Making the announcement today (17 October), the Department for Education (DfE) said it is ‘taking action’ to tackle reported instances of parents facing ‘very high’ additional charges on top of the funded hours. It confirmed that his will be done in a way that makes the hours ‘accessible and affordable’ for all families that need to take-up the offer.
It added that ‘top-up fees’ could include mandatory extra charges for nappies, lunch or other ‘consumables’, and should not be made a condition of accessing a place.
The news, which forms part of a wider announcement on funding for school-based nurseries, comes after the DfE has agreed to replace the word ‘free’ with ‘Government funded’ from any marketing materials on the 15 and 30 hours.
The DfE said it will be engaging with local authorities and providers in the coming months to clarify its statutory guidance on charging, which will include so-called ‘top-up fees’ and consider how it better supports local authorities to ‘protect’ parents from overcharging.
The Early Years Alliance argued that many in the sector will be ‘understandably frustrated’ at the mixed messages coming from Government.
Chief executive Neil Leitch explained, ‘We fully agree that it is important that providers are clear and transparent with parents on any additional fees and charges being issued beyond the funded hours. That said, many in the sector will be understandably frustrated at the mixed messages coming out from Government. The Department for Education recently confirmed that going forward it will refer to the early entitlements as “Government-funded” rather than “free”, under DfE guidance, providers are still not allowed to ask parents to subsidise the insufficient rates they receive from Government.
"At the Alliance, we believe that every family, regardless of their income, should be able to access affordable and high-quality early years provision - and we know that nurseries, pre-schools and childminders do their best to keep costs low. The reality is, however, that years of underfunding have made it impossible for the vast majority to stay afloat without introducing some form of additional charges.
‘Ultimately, the only way to ensure that early education is genuinely affordable for all is to ensure that sector funding reflects the true cost of delivering high-quality early years provision, both now and in the future. Without this, all the guidance clarity in the world won't actually help make places more affordable for parents.’
Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), agreed that providers need to charge parents for meals and other consumables as Government funding has ‘never been there to cover all aspects of a place'.
She added, ‘Any conditions put on providers to deliver this must be done in consultation with the sector to ensure fairness, consistency across local authorities and the sustainability of settings.’
- Do you want to comment on this article, email us: news.nw@markallengroup.com
