The coalition Government has confirmed that the extension of the free entitlement for threeand four-year-olds to 15 hours a week will go ahead in September. It was interesting to see that children's minister Sarah Teather referred to this in her column last week only as 'free childcare', rather than nursery education!
However, there is as yet no word on the vexed issue of top-up fees. There is disagreement over the principle of private and voluntary sector nurseries charging parents extra fees on top of the hourly rate that they receive for the free entitlement, which many say does not cover their costs.
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