Tops Day Nurseries, which operates 18 nurseries across Dorset, Hampshire and Somerset, had risked falling foul of government guidelines that say that nurseries cannot attach any conditions to the free entitlement.
The Department for Education has said it wants councils to intervene to deprive settings of the funding, which allows parents to claim 15 ‘free’ hours a week for three- and four-year-olds, if this happens.
Managing director Cheryl Hadland argues that the charges – which apply to various ‘extras’ such as yoga and snack food - are not attached to the free places and says she has ‘no choice but to charge more’ because of decreased or stagnant funding rates from councils for free entitlement.
Ms Hadland said, ‘Local authorities have helped us re-word our policy so it does comply – i.e. so we offer some free places with no extras at all, then we can charge extras for things that are beyond the scope of the EYFS – e.g. lunch food can be extra, yoga can be extra.’
Parents currently taking between 15 and 30 hours will have to pay the charges, though they don’t apply when parents take hours at traditionally quiet times. When quiet times are, and which charges are incurred, will depend on the setting, she added.
'Say no if funded-only'
Ms Hadland said councils ‘do understand the problem’ of underfunding, adding one official told her, ‘Never agree that you have a place for a child until you know what they need – you can then say no if it is funded only, in favour of those who are going to attend all day and pay the extra to compensate for taking a loss on the funded hours’.
As a result of these losses, she said, the company admissions policy has also changed to limit how many free places the nursery can offer.
The new ‘free early education’ policy reads ‘We can offer a number of completely free places which are available subject to our admissions policy and vacancies. Children can access the free hours with no conditions applied, subject to availability…Tops day nursery provides additional services at particular times… [which] are not a condition of access to the free early years education offer.’
Ms Hadland is campaigning for an increase in the government rate for the free entitlement for three- and four-year-olds. In a letter to local MP Michael Tomlinson in April, asking for ‘urgent’ help, she said, ‘We fully understand that the country is short of funds, but forcing nursery providers to subsidise underfunded rates is not sustainable to this extent, and we can’t do it. At least have a minimum rate of £4.34 per child per hour and we may be able to survive until 2017 - or legitimise the top-ups being charged to those who can afford it, in a variety of guises, by many in the sector already.’
She is now going to meet with the MP on 21 June and is inviting other nurseries to attend to air their views.
Research earlier this year from the National Day Nurseries Association suggests the average nursery has an average of £1.68 per hour per child shortfall for these places.
A DfE spokeswoman said: ‘Our guidance makes clear that providers may charge for additional services such as lunches, but parents must not be required to buy these in order to take up their child’s free early education place - parents should be offered the option of providing a packed lunch instead.
‘Local authorities have a legal duty to secure free places for all eligible children in their area. However, parents are not guaranteed a place at their preferred provider. Some providers will be full and others may choose to prioritise some of their places, for example, for parents requiring full day-care.’
She added that Government funding for childcare will increase from £5 billion in 2015 to £6 billion per year by 2019/20.
The meeting will take place at Wimborne nursery Leigh Road, Wimborne, Dorset BH21 2BX at 9.30am. To attend, contact Karen.Hill@hadlandcaregroup.co.uk
The new policy can be found here.