PVI providers fear they've lost control of their businesses, hears conference

Speaking to NDNA’s panel of experts at Coventry Arena on Friday (7 June), Sarah Carr, group director of the Ashbridge School and Nursery Group, raised the issue of how providers are supposed to drive quality when they are not in control of setting their fees.

She said, ‘Investment has got to a level now, with 30 hours of funding rolling out to nine-month-olds, that what the government actually has in place now is a price cap on the sector.

‘We all know that the qualifications and the experiences of staff is the absolute key to making a difference. But we are being squeezed more and more, and the Government probably controls 60 or 70 percent of our income now.

'What we can charge is controlled to a very large degree. But the other end of the equation, where our costs sit, entirely depends on what quality we can provide because to get quality staff, we've got to pay them.

‘So how on earth do we drive quality, when we aren't in control of the other end of the equation which will set our fees? It’s been a gradual creep but that is the squeeze that we come into now after 20-30 years.’

'It's not in your hands anymore'.

Chief executive of NDNA, Purnima Tanuku, acknowledged what when it comes to running the business, it is ‘not in your hands anymore’. She said, ‘Not only what you do is controlled; what you deliver is controlled and what you pay is controlled.’

In the run up to the general election, NDNA’s manifesto will use the opportunity to try to get rid of the word ‘free’ childcare.

‘It will never be free, it's not free now, until they actually cover the full costs. This is an opportunity, if we're looking at it from the beginning, if we're asking for a commission to review this, to call it subsidised, call it part-funded but not free because that raises the expectations from parents in terms of what they're asking you in terms of the charges,’ she added.

Panel member, Ben Franklin, interim chief executive at the Centre for Progressive Policy, emphasised three areas that could cause reason for optimism, although he admitted that underlying some of them is ‘bad economic capital’.

‘At the moment, we've got very high levels of economic inactivity, and some of that is because of caring responsibilities that households have got. Our work has shown that there is an economic cost of not getting childcare right.

'There's more public money going into the sector so there should be more thought from the Treasury as to what value for money they are getting out of this in terms of economic returns. And those economic returns will only come if the sector is properly funded and can continue to do the role and not fall by the wayside, or if business models fail as a result.’

He added, ‘What’s less pessimistic from an economic inactivity point of view is what’s happening in regions and regional government. We work with Mayor Steve Rotheram of Liverpool, and one of his manifesto commitments for re-election was around childcare and early years. They are banging the drum about why childcare in early years is so important from an economic development perspective as well,’ he told delegates.

He said that although this was ‘a different argument than what we've heard today’, he does believe that ‘we're starting to push a movement where childcare actually is economic infrastructure’.

Further panel discussions

Panel members included Kathy Sylva, honorary research fellow and professor emeritus at Oxford University, who spoke about her research and the most important strategy to narrow the gap at school entry between rich and poor children is high quality, early childhood education.

Courteney Donaldson, managing director of childcare & education sectors at Christie & Co, spoke about sustainable provision and how the new government needs to focus on collaboration with the sector.