Government plans new 30-hour evaluation
By Shannon Hawthorne
The Department for Education (DfE) is planning to commission an evaluation of 30 hour funded childcare offer in 2018, children and families minister Robert Goodwill has confirmed.
On Thursday 19 October, shadow early years minister Tracy Brabin asked in a parliamentary question whether the DfE plans to monitor the level of additional charges placed on parents accessing funded childcare by providers.
In response, Robert Goodwill confirmed that the government is 鈥渃urrently procuring an independent evaluator to conduct an evaluation of the first two terms of national rollout of 30 hours in 10-20 local authorities across England鈥. He added that this evaluation will 鈥渋nclude qualitative research to understand charging practices鈥.
DfE guidance
He also confirmed that under DfE rules, early years providers can charge for additional good and services, but cannot make these charges a condition of taking up a place. He also stated that 鈥渢he duty of the local authority to ensure that providers are not charging parents inappropriately鈥.
In July 2017, the Department updated the Early Education and Childcare: operational guidance to state that parents should 鈥渆xpect to pay鈥 for meals, consumables and activities. Previously, the guidance had stated that providers 鈥渃an鈥 charge for meals and snacks as long as parents were not required to pay as a condition of taking up an extended entitlement place.