Nurseries and Early Years Settings

Childcare providers in Hampshire face significant financial challenges during the pandemic, with one provider running at a loss of £1,000 per month. Funding for childcare has not kept pace with increased costs, resulting in average losses of 75p per child per hour. Women need quality childcare to balance work and home responsibilities.

Acknowledged the importance of nurseries and early years settings in child development, supporting parents, and noted specific initiatives like Bushy Leaze nursery school. Welcomed government commitments to early years education and childcare but highlighted financial difficulties, welcoming £44 million support while calling for regular analysis of cost structures and long-term visibility in funding. Emphasized the need for a geographically distributed network of maintained nursery schools and use of primary school settings with year-round provision. Advocated for a people plan focusing on T-levels programme and parental engagement through campaigns like Hungry Little Minds.

Paid tribute to early years teams for their efforts during the lockdown. Highlighted the need for more funding in early childhood education compared to secondary education. Criticised some providers' predatory business practices and called for better workforce planning and a long-term strategy. Suggests that early years funding should be separated from school funding cycles to ensure more flexibility and sustainability in addressing issues like staff shortages due to the need for smaller groups during the pandemic.

Mr Shannon thanked the hon. Member for Winchester and expressed his appreciation of the Library briefing, which highlighted that a quarter of private nurseries might have been operating at a significant deficit during national lockdown compared to 11% before the pandemic. He discussed the challenges faced by childcare providers in his constituency since March due to the coronavirus outbreak and emphasized the need for investment to deal with high levels of provision expected from them, including transportation and paying workers a living wage. Shannon also cited an Early Years Alliance survey indicating that only a quarter of providers surveyed expected to make a profit between now and March 2021 and that one in six early years providers could close by Christmas without additional funding.

Ms Morrissey highlighted the importance of early intervention in reducing poverty and improving life chances, citing a study that predicted annual savings of £15 billion from better early years intervention. She discussed challenges faced by families during the pandemic, including fathers' limited engagement with midwives and health visitors. Morrissey also emphasized the role of family hubs and children's centres in providing comprehensive support to strengthen families and prevent breakdowns.

Nursery and early years providers are vital for parents to work and children's development. Many struggled financially during lockdown despite supporting key workers, with some closing down. The 2019 Education Committee report highlighted the positive impact of early years education on disadvantaged children. Westminster Nursery School in Crewe provides support to a deprived area but still faces funding uncertainties. Supplementary funding worth up to £23 million is welcome but does not address long-term financial shortfalls and lack of standardised approach for funding.

She discussed the difficulty nurseries face in providing high-quality, qualified staff due to financial constraints. One nursery lost a qualified member of staff and could only afford a zero-hours contract replacement. She highlighted that nurseries entered the covid crisis with significant deficits due to lack of funding certainty, resulting in closures or near-closures in her constituency.

Thanked early years staff for their dedication during the pandemic, highlighted the work of maintained nurseries in Luton, including Hart Hill Nursery School which supports 96 children with complex needs. Emphasised the need for long-term funding to maintain these services and expressed frustration over denied reimbursement requests despite initial indications from DFE. Park Hill Nursery School has divided its classrooms and created a new classroom in the library area to maintain smaller groups, which increases staffing pressure. This is due to the lack of additional funding for covid security measures.

I reminded hon. Members about changes to the call list system, social distancing rules, microphone sanitisation procedures, one-way systems around the room, and seating arrangements in Westminster Hall.

The hon. Member for Luton North highlights the immediate crisis facing nursery schools due to the pandemic, noting that nurseries have stayed open throughout without reimbursement for their covid costs. She raises concerns about local Flying Start children's centres in Luton facing closure after the council was forced to find £22 million savings. The member pleads with the Government to meet and work with them to save these vital services.

There is an early years crisis with a market failure leading to the closure of childcare providers. Provider numbers fell by 500 in just three months this year, and more than half of group-based providers expect to close within a year. Maintained nurseries do great work supporting children with special educational needs and disadvantaged families but need better funding.

Acknowledged the contributions of nursery schools in his constituency, especially during the pandemic. Emphasized the importance of early years investment for future economic benefits. Advocated for prioritizing funding for early education despite financial constraints.

Expressed concern about the fragility of the early years sector and highlighted its exclusion from various forms of covid funding. Mentioned that nurseries with rateable values over £15,000 did not qualify for larger covid grants and many part-time or recently started childminders were excluded from help through the self-employment income support scheme.