Features

Making Ends Meet Part 1: Balancing the books in the wake of the expanded offer

In a new series, Leah Jones asks how settings are balancing the books as the first phase of the expanded offer, for twos, comes in

The Government’s childcare expansion in England has introduced a new swathe of parents to childcare codes, eligibility, and why exactly the hours cannot be referred to as ‘free’.

Meanwhile, providers, now old hands at dealing with the trials of Government childcare offers, face a whole new set of challenges as thousands more children become eligible.

The shortfall between the Government’s budget and the ‘real’ cost of delivering the entitlement when the plan is fully rolled out has been estimated at £5 billion per year.

Jo Morris, director of Playsteps Day Nursery in Swindon, says the challengeis there are simply not that many ways providers can adapt to make ends meet.

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