State nurseries fear budget cuts

By Hannah Richardson
Education reporter, BBC News

Some of the best pre-school nurseries are in the state sector

State-run nurseries face budget cuts of up to a third because of a shake-up in early years funding, opponents of the changes fear.

The government wants private, voluntary and independent nurseries to be funded at the same level as state-run pre-schools, which currently get more cash.

Funds will be taken from state-run nurseries to boost budgets in independent ones, critics claim.

Schools minister Vernon Coaker said he was sure fairness could be achieved.

It will decimate what we can do Jean Ensing Bognor Regis Nursery School

Currently, all three and four-year-olds are entitled to a free part-time nursery place of 12.5 hours a week. This will increase to 15 hours a week in 2010.

A high proportion of children take their entitlement in state-run nursery schools or children's centres, but 55% are cared for in the private, voluntary and independent sector.

Non-state providers have long complained that they do not get enough money from the government's Nursery Education Grant to cover the cost of these sessions which are supposed to be free at the point of use.

Many get round this by running slightly longer sessions and charging extra sums in return.

The new single funding formula, due to come in from March 2010, is partly about evening those disparities out.

Megan Pacey, chief executive of Early Education, which represents nursery schools in the maintained sector, said they were facing budget cuts of between a quarter and a third.

She said: "At the very least it means there will be redundancies to staff and it is unlikely that nursery schools will be able to do the additional things like speech and language therapy and extended family services.

"But if they can't make it work there's a real risk that some settings will close and that will be a significant loss."

'Consequences'

One of the biggest changes, she said, was that pre-schools in the state sector would no longer be funded as if they were full, but rather on the basis of how many places were taken.

This meant that state nurseries, which often kept places open for some of the most vulnerable children, would no longer be able to accommodate them at short notice.

She also feared that much of the excellent practice could be lost if nurseries did not maintain their funding at current levels.

"There's a real risk that all the good stuff that has been done in early years over the past 10 years could get wiped out," said Miss Pacey.

One such centre, the Bognor Regis Nursery School and Children's Centre in West Sussex, which has been rated "outstanding" by Ofsted four times in a row, is predicting its budget will be cut by a quarter or £100,000.

Chair of governors Jean Ensing said: "If we have to sack our teachers then it will decimate what we can do."

'Common sense'

But this loss would equate to an extra £232 for each private, voluntary and independent (PVI) setting a year in West Sussex, she said.

She added: "The government, through not thinking through the consequences, are not helping the PVI sector - but the maintained sector is certainly going to be the loser in this.

Early Education called for the government to stop and reflect on the implications of the changes.

Schools Minister Vernon Coaker said: "The common-sense shift to funding per child from funding per place - where places can currently stand empty and still be state-funded - should not mean a threat of closure, and our pilots this year have demonstrated that.

"Providers and local authorities have been preparing for this for over two years, practice guidance was issued to all local authorities last year and updated in July this year.

"We are working very closely with local authorities as they enter open consultation with their providers to provide additional support and information wherever needed."

A spokeswoman for the Local Government Association said the provision of good nursery care was important to both local authorities and parents.

She said councils were currently dealing with two major changes to the system which were designed to make it better for all children and that they would be aware of any problems and dealing with them.

The chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, Purnima Tanuku, said the reforms were an important step in ensuring that funding was fairer and more equitable across all sectors.

"Local authorities should be undertaking measures to support all nurseries during these changes," she said.

The changes would create challenges for state sector nurseries but it was vital that funding be allocated to nurseries based on numbers of children actually attending.

"Whilst NDNA understands concerns that the move to funding based on take-up rather than places could impact negatively on maintained sector settings, it is vital that this transition is carefully managed and the funding follows the child."