The National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) is to trial rarely used maximum child-to-staff ratios in early years settings as part of a Department for Education-funded project.
The government should base its childcare reforms on "real-life nursery situations" and not on a "paper exercise", the head of an early years charity has argued.
Early years leaders have criticised “short-sighted” plans, being discussed by the government, to relax childcare ratios in England.
Early years professionals are braced for an imminent government announcement on changes to child and staff ratios in childcare settings.
Early years bodies have warned the trial of the government's expanded free childcare offer is too small to tackle key concerns that need resolving before its full introduction.
Nearly nine out of 10 nurseries and pre-schools in England oppose plans to relax childcare ratios, dismissing government claims it could result in lower fees being charged, a survey has found.
Early years leaders have cautiously welcomed the government’s decision to relax staff to child ratios to help cope with workforce shortages amid a surge of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
