Labour pledged to convert over 3,300 spare classrooms into school-based nurseries once in government, in areas highlighted as ‘childcare deserts’. Its plans aim to make space for 100,000 more places, to meet the expected increase in demand from the expansion of the funded hours.
With a new Labour government now in power, Nursery World in partnership with Community Playthings and Headteacher Update brought together an expert panel to discuss what Labour’s policies will mean for the early years sector.
The panel discussed four key areas:
- What is Known so far about the Government’s plans for the Sector.
- The logistics involved in taking advantage of this opportunity.
- What opportunities this policy brings.
- How to navigate the challenges for schools and PVIs (private, voluntary and independent settings).
WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE PLANS
Limited information has been released about how the Government’s policies will look in practice. However, the webinar took place on the day Labour announced 300 new nurseries will open in schools by September 2025 for the first phase of their policy, and schools will need to bid for and receive funding by April 2025.
Dr Rebecca Montacute, speaking from the Labour Party Conference, said £15 million of capital funding will be made available for these new nurseries. ‘That works out at about £50,000 per nursery, and the funding will be allocated next spring for the new settings to be able to be open next September, to line up with expansion for the funded entitlements,’ she said.
‘Schools will need to demonstrate when they apply for that money how their proposal will respond to need in the local area, and they can also, at that point, express interest for future phases of the programme as well. After this first phase, there will then be a period of consultation with the sector so that they can look at the best model to then go forward and extend the programmes.’
Rebecca added the Government has suggested schools bidding in this first round should talk to their local authority, governing organisations and wider stakeholders, to think about pupil place planning and local childcare sufficiency.
‘So it seems they’re very much focused on where do we need additional places,’ said Rebecca.
She highlighted the Government is concerned with poorer areas of the country where there tends to be fewer childcare places, yet detail is missing about other requirements.
Rebecca said, ‘We don’t actually know, for instance, any requirements the school might have in terms of qualifications for the head, if they’ve got experience in the early years before. Any of those kind of things.’
She added that the Government seems to be more focused on early education over childcare. However, there has been no change to the policy around existing entitlements and the expanded entitlements, which have been shown to be less accessible to lower-income families.
‘For the new expanded entitlements, only one in five families earning less than £20,000 a year will be able to have access, compared with 80 per cent of those with household incomes over £45,000,’ said Rebecca.
‘[The Government is] saying they want a focus on those poorer areas where there are fewer places, but also they haven’t changed the policy – that the people who are able to access these working entitlements are from better off families. So there is a real risk, we worry, that this could help to actually widen the attainment gap,’ Rebecca said.
Speaking about the impact on the wider market, she added that it is still unknown how or if PVIs will be involved in this policy.
‘Everything that’s come out this morning has been phrased, is all around the school’s bidding, that this is coming from schools,’ she said.
‘I do know that the Government is really concerned about making sure that it does link up to school readiness, that that is at least a strong link in what the school is doing. So I expect if it is that PVIs are involved in these bids and are doing the provision within the school classroom, there’ll be expectations around how that then links into the school. That it won’t be like a PVI just using the building.’
Nursery World’s Elly Roberts added that the Government is under a lot of pressure to create the 85,000 more childcare places needed by September 2025 to meet the increase in demand from the expanded entitlements.
THE LOGISTICS
Christie & Co’s Courteney Donaldson said, ‘Some of the interesting things will be as this pilot moves forward, firstly to understand which locations are being identified. Rebecca has mentioned about the childcare efficiency audits, and that’s going to be really essential obviously for the provision and for the school or a nursery to understand there should be no duplication of service.
‘Once further information is revealed, the key will be to determine whether or not schools actually are able, willing and wanting to engage in terms of actually delivering these pilots.
‘The scheme is for working parents, and that is a different proposition to what a normal school day might look like in term-time-only provision. So I think the key is understanding what space is available, what are the needs of parents, because that will then also lead into the nature and type of provision, and the amount of spaces that can be provided in a setting.’
