Vox Pop: Should nurseries be allowed to charge top-up fees?

YES - Sarah Steel, managing director, Old Station House Day Nursery

This blanket statement that parents must be able to access childcare with no top-up fee is benefiting the parent rather than putting the child at the centre of focus.

At the moment we're battling with our local council on this issue. We serve freshly cooked meals to the children. But we are told if we want to charge for these meals it is a top-up fee and parents should be allowed to bring in their own packed lunches instead of paying that fee.

It makes it very difficult to have everyone sit together and eat a meal when you have one child sat in the corner eating a packed lunch.

NO - Alison Garnham, chief executive, Daycare Trust

The free entitlement is the most important element of the childcare strategy and must be protected. It is a landmark policy that ensures children get the best start in life.

There is now overwhelming evidence that high-quality early years education and care improves outcomes. But if nurseries are allowed to start charging top-up fees, it will be children from the most disadvantaged families who will miss out.

Parents are already crippled by the huge cost of childcare and while we are keen for current issues to be resolved, we remain staunchly opposed to calls to make up this shortfall by charging the parents who can least afford it.

YES - Neil Leitch, acting chief executive, Pre-school Learning Alliance

We have always lobbied for the free entitlement and it is one of our key principles as a charity, but its impact must not be at the expense of provider viability.

For us, the main issue is ensuring there is sufficient funding within the system. At the moment there are insufficient resources to support real flexibility so settings have to resort to charging additional fees to parents.

The free entitlement has to be delivered within a sufficiently resourced framework so that providers are not simply left to find loopholes to charge fees.

NO - Anne Longfield, chief executive, 4Children

The free entitlement for childcare and early learning for threeand four-year-olds has been a hugely important policy, which means that almost every threeand four-year-old now attends provision. This is important for all children but really crucial for those coming from disadvantaged families.

We would be very concerned if the entitlement was reduced or undermined and parents had to pay. Inevitably, this would mean that those children who needed it most would be the ones likely to miss out.