Nursery group in the south concerned ahead of free childcare allowance increase
Two year olds will get 15 hours of Government funded care from April
Last updated 29th Jan 2024
A nursery group in the south is concerned it can't recruit enough staff to meet demand for free childcare.
We've been speaking to Tops Day Nurseries, who have locations across the south coast including Bournemouth, Winchester, Havant and the Isle of Wight.
They're preparing for the increased free childcare allowance for two year olds to have access to 15 hours per week from April.
Dominic Jones is their Regional Manager and says they've seen more people requesting spaces for their children.
"Since September, there's been a 20% increase and in families inquiring into our Tops Day Nurseries and that's rapidly increased over the past couple of months," Dominic said.
He added: "We've also seen an increase in children and waiting to be enrolled into the settings, that's where they've got it nice and early to get their space, but they may not start until saying April time already."
Three year olds currently get 30 hours of free childcare that's Government funded, while the 15 hours of care will be expanded from September to include little ones for just nine months old.
But Dominic told us that a lack of clarity from local authorities over funding rates was making preparations hard to manage.
"We just don't know what the funding rate is going to be," he said, adding that if they knew what was available, they could commit to projects that might open up more spaces for children.
"It's hard to make that financial decision of (installing) a nice big log cabin in one of our garden spaces that could take an extra 12 to 24 children.
"Until the local authorities can confirm what those rates of pay will be , I imagine a lot of settings in the early years sector will struggle to make those decisions in time for April."
And yet, even if they could offer more spaces, Tops could be restricted by their staffing levels.
He says it has the potential to cause young children to miss out on crucial early years development.
"Staffing is increasingly difficult," Dominic said, "In the past, we've started to access international recruitment and to support the sector to fill those really hard to reach vacancies.
"But with changes to immigration rules and the wage requirement being increased to £38,000 a year, it's increasingly more difficult to find those numbers of staff."