Evidenced Education’s Emma Neal said, ‘I think the key to it is good relationships. That has to be somebody who you are able to work alongside and work with. So there are certain things that, because you’ll be in a classroom or on the similar site, you need to have joint thinking around. Things like fire evacuation and emergency planning and that sort of thing. And as well, a willingness to appreciate the early years as a whole.’
Emma also highlighted the need to think about the relationship from a cost and business perspective, as well as economies of scale and legal issues around using and maintaining the building.
Acorn Early Years’ Laura Tingey said considering the facilities and space available, as well as the different staff ratios needed for different-aged children, is crucial.
‘Quite often the parents who use PVI settings don’t necessarily come from that same area,’ she said. ‘And so you will have children that don’t necessarily feed through to that school because parents quite often choose to use PVIs that are either close to home or on their way to work or close to a workspace.’
She also stressed that settings should be clear about what happens if a school wants or needs the space back, and that there needs to be clarity around the early years curriculum. ‘We don’t look at it as a cohort and say “we’re going to learn this today”. It’s about the individual interests of children. And that isn’t always captured through into school provision.’
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES
Elly highlighted research by the National Day Nurseries Association that revealed 199 nurseries closed between September 2023 and September 2024, with 38 per cent of closures happening in the 30 per cent most-deprived areas in the country. In light of the inevitable increase in demand, Elly asked the panel what opportunities Labour’s policy might bring for both nurseries and schools.
Courteney said these closures were in part due to historic low funding levels in those areas, which have prevented PVIs being able to operate in ‘childcare deserts’.
She added, ‘Arguably this is where high-quality childcare is most needed. We know that demand for provision is broadly increasing because of the changes to the earliest entitlements.’
Courteney said a big challenge will be working with the local education authority, its estates departments and with the school head, given the lack of information about the vacant classrooms and facilities available for PVIs to use. She identified the risk of significantly investing in facilities, resources and adaptations to a building and then the licence being cancelled at short notice further down the line.
‘If that space is actually within the physical school, then it’s very likely that the only tenure available would be application by way of a licence,’ said Courteney. ‘And a licence could be cancelled at one term’s notice or a matter of weeks’ notice. That’s all quite significant risk to the provider. Particularly when they’re recruiting staff.’
By contrast, Courteney said a more self-contained area of the school no longer being used could be obtained with a more secure, long-term lease.
‘So much of this does come down to the physical space,’ she said. She also identified the timeframe by which the Government wants the 300 nurseries open to be very tight, especially given the need to recruit and train staff and make the community aware of the provision. ‘It’s really quite a significant ask,’ Courteney said.
Emma highlighted the importance of ensuring the curriculum is right for EYFS, and having a suitable outdoor space for the setting. She also said she liked to have the nursery at her school near the Reception classroom ‘to get the best out of it’, though she understood the previously discussed concerns around facilities and location.
‘From a practitioner sharing point of view and the relationships, sometimes it’s those odd conversations that help build those relationships,’ Emma said.
Laura stressed the need to talk through all the needs and requirements both a nursery and school will have, and what the relationship will be like in practice.
She said, ‘I think there needs to be some real careful planning around what does that look like? What does it mean from an early years perspective, what does it mean from a school perspective.’
‘If you’re going into this as a private provider, you have to do your homework,’ Courteney said. ‘You have to do the market research. You need to understand the costs of operation, the challenges of operation, how you’ll work in partnership with the head, and if there’s a different head as a private provider, would that relationship still continue?’
Rebecca added more information may be given in the Autumn Budget (30 October) and the multi-year Spending Review next spring.
Watch the video here
WEBINAR PANEL
Clockwise from top left:
- Laura Tingey, head of early years and compliance at Acorn Early Years
- Elly Roberts, project editor of Nursery Worldand editor of Early Years Educator
- Emma Neal, director and consultant at Evidenced Education
- Courteney Donaldson, managing director – Childcare & Education at Christie & Co
- Dr Rebecca Montacute, head of research and policy at the Sutton Trust
