Dorset nursery chain welcomes changes to childcare but issues a warning
Tops Day Nurseries say there is still a lot of work to do
The Managing Director of Tops Day Nurseries in Dorset has said she is pleased that the Chancellor has acknowledged the “important role of early years childcare and education providers.”
Yesterday afternoon, Jeremy Hunt outlined his spring budget in Parliament. He focused on a number of areas including continued help with energy bills, taxes and changes to childcare in the UK.
Working parents of children as young as nine months in England will be offered up to 30 hours of free childcare each week. This will happen over a number of years however.
Those on universal credit will also be able to receive more funding for childcare costs.
Cheryl Hadland, founder and managing director of Tops Day Nurseries, has established nurseries across the south with over 3,000 children attending in their care after opening their first nursery in Parkstone, Poole.
She said: “There's still a lot of work to do, but what I'm encouraged by is a fresh look at this in that Jeremy Hunt, and his team, are realising how very, very valuable early years provision is to working people.”
“The fact that many parents would love to go back to work, or work more hours if they had affordable, appropriate childcare for their families. I mean, The Chancellor specified at least a million parents who would like to go to work potentially, who cannot at the moment.”
Tops Day Nurseries had already received enquiries about accepting more children under the age of two at their locations yesterday.
However, costs of staffing the nurseries in the near future is a concern with the minimum wage rising in April.
“We've got minimum wage going up 10% in April and that will need to be reflected in the staff in the sector. We have to pay massive business rates…. So whether you’re a day nursery or a childminder, we have to pay all those bills at the moment. We've got the government giving us money in one hand but then taking it away in the other.”
It was also announced that the staff-to-child ratios for two-year-olds will change from one carer for every four children, to one carer for every 5 children - which is the case in Scotland currently.
Cheryl said that these changes, though optional, would affect the quality of care for 2 years old who are already struggling with their progress after lockdowns due to COVID.
“The two-year-old's going through at the moment, their language is less developed, their physical abilities are less developed. They haven't had enough, rough and tumble with other two-year-olds. Parents have had to be working at the same time as looking after those children at home.
"This is actually the opposite of what 2 year olds need right now. They need more support, they need more reading stories, they need more playing with other two-year-olds.”
“We're going to have to look at every nursery on their own and see whether we can do anything about reducing staffing in those two-year-old units. My gut reaction is highly unlikely in most rooms.”