analysis expanded twos offer
Most providers unable to meet
Respondents to a Nursery World survey cite insufficient space and problems recruiting extra
● NW survey on funded two-year-olds reveals most providers have waiting lists. ● Nurseries unable to meet demand due to lack of space and staff.
More than 60 per cent of early years settings have a waiting list for the new funded two-year-old places, according to findings from a Nursery World s u r v e y.
Our snap survey on the 15-hour funded two-year-old places reveals the majority of those providers taking part in the scheme already have a waiting list for the two-year-old age group, less than a month after working parents became eligible for the offer.
Our responses show that this is largely due to a lack of space to expand and an inability to recruit sufficient staff. This is despite the Government claiming one of the reasons why two-year-olds haven’t taken up a funded place is because parents have changed their mind about formal childcare, or were issued an eligibility code even when they didn’t need one (‘More than 51,600 two-year-olds without a funded place’, NW online, 19 April 2023). The Department for Education (DfE) has also said that all local authorities have
Reasons for not taking part in the funded twos offer
37%
38%
25%
n Long-term funding issues n Recruitment issues n Other
Under 1 Roof Nursery in Thanet is operating at full capacity for twos reported they are currently meeting the demand from parents for childcare places. Back into work While ministers claim the twos offer is encouraging new parents back into work, there are suggestions from providers that many of the funded twos places are being used by existing parents who are now benefiting from a funded place.
As Early Years Alliance chief executive Neil Leitch has argued, the figures on the number of two-year-olds with a place do not indicate which parents are taking up the hours.
‘It’s not clear how many are newly created places, rather than existing places where parents have switched from paying privately to accessing government funding,’ he said. This is backed up by Jo Morris, director of Playsteps Day Nursery in Swindon who told Nursery World that across her two nurseries, just one family in 130 has specifically said they will join in September because of the funding, with the offer seemingly helping existing families reduce their bills rather than attracting new families in.
A total of 367 respondents took part in our survey on the
62% YES
62 per cent taking part have a waiting list for the new twos places
Government’s expanded offer for twos, which ran online from 15-22 April.
It reveals that most of these providers (88 per cent) are offering the expanded childcare offer of 15 hours of funded places for two-year-olds, which became a right for eligible working parents from the start of April. We received responses from 316 providers who said they were taking part in the expanded offer and 45 who said they were not.
However, the survey highlights issues around capacity to expand the childcare offer, due to lack of space and problems recruiting staff.
A damning report from the National Audit Office, published last week, highlights how dates were set for the roll-out without the Government understanding local authorities’ and providers’
capacity to deliver an ‘unprecedented’ level of growth in the workforce and new places.
Of the 12 per cent who told us they are not taking part in the Government scheme, the reasons cited include long-term underfunding and issues with recruitment, ‘the hassle of the paperwork’, lack of space, no access to capital funding, and not currently having children that qualify. Waiting lists When asked if they have a waiting list for the new two-yearold places, 62 per cent said ‘yes’ and 38 per cent said ‘no’. A total of 314 answered this question. The responses showed:
■ 82 per cent have less than 20
children on their waiting list. ■ 15 per cent have 20-50
children on their waiting list. ■ 3 per cent have 50-100
children on their waiting list. Reasons for having a waiting list include lack of space to expand (32 per cent) and inability to recruit sufficient staff (11 per cent). A total of 40 per cent cited both reasons for having a waiting list.
Some respondents also said that they have no interest in expanding. One explained, ‘[Our] setting is simply at capacity and we do not want to increase room size and impact
Why do you have a waiting list?
17%
32%
11% 40%
n Lack of space to expand n Unable to recruit sufficient nursery staff n Both of the above n Other
6 | NurseryWorld | May 2024
www.nurseryworld.co.uk
