Providers are finding the Agreements are more prescriptive than in previous years. I encourage all providers to read their agreement very carefully.
The new Code of Practice gives little room for manoeuvre by the local authority. I recognise that the council officers who have drafted these agreements find themselves between 'a rock and a hard place'. Like ourselves, they would like each child to have access to free, high-quality provision.
However, the level of funding that underpins these agreements is wholly inadequate for many settings, where staffing and premises costs exceed the levels of Government funding being made available to providers.
High-quality early years provision requires high-quality professional leadership, and adequate funding to support the higher levels of hands-on nursery staff, the hours of out-of-rota planning time and effective management and administration. In the private sector, I believe the typical loss of fee income to the medium to large provider, as a result of signing these agreements, will be between £15,000 and £25,000.
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