Nursery World - Nursery Chains: 30 hours

The roll-out of the 30 hours offer in September has been met with a mixed reaction in the sector. Charlotte Goddard speaks to chains of various sizes to find out how they are coping with delivery

For the education sector, it is September not January which marks the beginning of a new year, with all the changes that brings. This September saw the national roll-out of the 30 funded hours for eligible three- and four-year-olds; something that has been looming on the horizon ever since the policy was first announced in 2015.

While settings share many of the same challenges in delivering the 30 hours, nursery chains have some extra decisions to make, such as whether their approach should be the same for all settings in the group or vary depending on the needs of individual sites. Groups with settings in different areas may also find that the conditions imposed by local authorities vary, meaning a model that is accepted in one area is more difficult to run with elsewhere.

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