warned they will have to make cutbacks when the salary rate increases
later this year.
This month, the Government announced the NMW for adults will rise to £6.50 an hour in October - up 19p on the current rate. Nursery managers have questioned why it is adding costs to delivering early years care without increasing funding for free childcare entitlements for two-, threeand four-year-olds.
Wrens Pre-school Nursery owner Sally George said three years of consecutive NMW rises would cost an additional £1,500 in wages by October. She employs six members of staff who care for up to 20 children in each session. Her local authority, Essex County Council, froze its 15-hour entitlement rate for threeand four-year-olds in 2012 to £3.82 per child.
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