Findings from a report commissioned by the local authority warn of the impact to private, voluntary and independent settings of extending the free early education entitlement The report suggests that the vast majority of PVI providers would have to withdraw from the nursery education grant funding scheme if they are unable to charge top-up fees.
Forty-three per cent of three- and four-year-olds in the London borough attend private, voluntary and independent settings.
Furthermore, 81 per cent of PVI settings were only able to offer free education places as part of full daycare provision.
The survey was carried out with a representative sample of 16 providers from the borough: six private, five voluntary and four independent settings.
The report said, 'Only two PVI providers (a voluntary provider and a very large private provider) were able to offer a small number of nursery education places free at the point of delivery.' Providers receive 'just over 3 per child per hour' in Camden. This has gone up by 30 per year for 33 weeks since the report's publication.
The report also found that providers felt that parents would not mind paying more and that most nurseries could only offer a limited number of free places.
There was also a lack of awareness among nursery owners about what changes to the Code of Practice actually meant.
'Nearly all the providers felt that, if they were forced to operate this way, it would lead to them pulling out of the NEF. This applied to a large number of providers that had already signed and returned the letter to Camden, as they admitted to not having read it carefully enough to understand the implications of the charging policy.'
The report was the focus of a 3 November meeting attended by representatives from the DfES, the Treasury, Kensington & Chelsea, Hackney, Lambeth and Westminster councils, nursery owners, and the National Day Nurseries Association, 4Children and Daycare Trust.
Barbara Sampson, head of early years and Sure Start at the London Borough of Camden said that the report had been commissioned in light of the response from PVI providers to the new Code of Practice. She said that when Camden sent out a letter to PVI providers earlier this year including the new terms and conditions they asked providers whether they would be able to offer the 38 week entitlement and whether they would be able to offer early education places 'free at the point of delivery'.
She said, 'We were afraid we were going to lose providers after we were inundated with people saying they couldn't do the free offer.'
Speaking after the roundtable meeting Ms Sampson said, 'It was very obvious that the concerns were not just ours. We just want to find a way through and keep the providers on board.'
