The Government abolished all the NTOs, including the Early Years NTO, on 31 March and intends to replace them with a smaller number of Sector Skills Councils (SSCs).
Richard Dorrance, chief executive of the Council for Awards in Children's Care and Education (CACHE), said that while he agreed that a changeover from NTOs to SSCs was necessary because 'there were some rogue NTOs out there not doing their job', the Government's approach had been wrong. 'There should have been a transition. Why the Government did it in this way I don't think we'll ever know. It could have been managed much more carefully.'
He added, 'An awful lot of good work and people will just vanish. They're going to be lost because if the new bodies aren't up and running for a year, these people will go to different jobs.
'Anybody managing change always makes sure that you've got the successor in place before you phase out the original one. All it needed to do was keep the NTOs going for another year as a transitional arrangement.
'Last October things were going all right. The Government could have got the SSCs and Sector Skills Development Agency up and running by Easter. When the Government realised it was going wrong it should have taken action, and it didn't. All the blame has to fall on the DfES.'
The Early Years NTO was a division of CACHE, and its running costs were paid for by CACHE and the early years sector, with additional funding for project work paid for by the Government and the European Social Fund. According to Mr Dorrance, since the launch of the Early Years NTO in November 1998, CACHE trustees had subsidised it by just under 500,000.
But he said CACHE would be keeping the NTO's basic operation running until at least the end of August and would continue to provide a service to the sector. 'It will be a reduced staffing, but I don't think the employers and the childcare development partnerships will detect any shortfalls in what we provide. If no SSC is set up by then, it may continue.'
However, Mr Dorrance admitted the transitional arrangements were 'unsatisfactory' as he had had to ask CACHE's trustees to put another Pounds 30,000 into the NTO next year. But the Government has indicated that it will give CACHE a further 30,000 of funding, making 60,000 in total.
