Changing staff ratios would damage early education, warn providers

Research conducted by the Pre-school Learning Alliance, which questioned 550 nurseries and pre-schools, also found that only ten per cent of settings say they currently receive enough money to fund childcare places under the government’s free entitlement scheme.

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the charity, said he was surprised by how concerned practitioners are about suggested changes to staff ratios.

“There’s not much ambiguity out there in terms of where the sector is positioned,” he said. “It’s a fairly damning indictment from the sector to say ‘We know it would save us a fortune and yet we don’t want to do it because we think it would prejudice the quality of the service that we give’.”

The charity conducted the survey in order to inform its response to the government’s childcare commission.

Leitch argued that the commission is trying to “tinker at the edges” of the early years sector, by considering cost-saving strategies such as changing staff ratios, when the real concern among practitioners was under-funding for the free entitlement.

“The heart of all of this is about reducing costs to parents. But the reality is, there’s nothing in there about paying the right rate, which ultimately would reduce the cost to parents because it would mean they wouldn’t have to subsidise it any more by purchasing additional hours,” he said.

“It’s a glaring omission that they have failed to address that subject. I suggest they don’t want to touch it because they’re all petrified of what an objective opinion would be of the true cost of childcare.”

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of National Day Nurseries Association, said her organisation’s members would agree with the findings, adding that funding is the top priority for all providers.

“Our members agree that reducing ratios alone isn’t going to make a difference to the cost of childcare, and quality should be compromised under no circumstances,” said Tanuku.

“Funding is a fundamental issue. Three years running, settings have not had their hourly rate increased and in some local authorities, it has come down rather than going up with inflation. VAT, business rates and all these things are the priorities rather than deregulation or reducing ratios.”

The survey results also showed that more than 90 per cent of respondents felt the sector is regulated at the right level.

However, many complained about the time period of the childcare commission consultation, which was held during the summer holidays when many practitioners were not working.