Alliance slams plans to relax ratios in out-of-hours clubs

17th February 2014

The Pre-school Learning Alliance has criticised government plans to remove current staff-child regulations in after-school clubs.

Under the plans, one member of staff could be expected to look after as many as 30 children, compared to the current minimum ratio of 1:8.

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

鈥淣ot content with having to reverse the original proposals put forward last year - where there was overwhelming opposition from parents, the sector and anybody who has studied child development - the government continues to refuse to accept the wisdom of others, and so once again we have a consultation that is anything but. Only 16% of those who responded supported these proposals, while many argued that these plans would have a detrimental impact on the quality of out-of-hours care - and yet the government has seen fit to proceed regardless.

鈥淒uring the ratios debate last year, the government鈥檚 main argument was that ratios could be relaxed as long as staff were highly qualified - so how exactly can they justify removing not only ratio requirements, but also minimum staff qualification requirements for out-of-hours care?

鈥淭he government may try and paint these proposals as a removal of 鈥渞ed tape鈥 and 鈥渦nnecessary bureaucracy鈥 but these regulations are in place for good reason. This is yet another example of a policy which is all about cheap childcare and puts children right at the bottom of the list of priorities.鈥

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Notes for editors

  2. The Pre-school Learning Alliance is the largest voluntary sector provider of quality affordable childcare and education in England.
  3. Through direct provision and its membership of 14,000 nurseries, sessional pre-schools and parent and toddler groups, the Alliance supports over 800,000 children and their families in England. The Alliance also develops and runs family learning programmes, offers information and advice, runs acclaimed training and accreditation programmes and campaigns to influence early years policy and practice.
  4. For information about the Pre-school Learning Alliance, visit our website:

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