School nurseries will 'wipe out' private childcare

From September, eligible working parents of children aged nine months and over are entitled to 30 hours free childcare

A nursery manager said the government's plans to provide more early years settings within schools would "wipe out" the private sector.

Claire Richmond runs Goslings Nursery in Coventry, which was established in 1990, and said the new nurseries programme wasn't a "level playing field".

She said funding was very much needed in the sector but giving it to schools would mean more nurseries who did not get a cash injection would have to close.

The Department for Education said it wanted to expand access to "high-quality early education" where it was needed most, so every child had the best start.

From 1 September, all eligible working parents of children aged nine months and over are now entitled to 30 hours free childcare per week during term time.

Ms Richmond, who has been running the nursery on Park Road since 2005, welcomes the need for more childcare places, but said she was having to turn parents away every day since the new childcare funding became available.

"People only want to take just their funded hours, they do not want to pay for any hours over and above that, they do not want to pay for lunch, they want to just take their free entitlement," she said.

"But the problem is, the free entitlement is not funded at the correct rate, so it's not sustainable. Without parents also opting to take any additional private hours or wraparound hours, it's unsustainable."

The government said it wanted to expand access to "high-quality early education" where it was needed most

Holly Lovak, from Warwick, said she struggled to find a place for her eight-month-old son, despite putting his name down on a nursery waiting list when she was eight weeks pregnant.

The mum-of-two, who is using the funded hours as well as paying for extra, said the free childcare entitlement had helped her cut her costs in half, compared to when her daughter was the same age.

"We signed up our daughter [for a private nursery] when she was born, and our son we had to sign up when we were eight weeks pregnant," she explained.

"Actually, at that setting, he still doesn't have a place to date, so if we were relying on just that one, we wouldn't have a place for him."

Ms Lovak's daughter's old nursery then offered her son a place, but she said she had since managed to get him a place at a different private nursery which had recently opened.

"It's really really hard. This funding that has been provided by the Labour government is brilliant, it's a good start, it really really helps," she said.

"But I don't think it's far enough in the right direction."