Could Social Enterprises fix the Childcare System?
Why the social enterprise model could be the solution to fixing England’s broken childcare system by expanding access to the communities that need it most. England is…
November 11th 2022
Calling ALL Parents, Colleagues and People Who Want THE Very Best for Children: Please Read. We must stop the proposed changes to staff-child ratios!
In July I wrote a blog calling parents, staff and colleagues to get their heads around the ratio debate and understand why reducing ratios are bad for children, bad for staff and will not reduce fees to parents.
The main reason for this change is to reduce the cost of childcare to parents. HOWEVER, there is NO (and I repeat, no) evidence that increasing the number of children will have any impact on the cost of childcare. How could there be when we are already losing an average of £1.07 per hour per child, and 64% are operating at a loss. In fact, the research from the Early Years Alliance said 78% of nurseries would not increase their fees this year or limit the increase, if the funding offered by the government actually covered costs. So, what actually would help parental fees, is an increase in funding. In fact, I cannot think of many winners of ratio changes, except maybe the odd shareholder and director.
We were offered a consultation which the DfE said had a big response. I suspect there is little in the findings which we have yet to see that suggests there is a change of heart since the survey released in May 2022 by the Early Years Alliance revealed around nine in 10 nurseries and pre-schools in England are opposed to the Government plans to relax childcare ratios, with just 2% indicating that changes to ratio rules would result in them lowering fees for parents.
Since then the sector has continued to rally and colleagues especially the Oliver Steeper Foundation are to be commended for leading a petition to get the subject raised in parliament. Parents especially those urged on Pregnant and Screwed have all condemned this as an unworkable idea.
I thought with the political demise of Liz Truss we would see the end to this debate, after all it was very much her deregulation approach that kept it on the table. But no, our rich Chancellor thinks it’s a good idea and it remains on the agenda.
So, don’t take your finger off the pulse here. Share with your parents and staff. Write to your MP and get them to respond in Parliament, There we will be an election soon enough and we have long memories!
Monday 14th November 4;30pm – details on how to follow can be found here.
Tweet, Shout out, Share #saveourratios
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