After seeing and hearing the news items of the findings of the Daycare Trusts Report on Childcare costs and the BBC Panorama Programme on the high cost of childcare in the UK, I wondered why no one was asking the question as to the causes of it being so expensive. As an owner of a daycare nursery I will try and shed a little light on to why childcare costs have gone up so much, not just this year but over the past 10 years. The main reason is that it is no longer ‘childcare' it is ‘early years education'.
Over the years the government has changed what happens in early years settings out of all recognition, with the introduction of: Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education not childcare); Early Years Foundation Stage of Education (EYFS) which is all about learning and child development & school readiness; Free Early Years Education Entitlement for all 3 & 4 year olds and the soon to be expansion into 2 year olds, there's no talk of childcare, this is education again; the upgrade of staff within early years so that the child are taught by graduate staff qualified to the same level as a school teacher, with all other staff to hold at least a NVQ Level 3 qualification.
These changes have forced a substantial increase in the cost to nurseries in training costs and enhanced salary levels. And I've not even mentioned items like - the hike in Business Rates that private nurseries have to pay or the increase in VAT that state maintained settings do not pay or the increase in the cost of food including fresh fruit and vegetables that the government provide free to their own nurseries or the frightening cost in utility prices in the past few years.So don't blame the nursery for the cost increases. If we all want to improve the outcomes for the youngest in our society by providing better quality early years provision it needs to be paid for - the problem being that national and local governments are reducing their financial help to both parents and nurseries. So if there is no more money coming from governments and parents are finding their child costs prohibitive - what else can be looked at?
Is it not time to look at the plethora of regulations early years settings have to operate within?Without reducing quality - can some of the many restrictions that create additional cost be eased in some way? Where
did the ratios of 3:1; 4:1 and 8:1 come from in the first place,
similarly where did the minimum square metre floor areas come from? Is
there nobody out there that is going to stand up and say ‘Why are we
still working under archaic restrictions when in the last 10 years there
have been such vast improvements in the quality and qualification of
staff working and leading practice within early years?' Surely it is time for a review of regulations to bring early years into the 2nd decade of the 21st Century?
