A study released earlier this month exposed the extent of the funding gap between how much it costs early years providers to deliver free childcare places and the amount they receive from the government to pay for it.
The Counting The Cost report from the Pre-school Learning Alliance concluded that the average private, voluntary and independent (PVI) nursery is receiving between 15 and 20 per cent less in government funding than the cost of providing a place to a two-, three- and four-year-old under the free childcare programme (see table).
The findings - drawn from a study of childcare costs of 5,635 children across 100 early years settings and the rates paid by local authorities for providing free places - found an average shortfall of 65p/hour (17 per cent) for three- and four-year-olds, and 78p/hour (15 per cent) for two-year-olds. The funding gap rose to 20 and 17 per cent respectively in London.
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