Parents are ‘paying for free nursery scheme out of their own pockets’
PARENTS are subsidising a new "free" nursery scheme for three and four-year-olds in England from their own pockets, a new study has claimed.
Nurseries are making up for shortfalls on government funding on providing the childcare by upping fees and charging for extras, such as meals, snacks and nappies.
The survey, by the Pre-School Learning Alliance, suggests only a third of nurseries are delivering the hours totally free.
Some nurseries claim that the policy, which offers up to 30 hours' free childcare, will collapse unless funding improves.
Three and four-year-olds were previously entitled to 15 hours' free childcare a week but the government has pledged to double this in 2015.
Families where both parents are working more than 16 hours a week, but earning under £100,000 as a combined income, qualify for the scheme.
The poll is the first to be carried out since the new scheme kicked in September.
Nurseries warn that they may not be able to survive
According to the survey over a third of nurseries said they are making up losses by upping fees for younger children.
While the same amount said that they were likely to charge for good and services that were previously provided free.
Others said that they were struggling to meet increase in wages, under the new living wage rules.
'I have to pay for my son's lunch even if he doesn't eat it'
MUM-of-two Gina Clarke, who lives in Hampshire, already pays £600 a month on childcare for her 2 year old son, Fred.
The 30-year-old marketing manager has noticed an increase in costs and no longer has the option to provide a packed lunch, even if he often doesn't eat the food she pays for.
She told The Sun Online: “I have to pay £2 a day for a hot dinner - which more than often he doesn’t eat as he prefers to eat a snack at 10am and have a snooze at lunch. But I have no choice but to pay it.
“His fees have also increased. This did coincide with the government's decision to offer 30 hours free childcare.
";They say it’s because they want to keep in line with competitors, but their competitors are either private of have better performance ratings from Ofsted.
"I means I’m now paying £600 a month for 8am to 3pm childcare. It’s a huge part of my salary.”
One staff member said: "We are already suffering financially and we will only see a few pence raise to funding per child and our staffing costs already exceed funding, so with the next large living wage increase, we may have to close our doors and thus the village will not have access to a community preschool. We have already have had to serve a redundancy.”
Another said: "It does not currently seem financially sustainable. If the funding rate does not increase, the only way we can still offer the places is by charging for extras a.k.a charging for the gap in under funding."
Rising fees and extra charges with parents footing the bill
A third of nurseries admitted that they now charge parents more - either in fees or extras.
Mum and dads spend an average of £116 per week - more than £6,000 a year - for a part-time nursery place of 25 hours a week according to figures from the Family and Childcare Trust.
But these fees vary greatly.
How much you spend depends hugely on what part of the country you live - but wherever you are the costs can be shocking.
What help is available for parents?
CHILDCARE can be a costly business. Here is how you can get help.
- 30 hours free childcare - Parents of 3 and 4 year olds have been able to apply for 30 hours free childcare a week since the summer with its introduction in September.
To qualify you must work at least 16 hours a week at the national living or minimum wage and earn less than £100,000 a year. - Tax credits - For children under 16, some working families can get up to £122.50 a week depending on their income to help with childcare costs.
- Childcare vouchers - If your employer offers childcare vouchers you can get up to £933 a year in tax and national insurance savings.
You pay for your childcare before your tax contributions are taken out.
This will remain open to new joiners until April 2018, when it is planned tax-free childcare will replace the vouchers. - Tax-free childcare - Available to working families and the self-employed, for every £8 you put in the government will add an extra £2.
- The full roll-out has been pushed back to March 2018.
Parents in London pay just over £8,000 a year for 25-hours a week care for under-2s compared to those in the west midlands, who pay £5,249 - an eye watering difference of £2,751.
Parents have also faced problems accessing the new service due to ongoing problems with the government's Childcare Choices website.
Nurseries also warned that they do not get enough funding from the government to run the scheme.
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance, said: “With the majority of providers forced to limit the number of genuinely ‘free’ childcare places on offer, and many set to increase additional charges for funded hours in the next year, it’s clear from these findings that the government’s flagship childcare policy is failing both providers and parents.
“This has left parents to pay the price for government underfunding through often unexpected charges for things like nappies, food and trips, while the government continues to claim that it’s delivering on its promise of ‘free’ childcare.
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“Worse still, with early years funding rates set to be frozen until 2020 despite inevitable rises in childcare business costs such as wages, rents and pensions, the pressure on providers – and, in turn, parents – is only going to get worse."
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We are investing a record amount of around £6 billion every year by 2020 in childcare and have doubled the free childcare available to working parents to 30 hours a week, saving them up to £5,000 a year per child.
“Providers can choose whether to offer 30 hours and what pattern of days and hours they offer parents. We have always been clear that government funding is not intended to cover the costs of meals or additional services. However, while providers can charge parents for additional extras, this cannot be a condition of the child’s place.”
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