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Last year, a group of ten settings from Kent wrote to Nursery World about SEND funding. In a letter which was also sent to the Government and the County Council, Canterbury Early Years United Collaboration said, ‘We are all dedicated practitioners and managers striving to provide the best for all children within our diverse settings, yet we are experiencing insurmountable difficulties in meeting the needs of the very young.’
The went on to explain, ‘Children aged two, who are not entitled to government funding, are not entitled to any support at all. Once the children are three, and are entitled to 15 hours of funded childcare, we can then apply for financial support. We must have two terms of evidence to support our claim, which means settings are already struggling before the insufficient funding is allocated. The most a setting can be allocated works out at approximately £4.50 an hour. The living wage is £7.83 per hour. We would like to know where the additional £3.33 is supposed to come from.’
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