Minister of State for Children and Families, Robert Goodwill has been sacked from his government position after only seven months in the job.
He leaves behind total and utter devastation, as many nurseries have been forced to close their doors for good while their campaigning for better funding from the Conservative government have fallen on deaf ears.
https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/breaking-news/robert-goodwill-minister-send-early-years-and-school-sports-sacked
https://www.otsnews.co.uk/uk-government-set-destroy-childcare-sector/
Childcare professionals around the country are hoping that this opens a doorway into finally being heard and having the funding issues properly addressed and turned around.
PM Theresa May MUST realise the massive mistakes made by her government. Now is her chance to begin to rectify the mess her government has made since bringing in the 30 hours free funding and putting such restrictions on providers in the contracts councils make all providers adhere to.
So what exactly is the problem?
It mainly comes down to funding levels being too low. Many providers' rates per hour are £6 plus, but the Government rates actually paid to providers will start at £3.65 being the lowest in some parts of the country to £6.40 the highest in other parts.
The majority of rates are approximately £4/hour. From this funding providers are not allowed to pay for meals, snack, nappies and other items, so this charge will have to be met by either the parent or the provider's personal money.
The Government is saying that providers can ask parents for a 'voluntary contribution' for items, what they really mean is that parents are to be asked to make up for the underpayment by the government and if they say no, the provider has to find it out of their own pockets. The words 'Free Funding' may appear to be highly attractive but it does not meet the needs and is highly ambiguous. The funding levels are so low that many owners of theses businesses cannot even pay themselves a wage most of the time.
The funding levels will not be sustainable for many and a lot of providers have already closed their doors for good. We are losing Ofsted - rated 'Outstanding' providers who have been in the business for over thirty years. This is because the Government has clearly not analysed the inherent problems involved, regarding their 'free funding' proposals and put together a workable project fit for purpose.
So for £4 /hour which is frozen now until 2020, what are providers expected to offer? High quality childcare and resources, highly trained staff, wages which rise each year, pensions, staff holiday pay, rent, business rates, food, consumables ie nappies etc, staff meetings, meetings with other professionals to support parents and families and business advertising amongst many other things.
Robert Goodwill refused to listen to the problems, hopefully his successor will.
The campaign continues.
http://cathregan.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/a-house-of-commons-debate-on-effect-of.html
https://www.facebook.com/PinePixiesPreSchool/
http://pinepixies.webnode.com/about-us/
No comments:
Post a Comment