The boss of one of the UK's largest nursery chains has raised concerns over the government's plan for free childcare for under fives.
It was in Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's Budget last week when he revealed his proposal for all pre-schoolers to have access to free 30 hours of free childcare by 2025.
While the industry has largely welcomed the plan, there are huge doubts that it will have the capacity to cope with such large numbers of children.
Read more: Plan for 30 hours free childcare for under fives goes 'down like a lead balloon'
Clare Roberts is CEO of the Kids Planet nursery chain, which has more than 140 sites across the UK, including centres in Salford Quays, Urmston, Sale, Little Lever, Swinton and more.
But as well as recruitment issues, nurseries say the funding they currently receive from government isn't enough and leaves a shortfall, which has to be made up by the settings and parents.
"We are delighted to hear of the increase in childcare support for parents with younger children, which will help our parents with the cost of childcare," said Clare, whose company became the third largest nursery chain in the UK after taking over the Kids Allowed chain in 2020.
"For us as a provider, the key issue is around what the funding rates are and if all ages will be adequately funded. The current three and four-year-old funding rates do not cover the delivery of high-quality childcare."
The current hourly rate from the government varies across local councils, and currently ranges from £4.61 to £5.23 per funded hour, that the government provides to nursery operators.
Many nurseries are left with a funding gap of more than £5 per child per day - a figure they're struggling to manage.
"Another critical factor for us as a sector is that the workforce crisis needs to be addressed," added Clare. "Early Years is facing the worst workforce challenges it has seen, with significantly fewer colleagues joining the industry over the last 10 years.
"Covid and Brexit have further impacted this with many colleagues choosing to leave the profession. This is an ongoing problem that the sector continues to highlight to the Department for Education and central government."
As well as announcing the extra funding last week, the Chancellor also confirmed his plan to alter the ratios of staff to children in childcare settings - with one staff member required for every five two-year-olds, instead of every four.
Again this comes with its own concerns.
"Regarding ratio changes from 1-4 to 1-5 for toddlers, we welcome this, but we understand that in practice this would depend on the age, stage and needs of the specific children who are being looked after," said Clare.
"For the government’s new policies to be fully implemented, there will need to be a full overview of the workforce and the level of qualified and unqualified colleagues joining. This will help providers to be able to meet this further demand, which will benefit the economy and families accessing childcare."
Clare isn't the only one to cast doubt on the government's proposals - the timescale of which has angered parents who say they need immediate financial support rather than having to wait for its staggered implementation.
The Early Years Alliance was quick to respond to the Spring statement, pointing out that there's already a massive shortfall in funding from the government and questioning the costs of the new policy and how it's going to be safely implemented.
"We know from bitter experience that expansions of so-called 'free childcare' without adequate investment are a recipe for utter disaster – and given that many providers rely on fees from younger children to make up for current funding shortfalls, the impact on the sector if the government gets this wrong cannot be underestimated," said Alliance CEO Neil Leitch.
"At a time when settings are closing at record levels and early educators are leaving the sector in their droves, unless the proper infrastructure is put in place by the time the extended offers are rolled out, many parents of younger children expecting funded places to be readily available to them are likely to be left sorely disappointed."
Kids Planet currently has around 400 vacancies across the group and like many nursery chains, has its own incentives to attract workers to the company.
These include a childcare discount of up to 80%, increased annual leave with each anniversary and employees given their birthday off work.
Roles range from sports coaches, chefs, teachers, cleaners and room leaders, to central teams including training, marketing, finance, customer support and procurement.
It has a dedicated Training Academy and offer traineeships, apprenticeships, higher-level qualifications and Continuing Professional Development.
The extended childcare policy will start with parents of two-year-olds given 15 hours of free care from April 2024. Then from September 2024, that 15 hours will be extended to all children from nine months up, until all eligible parents can access the extra support from 2025.
Mr Hunt has defended the speed of the rollout of the scheme, saying: "It is a huge change and we are going to need thousands more nurseries, thousands more schools offering provision they don’t currently offer, thousands more childminders.
“We are going as fast as we can to get the supply in the market to expand. But it is the right thing to do because we have one of the most expensive childcare systems in the world and we know it is something that is a huge worry, for women in particular, that they have this cliff-edge when maternity leave ends after nine months, no help until the child turns three and that can often be career ending."
A DfE spokesperson said: “This announcement represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever.
“We will uplift the rates for existing entitlements in 23-24, with the rate for two-year-olds rising to around £8 per hour and the three-four year old rate rising to over £5.50 per hour from September 2023.
“We are continuing to explore how we best support the early years sector to recruit and retain the staff it needs. We will work closely with the sector to develop plans to grow, develop and support the workforce.”
What do you think of the government's childcare plan? Do you work in the Early Years sector and are struggling amid the workforce crisis? Let us know in the comments?
READ NEXT:
When the mother of all childcare promises is 'one for the mums', it proves things need to change
Energy price guarantee to be extended at £2,500 - what the change means for you
Jeremy Hunt defends delaying 30 hours of free childcare for all under 5s by two YEARS
'We need help now' say parents as free childcare plan delayed until 2025
