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The Pre-school Learning Alliance has rejected a claim by children and families minister Robert Goodwill that most early years providers are able to offer the 30 hours at current funding levels, and that those that can’t are “outliers”.

Responding to a question by Labour MP Luciana Berger on early years funding during Education Questions on Monday (6 November), the minister that he had “met a number of nurseries that seem to be outliers that, unlike most, are unable to deliver for that price”.

Citing an increase in the average funding paid to local authorities, the minister went onto question whether providers were struggling because they were working to less profitable ratios than more financially viable providers or perhaps had higher property costs.

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, said:                    

“It’s simply not possible that only a small handful of childcare providers are struggling to deliver 30 hours when we hear daily stories of businesses struggling to stay open at current funding rates. Alliance research conducted in August found that three-quarters (74%) of providers said the current funding rate is less than the cost of providing a place. If funding was an issue isolated to a few outliers, one wonders why thousands of providers have joined our Fair Future Funding campaign.

“The minister must know that, when providers are losing thousands of pounds per term, balancing the books is not a simple matter of tweaking ratios or finding other efficiencies. At present we have an unsustainable system where the onus is on providers to plug the gaps of underfunding by charging parents for ‘optional extras’ such as lunch and trips. That responsibility is for government to bear, not settings and certainly not the parents this policy was designed to help.

“Government must stop denying the shortfall in funding, stop claiming it is affecting a minority of providers and start taking action, beginning with a commitment to increase early years funding in this month’s Budget.”

The Alliance also welcomed clarification from the government on an inaccurate ministerial comment about how the 30 hours funded childcare offer should be delivered. 

Speaking during Education Questions in response to a question from shadow early years minister Tracy Brabin, Mr Goodwill confirmed that Suffolk MP Therese Coffey “was not correct” to state in a recent letter to local parents and providers that the 30 hours childcare offer is split into 15 hours of educational provision and 15 hours of general childcare without a specific educational focus. 

He added that Dr Coffey, who stated in the letter that 30 hours funding is “largely based” on the premise that the scheme is part childcare and part education, had “misheard something that was said to her”.

Commenting on the clarification, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, said:

“We’re very pleased the minister has confirmed there is no distinction between care and education in 30 hours funding. 

“It’s frustrating, however, that more than two months into the rollout of the scheme, there is still so much confusion surrounding the policy. More importantly, it’s difficult to see Dr Coffey’s original statement as anything less than a tacit acknowledgement that current government funding levels are too low to ensure providers are able to provide quality learning experiences across the whole 30 hours.

“Early years provision can’t be segmented into portions of care and education. The focus of providers is and always has been on delivering a service that both supports children’s learning and keeps them safe and happy. But if the government wants high quality care and education across the full 30 hours, it needs to put its money where its mouth is and ensure each and every one of those ‘free’ hours is properly funded.

ENDS

ABOUT THE ALLIANCE

• The Pre-school Learning Alliance is the largest and most representative early years membership organisation in England. A registered educational charity, it also provides high-quality affordable childcare and education to support children and families in areas of deprivation throughout the country.
• The Alliance represents 14,000 member settings and supports them to deliver care and learning to more than 800,000 families every year. We deliver family learning projects, offer information and advice, produce specialist publications, run acclaimed training and accreditation schemes and campaign to influence early years policy and practice.
•  The Alliance website is