Nursery World - Nursery Management: Free entitlement

Mary Evans talks to one London local authority that is determined to maintain a holistic approach.

The Government's change of focus in the provision of free nursery care and education for two-year-olds is creating new challenges for local authorities and early years providers.

'When we took part in the pilot, our original offer was for 80 places for two-year-olds for 7.5 hours a week,' says Janet Hicks, head of Early Childhood Services in Newham. 'That has now been extended to 211 places for 15 hours.

'The focus now is on low income, and that is entirely correct. We have a huge number of low-income disadvantaged children. The difficulty is in the process. Now when parents are offered a place they have to provide information about their income and benefits, which most of the parents - and the practitioners doing the assessments - don't like and find embarrassing.

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