The Government expects childcare providers to start increasing free nursery education to 15 hours a week over 38 weeks a year from next month and to allow parents to access it flexibly over a minimum of three days a week.
This represents a challenge and a threat to the sustainability of some providers, who are still smarting from the DfES's new code of practice which prevents them charging parents 'top-up' fees to supplement the meagre nursery education funding (NEF) rations, the way many have been able to stay afloat.
Some of the most pressing issues for providers and local authorities charged with implementing the new arrangements have been tackled in the Childcare Implementation Project (CIP). Rochdale Council in Lancashire is leading the advanced guard of councils rolling out the extended entitlement from April (see box).
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