74% of providers say 30 hours funding doesn鈥檛 cover their costs

Karen Simpkin, managing director at Sunflower Children鈥檚 Centre in Sheffield, says that she is limiting the number of places her setting is offering and plans to review whether or not to continue at the end of this term.
Karen said: 鈥淭he main issue is the funding. Even if you only take into consideration the national minimum/living wage, the margins are extremely tight and not realistically do-able. On top of that, I鈥檝e got to cover business rates, utilities, admin, cleaning and equipment 鈥 the list is endless.鈥 She says that if the setting makes too much of a loss on the 30-hours, it will stop offering the places altogether.
Karen adds: 鈥淲hy should a reputable business have to ask for donations to make-up the shortfall from this poorly thought-out and poorly funded policy?鈥