Nursery World - Sum it up

Changes to the rules for Nursery Education Grant have private providers up in arms and fearing bankruptcy - perhaps unnecessarily, says Ross Midgley The entire private nursery market in the UK is about to collapse under a sustained Government attack on its business model. Or so you might think, to judge by some of the reactions to the Government's Code of Practice on free nursery education places. Providers throughout the south-east are quitting the scheme, and the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) has launched a major lobbying campaign. But how real is the danger? What is all the fuss about?

The entire private nursery market in the UK is about to collapse under a sustained Government attack on its business model. Or so you might think, to judge by some of the reactions to the Government's Code of Practice on free nursery education places. Providers throughout the south-east are quitting the scheme, and the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) has launched a major lobbying campaign. But how real is the danger? What is all the fuss about?

Settings such as voluntary pre-schools and playgroups - which mainly offer stand-alone funded sessions - are rightly concerned that the funding needs to cover their costs. There are suggestions that local authorities are diverting too much of their funding allocation to early years places in schools, and not enough to the PVI sector. Some transparency in this area would be welcome.

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