Hundreds of early years providers volunteer for 30-hour trial
Jess Brown
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Hundreds of early years providers have already volunteered to take part in the 30-hours free childcare trial, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has said.
Appearing before the education select committee yesterday, Morgan said the response to a government appeal for trailblazers to put themselves forward for trials of the expanded offer, due to get under way next September, has been positive.
“We have had hundreds of providers coming forward since Sam Gyimah and I opened up the bidding for people to be pilots, bidding to come forward and be early providers,” Morgan said.
The Department for Education (DfE) has given providers and councils until 28 September to put their names forward for the trials.
The government has not said how many providers it will select or a target figure for the number of childcare places the trial will involve.
Morgan also gave an update on the government’s funding review currently taking place for how the extended provision for all three- and four-year-olds will be paid for.
"Obviously the Chancellor set out in the Budget in July additional funding which would cover the rate as we currently have it, but we have made it clear that we are looking at the average hourly rate – that we think it needs to increase," she said.
"I can't comment obviously on what is at a very early stage of the Spending Review.
"But we are consulting on the average hourly rate, and we are listening to what providers are telling us.
"We're also looking at things like local authority top-slicing, to make sure that as much money gets to the front line as possible."
Morgan was also questioned about a survey by the National Association of Head Teachers, published earlier this week, which found that the 30-hours plans could result in fewer early years places in schools because they are already having to subsidise existing levels of provision.
"Over the course of the next few weeks as we go through the Spending Review there’ll be a number of stories where people are obviously in need of more money," Morgan said.
"Providers have told us, and not just schools, that the funding they’re getting they’re having to cross-subsidise or it’s not meeting their needs.
"We understand that and that’s why we are looking at the hourly rate."
