CEY0026

Written evidence submitted by Children’s House Childcare

I run a private day Nursery registered for 55 children currently with 63% occupancy (break even is 70%) I am self-funding the loss and close to bankruptcy

We cater for 120 families, in what is deemed an affluent area with professional parents

Childcare Entitlements

Childcare is too expensive for families, increasingly parents are using Grandparents for childcare or working from home whilst caring for a child which is mostly unacceptable for all parties and not helping attain good outcomes for children

15/30 hours funding is and always has been underfunded and does not rise in line with minimum wage- settings charge ‘consumables ‘ which parents object to- the whole sector is on its knees- voluntary settings locally are closing- often in rural areas/deprived areas putting pressure on our most vulnerable children

Tax free childcare seem popular and seems to work

Universal credits seem confusing to parents

Early Years provision

Challenges are immense- recruitment is a barrier to taking on more children and therefore to becoming profitable, qualified staff are leaving the sector ( I have lost 4 exceptional staff this past 12 months to other careers and been unable to recruit qualified staff)

Barriers to staff entering the profession are the poor wages, long hours, demanding work as more and more children present with SEN, there is no respite after the covid years.

Barrier to Childcare Apprenticeships are the entry requirements of Math’s and English many years ago the Apprenticeship was for those young people unable to go to University/A-levels, raising the entry requirements has blocked childcare as a profession to a group of young people that used to train and become exceptional professionals, this has resulted in a slow and gradual dwindling in the numbers of qualified staff

Barrier to sustainability are Business rates, mine are going from a rateable value of £15500 to £23500 in April 23, along with the average 9% rise in Minimum wage it is unrealistic to raise fees to cover these, parents just cant pay

SEN is growing expeditionary and there is never enough funding to support these children

Covid- my insurance didn’t cover my losses, I took out a 50K Bounce Back Loan to survive, we were told to remain open for Key workers and we were the only local setting to do so, it nearly broke me financially to remain open and I am still suffering the loss- other local businesses were given grant after grant to close- many feeling ‘cash rich’, we were mostly left to sink, whilst furlough and rates relief were welcome it just wasn’t enough

Early Years is consistently undervalued by Government, even during covid, we clapped the nurses, the teachers, the shop workers and yet Early years providing the childcare for all those to work was barely mentioned- it was disheartening 

Staffing pressures, lowering birth rate, underfunding of EY 15/30 are all contributing to the decline of the Early Years sector- the only providers that seem to be making this work are the BIG chains-

Early years need to be valued both for the development of our children and as a profession as are teachers, the funding rates needs to be of a realistic hourly rate to enable access for all children and business rates for childcare setting needs removing

January 2023