A consultation on changes to the way government funds local authorities to oversee delivery of the free childcare entitlement closed last week.
The Department for Education proposals would see the introduction of a universal base rate for funding 30 hours of free childcare a week for three- and four-year-olds that, it says, would give three-quarters of councils more money.
This, combined with a new requirement for councils to pass on 95 per cent of government early years grants, would also ensure providers benefit from the proposed new system, the DfE says.
The changes have been developed to incentivise more childcare settings to provide free childcare places in advance of the 30-hour offer being available nationally from September 2017.
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