Nursery World - 30 hours childcare ‘is limiting choice’

There is increasing concern about the impact of the 30 hours on the availability of places for working parents, and a growing outcomes gap for disadvantaged children not eligible for the extended entitlement.

Wakefield Council has warned parents are facing ‘limited choice’ in some areas, after a loss of 38 childminders in the past 12 months, down to 248, and the closure of three nurseries.

These closures have implications across all areas of the childcare market, not just early years funded education, the council warned.

Its Schools Forum report on childcare sufficiency, the 15- and 30-hour entitlements, and the impact on places, stated, ‘The childminding sector is of particular concern as childminders offer the greatest flexibility to parents and provide care outside of the normal school hours. In some areas parents have limited choice if they want to take the 30 hours in one place or have further difficulties if a collection service is not offered from certain schools. This is further exasperated by falling childminder numbers.

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