Nursery World - DfE confirms new early years funding rates for 2020-21

The Department for Education has announced an extension of supplementary funding for nursery schools, along with a boost to childcare funding rates of up to 8p per hour, per child.

Making the announcement today, the education secretary Gavin Williamson has confirmed that maintained nursery schools will continue to receive supplementary funding in 2020-21, which will be provided to local authorities to enable them to fund the settings at higher rates.

The Government allocated supplementary funding for maintained nursery schools in 2017, which was due to expire in 2020.

Last month, the National Education Union (NEU) warned that nursery schools could lose nearly a third of their budget by September 2020 if the Government did not renew their funding.

Speaking about today’s announcement, Beatrice Merrick, chief executive of Early Education, said, ‘We welcome confirmation of supplementary funding for maintained nursery schools for the full 2020-21 year, and Government's signals of a long-term commitment to this small but vital part of the early years sector. We are delighted that ministers understand they key role nursery schools play in the sector.’

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