Nursery World - Childminders more upbeat than nurseries over funding

Despite some early years providers and sector organisations remaining concerned following the Department for Education’s publication of the new Early Years National Funding Formula, there are indications that childminders may be feeling more upbeat.

Research carried out by PACEY, shared exclusively with Nursery World, suggests that the newly introduced floor rate is close to the fees that childminders currently charge.

While nurseries will feel the impact of rising business costs, including increases to the National Living Wage and business rates, childminders have much lower overheads.

The Government’s decision to introduce a new minimum rate of £4.30 for councils means that, in effect, at least £4 an hour will be passed on to providers to offer the 30-hour entitlement of free childcare for working parents of three- and four-year-olds from September 2017.

An extra £30m has been found in the DfE’s budget to support the introduction of this new rate.

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