麻花影视

Please find below a comment from the Early Years 麻花影视following the publication of updated statutory guidance for local authorities on how early years settings should deliver the early entitlement offers, including rules on additional charges. 

Commenting, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said:

鈥淲hile we fully agree that families should be able to access early entitlement hours without incurring additional costs, in reality, years of underfunding have made it impossible for the vast majority of settings to keep their doors open without relying on some form of additional fees or charges.  

鈥淎s such, while it is absolutely right that providers should be transparent with parents on any optional additional fees, today鈥檚 guidance does absolutely nothing to address 鈥� or even acknowledge 鈥� the fundamental financial challenges facing the sector.  

鈥淕iven that from September, government will control the price of around 80% of early years provision, it has never been more important for that funding to genuinely reflect the true cost of delivering places. And yet we know in many areas, this year鈥檚 rate increases won鈥檛 come close to mitigating the impact April鈥檚 National Insurance and wage rises, meaning that costs for both providers and families are likely to spiral. 

鈥淪o, while today鈥檚 guidance may rightly make charges clearer for parents, it does not take away from the fact that unless the government takes urgent action to tackle sector underfunding, many providers will still have no choice but to increase the price of any non-funded hours parents take up or optional extras they purchase 鈥� or risk facing permanent closure.

鈥淚f the government is as serious about ensuring that all families can access affordable care and education as it says it is, then it simply must tackle the root causes of rising early years costs. As we know from the past decade and beyond, ignoring the problem of underfunding won鈥檛 make it go away.鈥