Dr Ian Craig, Kent County Council's operations director for children,families and education, told Nursery World that the group will aim tocome up with 'an equitable funding formula that people see as fair,because they clearly see the present arrangements as not fair'.
He confirmed that there was a current disparity of 99p in the hourlypayments to providers, with the PVI sector receiving 3.44 perchild and the maintained sector 4.43. He made it clear that whilethe council was sympathetic to PVI providers, this did not mean theyshould expect to be paid exactly the same as their maintained sectorcounterparts.
'This is not just a Kent issue. We are among the better payers ofnursery education funding to the PVI sector, paying more than many ofour neighbouring counties in the south-east,' he added.
Dr Craig attended a meeting with children's minister Beverley Hugheslast week where John Fowler, director of the Sheerness children'scentre, explained how his 50-place on-site nursery was struggling tomake ends meet.
Mr Fowler, who is a director of Sheer Children and Families, a voluntaryprovider that runs the nursery, said that it was becoming increasinglyhard to operate required ratios because of the strains on the nursery'sfinances.
'It's going to affect the rest of the centre,' he said, pointing outthat he can only pay the minimum wage to many of his staff. He said hehas recently visited Sweden and seen the way a highly-skilled andmotivated workforce, providing quality care, is appropriately rewardedwith decent pay.