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By Rachel Lawler

 

The Department for Education鈥檚 (DfE) evaluation of the 30 hours has revealed that 39% of participating settings saw a decrease in their profits. 32% of participating providers also said that the scheme had increased their costs.

 

Funding was a key issue for many providers. 48% of those that didn鈥檛 take part, said that this was due to the low funding rate. 23% said they would consider offering the 30 hours in the future if the funding was increased.

 

Those who said that the 30 hours had increased their delivery costs said that this was due to the increased staffing costs required to deliver the policy.

 

The findings come from the DfE's , which took place in four local authorities: Dorset, North Yorkshire, Leicestershire and Tower Hamlets.

 

The DfE surveyed 1,212 providers and conducted in-depth interviews and focus groups with 40 parents, 43 providers and 24 local authority staff. Unlike the early implementer scheme, providers taking part in the early rollout were given the same level of funding as the main offer.

 

The report was published yesterday, shortly before the nationwide roll out of the scheme today.

Alliance concerns

Neil Leitch, chief executive at the Alliance, said that the findings were 鈥渃oncerning, but unfortunately not surprising鈥�.

 

Neil said: 鈥淛ust like the early implementer pilot, childcare providers taking part in the 30 hour offer reported higher costs and lower profits. Is it any surprise, then, that a significant proportion of providers in the four early rollout areas chose simply not to deliver the extended hours?鈥�

 

He added: 鈥淲ith the national rollout of the scheme imminent, it鈥檚 time for government to stop pretending all is fine and start making the changes needed to ensure that providers can support this policy without risking their sustainability and that parents can actually access the 鈥榝ree childcare鈥� they were promised.鈥�

 

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