30 hours' free childcare - DfE updates guidance on early education and childcare

12 March 2017

The entitlement to 30 hours’ free childcare comes into effect in September 2017.  The Department for Education has now published updated statutory guidance on early education and childcare and a Model Agreement for local authorities and providers setting out how local authorities are to secure adequate provision of the universal free entitlement to 15 hours and the new additional free 15-hour entitlement. But providers may be disappointed.

First, the positive. The updated statutory guidance and the Model Agreement are useful documents. In particular, the idea underpinning the Model Agreement is to be welcomed.  Although it will not eradicate local variation and inconsistencies, having a Model Agreement will hopefully help to create, more or less, standard key terms for all types of provider across the country.

But the issue of funding rates and additional charges continues to cause some difficulties.  On the one hand, providers will be pleased by confirmation that they can charge a refundable deposit.  But, dismissing concerns about funding rates, the early years minister Caroline Dinenage MP recently told private nursery owners that they should charge parents for add-ons if their financial viability is threatened by the funding rates for the free 30-hour entitlement.

Therefore providers will likely be disappointed that the new guidance and the Model Agreement provide that any charges for extras must be voluntary and cannot be imposed as a condition of offering a free place.  The documents state:

“The provider can charge for meals and snacks as part of a free entitlement place and they can also charge for consumables such as nappies or sun cream and for services such as trips and yoga.  These charges must be voluntary for the parent.  Where parents are unable or unwilling to pay for meals and consumables, providers who choose to offer the free entitlements are responsible for setting their own policy on how to respond, with options including waiving or reducing the cost of meals and snacks or allowing parents to supply their own meals.”

You have to sympathise with providers as they seek to provide an equal standard of childcare to children with different needs and whose parents have difficult financial means, and at the same time they try to remain financially viable. That is a challenging balancing act.

So here is a question for the NDNA and providers: is the time, cost and complexity of administering a voluntary charging system for add-ons worth the income it generates to cover those costs?  Of course, it will depend on the circumstances applicable to each provider.  But the early implementers may well have an interesting insight, particularly with regard to parents’ attitudes to charges.

Either way, there is not much time to iron out all the outstanding issues before full implementation in September 2017.

Chris Hook is an associate solicitor at Hempsons in Newcastle upon Tyne. He provides specialist legal advice to charities, social enterprises and educational institutions on a wide range of charity, commercial and public law matters. He can be contacted at [email protected] or 0191 230 6052. You may also be interested in his other articles below.

Disclaimer: This article contains information which is necessarily general. It does not constitute legal advice. It is essential that, before proceeding with a particular course of action, you take specialist legal advice on any relevant considerations which may apply in your specific circumstances so that you can properly assess your options and any associated risks and benefits.

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