Warning over future of nurseries

North Yorkshire County Council is currently working with nurseries, pre-schools and childminders to begin offering working parents 30 hours of free child care places for three and four-year-olds ahead of the national roll-out in September.

However, Josy Thompson, who owns three nurseries in Harrogate, said the money being offered by the Government to provide the service will not cover the costs of looking after the children.

She said: “Basically our problem is that the funding rate being offered across the country, particularly in North Yorkshire, is lower than how much it costs to deliver the service. We now know we are getting £3.90 per hour – 40p less than childcare providers in Leeds – which is basically taking us below cost. We are in a situation where even by offering the current 15 free hours, we are already making a loss.”

Mrs Thompson, who is spearheading a campaign against the scheme on behalf of around 50 childcare providers across North Yorkshire, said the only way to make up the shortfall was to charge for additional services.

She said: “We should at least be allowed to charge a top-up fee. However, the Government has told us we can’t do that.

“The problem is the Government has committed to something it can’t afford.”

Mrs Thompson has decided to trial the scheme in April. However, she will be charging for additional services and giving parents a choice to opt for a no-frills free place or to pay for extra services.

“The issue we have got is the Government telling parents it’s free. If they called it subsidised or funded, it would allow us to charge and it would at least cover costs. Most parents we have spoken to are with us, as they are just happy to be getting a reduced rate. We will just have to see what happens.”

The county council’s head of early years, children and Young people’s services, Andrea Sedgewick, stressed the authority was in full support of childcare providers and would be running a series of business support and locality planning workshops.

She said: “The workshops are about looking at how they structure charging parents for additional hours, goods and services at rates to meet the costs if and where possible.

“We, too, are equally concerned about the Government rates of funding. We are continuing to lobby locally and nationally to try and support the case of all our providers that this funding for early years is not enough. We are one of the lowest funded local authorities in the whole country and we are seriously concerned about that.

“We really value the high quality provision our early years providers make for children and families and we will be doing everything we can to support them.”

A survey by the Family and Childcare Trust published on Wednesday warned that more than half of councils are unsure if they will have enough childcare available when the new plans come into force.

A Department for Education spokeswoman said helping families with quality, affordable childcare was at “the heart of the Government’s agenda”.

She said: “That’s why we are investing a record £6bn per year by 2020 and our new fairer funding formula will mean the majority of providers receive increased funding rates.”