Free nursery care plan 'very difficult to achieve'

Concerns have been raised the Government of Jersey will not be able to meet its pledge to provide free nursery care for two and three years old.

It was one of the government's top pledges announced last month, although it acknowledged there would be challenges to meet, including increasing the number of nursery spaces on the island and recruiting more staff.

Susana Rowles, a political commentator, said the plans would be “very difficult to achieve” in the time that the government had in office.

Deputy Rob Ward said the government was looking at a range of solutions including increasing the hours its primary school nurseries open.

Fiona Vacher, executive director of the Jersey Child Care Trust, said she understood why the government was being cautious in giving timelines.

However, she added: "I think we are a way off achieving universal access for all two to three years olds to go nursery."

The trust funds nursery places for two to three year olds who are living in poverty or have developmental delays.

The minister said hopefully increasing the hours its primary school nurseries open would lead to more parents using them

Ms Vacher said she felt there needed to be "investment in our workforce, to make sure our two to three years old are having a really good experience if they are going to nursery".

At the Tiny Tots Playgroup in St Helier, parents and grandparents welcomed the announcement.

Parent Leanne Ozard said: "Currently parents are having to choose between having a mortgage or give up their career to stay at home to look after children and that shouldn’t be something we have to choose between."

Charmaine O’Neill, who was attending the playgroup with her granddaughter, said: "Definitely there just isn’t enough over here, and everyone is left to the grannies to look after the children and there is no space.

"It's very difficult to find a space and very expensive."

Currently the government funds 30 hours of nursery provision for children in their pre-school year.

It has not been able to offer a timeline of when its plan could be put into place.

Mrs Rowles said: "Without clarity of when they would start to offer universal nursery care for two-three years it will be hard for nurseries and parents to plan."

She said: "If we are talking about a government that is going to be here for two years and if the initial provision hasn’t been announced in terms of what the deadline for that is, then it will be difficult for nurseries to increase their provision in 18 months."

Mr Ward, Minister for Education and Lifelong learning, said the plans did not go into the Common Strategic Policy without a great deal of thought.

Fiona Vacher, from the Jersey Child Care Trust, said before increasing provision there needed to be investment in the workforce

He said: "This is a realistic approach, it’s saying let’s get the provision developed as quickly as we can before we make any universal offer which isn’t realistic at the moment, so that’s what we want to do."

The minister said he was exploring how to expand the offer at primary school nurseries.

Currently there are 188 pre-school spaces not being used in government primary school nurseries, which finish mid-afternoon and close in the school holidays.

The government hopes by increasing the hours these nurseries open then more parents will use them.

Mr Ward said: "If we can get a mix of provision in those places to extend those hours, then we can fill them and use them effectively and that’s how you free up other places, so that’s the kind of project we will be developing in the coming months and years."