N Family Club to offer low-income families free childcare places
Katy Morton
Tuesday, February 8, 2022
A scheme to provide children whose parents are unable to afford nursery fees with a free childcare place is being launched by N Family Club.
Currently the nursery group does not offer funded two-year-old places.
Instead, under the nursery group’s £80,000 bursary scheme, four children aged two will receive three full days childcare at one of the group’s sites all year round until they start school. Each bursary place will be fully funded, and families will have access to all that N Family Club offers.
The scheme is partly funded through the nursery group’s revenue and with donations from other companies. Funds management company Gravis is the first to partner with N Family Club.
N Family Club is working with a number of local authorities to identify eligible children and decide which settings they should attend.
As the nursery group expands so will the number of places available through the bursary scheme.
The move forms part of N Family Club’s ‘impact strategy’.
Sarah Mackenzie, chief strategy officer, said, ‘We’re well aware that experiences in the early years provide the building blocks that shape our whole lives. Wellbeing, educational achievement, lifelong health, responsible citizenship, economic productivity and strong communities are all influenced by early experiences. The evidence is clear that high-quality early years provision can make a real difference in a child’s life.
'We’re conscious that the attainment gap between children growing up in deprivation and those in affluence shows no signs of closing and the current government policy on “free’ childcare” only serves to exacerbate this issue with the most deprived children eligible for 15 hours and those children where both parents work and earn over the current threshold eligible for 30 hours.
'The reliance of providers operating within areas of deprivation on underfunded Government hours compounds the issue. Too many parents – and in particular mothers – find the cost of childcare prohibitive in seeking employment. Being mindful of this we are extending access to our environments, curriculum and educators to families whose financial situation would otherwise prohibit them from enrolling.
‘We know the wider issues of accessibility to high quality early years provision for all children will not be solved by this move, but we are very proud to have created this targeted offer. Our team have been really clear with us that the bursary scheme is the part of our impact strategy that they’re the most excited about and I know they’re going to make a real difference for the children and families.’
