Petition calls for re-think on 30-hour childcare
Thursday, January 28, 2016
A nursery owner has launched a petition asking the Government to reconsider the 30-hour free childcare pledge, and instead move to a means-tested system.
Linda Symons, who runs two Kidz Kabin nurseries in north London, said that offering the 30 hours free to all parents of three-and four-year-olds is unworkable because of the gap between the funding rates and the cost of providing the hours.
Ms Symons is urging nursery providers and sector organisations to sign the online petition, which is calling for the Government to revert to offering the universal offer of 15 hours to all three- and four-year-olds, but then offer the additional 15 hours on a subsidised basis, dependent on parental income.
This would mean that parents on low-incomes would receive the 30 hours of childcare free, while other families would pay for the extra 15 hours on a means-tested basis.
If the petition receives more than 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for a debate in Parliament.
Ms Symons added, ‘We’re trying to make a statement. We want people to sign it. It affects every family with a three- and four-year-old, every PVI is going to suffer from under-funding.’
‘The shame is that what providers will have to do if they are going to do it is find a way round it,’ she told Nursery World. ‘All it’s doing is causing angst and concern for providers. Some nurseries are saying that they would lose £5,000 a year per child.’
The Petition
The petition on the Parliament petitions website states, ‘The pre-election pledge to provide 30 hours “free” childcare is unsustainable unless nurseries are properly funded to provide the high quality childcare the Government wants. There is a huge gap between its financial proposals and the real cost to the sector.
‘We would ask the Government to change its proposals for introducing 30 hours of free childcare and revert back to a universal offer of 15 hours for every three – four-year-olds across the country, and the extra 15 hours to be means tested and offered to low-income families as many nurseries will struggle to implement its policy without proper funding in place.’
- To sign the petition visit https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/116917
