MPs warn Government’s 30-hour free childcare plan is at risk
The Government’s commitment to offer three and four-year-olds 30 free hours of childcare a week may be in jeopardy if not enough childminders and nurseries are willing to offer up places, a group of MPs have warned.
In a pitch to working families across the country, the Tory manifesto contained a pledge to save parents of pre-schoolers £5,000 a year by doubling the current entitlement of 15 hours of free care a week.
Pilots of the scheme start this autumn but research suggests that fewer than half of nurseries are likely to extend free childcare places amid major concerns about funding.
MPs on the Public Accounts Committee have warned that some nurseries will choose not to offer the extra hours because of fears they will be left out of pocket.
Their report concluded: “Private and voluntary providers report that the amount they currently get paid for providing free childcare is not enough to cover their costs and they therefore rely on charging parents for additional hours or other sources of income to meet them…There is a risk that providers, who can choose whether or not to offer parents ‘free’ childcare, will choose not to offer the new entitlement of a further 15 hours because doing so would reduce their opportunity to charge parents for hours outside of the entitlement.”
The report also suggests small-scale pilot schemes are rolled out by the Department for Education to test whether providers are ready to offer parents the extra hours.
MPs also raise fears that many parents were “unsure what their rights to free childcare are” under the current system and suggest this issue would grow under the new system.
The Conservatives’ new childcare offer will come into force in 2017 and will be available to all families where all parents work – even those who work part time.
It will be in addition to existing entitlements, including tax free childcare and universal credit.
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, said: “The Public Accounts Committee is absolutely right to warn that there may not be enough providers willing to deliver the 30-hour free childcare offer next year if Government does not address the sector’s concerns…Independent research commissioned by the Alliance has shown that, even with the increased average rates promised by government, there is still likely to be a significant shortfall in funding when the scheme rolls out in 2017. Add to this the fact that many providers simply do not have the capacity to deliver extra childcare places, and it is clear that, without urgent action, many parents who have been promised 30 hours of free childcare may not actually be able to access them next September.”