Nursery World - Millions of pounds of unspent early years funding used to plug council deficits

More than £63.5 million of Government money to deliver three- and four-year-old places was unspent by local authorities in 2018/19, with just 15 per cent of the funding returned to childcare providers, an FOI investigation has revealed.

An investigation by the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), based on responses to Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, reveals that three-quarters of local education authorities (LEAs) in England underspent their childcare funding for the last financial year.

The NDNA says that the actual figure could be higher, as 21 LEAs did not respond to the FOI and responses from an additional two LEAs were unable to be analysed.

Of the 95 LEAs that reported an underspend, just 20 per cent passed on some or all of the money to childcare providers, totalling £9.6 million, either to increase the base rate for providers, supplements or provide a one-off payment.

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