries will close? But maybe let's all just be really negative and assume we're going to be worse off.

Hm I didn't realise it was still being worked out with the LA's but from the email we received yesterday it looked like their fees were set for the start of the April scheme. I might have a word with them and see whether this is due to be changed but as other people have said, the government might just change their stance on the whole thing 🤷‍♀️

@Boymummyofone so there is currently 2 year funding in place for very low income families/ those on certain benefits /disability etc and I wonder if your nursery have assumed it's this rate that they will be given? Unlikely as that's something different.

Do you work in a childcare setting or are you coming at this from a parent perspective? Trying to work out who you think is negative?

Nothing in life is free. It's paid for somewhere by someone.

I hate the notion of being entitled to free stuff.

@Coffeerum if I used a pre-school nursery I wouldn't be able to work. They're only usually open during school hours and obviously term time.

The reason we use a private nursery is like so many parents who use breakfast and after school clubs - they provide the cover and care we need in order to be able to work.

The Government have announced this "policy" - and I use the word loosely, in order to shore up the vast majority of the electorate they have ignored for the past however many years. They haven't done the homework, consulted the actual people who would be required to put this into place, and then are expected to suck up the shortfall. It's well publicised that the early years childcare shortage in this country is just getting worse, and that it is affecting children growing up - why wouldn't you want to invest in your kids and give then the best foundations possible?

I get that it is expensive (hell, LIFE is expensive), and yes there should be more thought put in to these offers/incentives from the Government, but consistent underfunding year after year does not help.

Yep. Proves it's a vote winner. More lies.

Personally I'd rather not have the funding and have reliable, quality childcare. So many nurseries are losing qualified staff and struggling to run well/competently with unqualified staff that you can see that they will end up failing full stop. One of our nurseries around here have lost multiple staff and a recent ofsted inspection have now labelled them as inadequate in all areas. This is not sustainable.

There's no such thing as top up fees and hasnt been for a while. When the funded hours initially came in, nurseries treated them as partial funding. E.g. if the cost per hour was £6 and the government gave them £4 for 5 hrs a day, you'd pay £2 per hour for your 4 funded hours then paid full price for the remaining 2 hours. Essentially paying £22 total with a £20 subsidy from the government.

Nurseries were explicitly told they were not allowed to do this. Instead they now have to give you the free hours completely free but their costs haven't changed and they're losing money on every underfunded hour. So to survive they hike up the hourly rate for non funded to £10 an hour, or charge extra for food and nappies.

I'm pretty sure that the reason the Tories announced the policy was in response to Labour saying they would do something similar (if not more generous) so whilst I take your point that nothing is guaranteed, it seems likely that when the Tories get voted out, Labour will continue with the policy (if already in place) or enact something similar. We have a very tight labour market (one of the reasons inflation has been worse in the UK than is other western nations) and childcare is seen as being a good way to get people back into work.

Out of interest - in what way do you think the funding reduces the quality of care nurseries are able to offer? We live in an expensive part of the country so the funding only contributes a small amount to the overall cost of the hours. The nursery doesn't get less money because the funded hourly rate is less than the stated fees it just gets some from the government and some from the fee payer.

People are right to be sceptical about this policy. This government does not have a history of investing in education at any age and are clearly unbothered by the childcare issue as it's women who are mainly affected in terms of being customers and employees.
As 0-2 year olds currently subsidise the 3-4 year olds, I would predict more nurseries closing or fees for every age to rise so that the lack of government funding doesn't cause the business to fold. The government will then blame the nurseries rather than find nurseries properly.

I think that there will be more announcements like this that will act as a trap for the next Labour government.

@Boymummyofone have I read that right... it costs over £2k to send a 2yo to your nursery a month? £24k a year?

I can't work this out. Is it saying you would be paying over 2k for a full time place for an under 2, with the funding in place?
Surely those are the fees without the funding?