The unpublished analysis of free entitlement funding produced in August 2008 was commissioned from Manchester Business School by the Major Providers group, ten of the largest nursery groups in the UK, amid serious concerns about the variable funding rates paid by local authorities.
The group was concerned that due to increased financial pressures the free entitlement - which is not ring-fenced within the schools budget, the Dedicated Schools Grant - was being withheld by local authorities and funding was not being passed on to nurseries.
The report claims that of the total budget of £3.63bn for the free entitlement in 2006/07, only £3.1bn was shown as free entitlement expenditure by local authorities in their LA S52 returns for free entitlement spending and published by the DCSF for 2006/07.
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