Nursery World - Council backs down over funded places plans for nursery staff

Lancashire County Council has made a dramatic climbdown over its decision to ban nursery workers with related children in their nursery from claiming free hours funding.

The move comes following a furious response from early years providers across the county, and just hours after Nursery World broke the story online.

The council had said that the definition of childcare in the Childcare Act 2006 precluded early years providers from claiming funding for any child where a relative was employed in any capacity at a setting that the child attends.

However, early years providers were told this afternoon that the council would be putting the plan on hold, pending clarification from the Department for Education.

An email addressed to providers from Alison Kenny, learning improvement support group manager, sought to reassure nurseries and said that after receiving a number of concerns from providers the council was seeking further clarification from the DfE.

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