Mind The Funding Gap

Mind the Funding Gap

You have all been told that your nursery place is ‘free’. But there is a problem and parents need to listen or risk losing their setting’s ability to remain in the scheme.

Imagine that the government decides that a burger and chips can only ever be £3.79 because that’s what you can get them for in McDonald’s.

Can you imagine the uproar if pubs or restaurants were no longer able to charge more for their burger and chips? A Ramsay’s burger in Harrods currently costs £85. Because it’s in Harrods, it pays for amazing chefs, uses quality ingredients and provides an incredibly salubrious environment in Harrods where rent and rates are eyewatering. If the government fixed the price to £3.79, as the business owner you would have very few options.

Work out ways to get the rest of the money back
Close, or
Sell out to someone who’s prepared to make the McDonald ’s-level burger (usually private equity).

Choosing no 1 is tricky. Customers come and get really annoyed because they’ve been told that all burgers must cost £3.79. Some customers might sue you or report you. And you get the reputation for being a greedy, money-grabbing burger-joint owner. The press claims that burger-making is a ‘licence to print money’ and the government clamps down on charges for garnishes and sauces, and asks the CMA to investigate. So you end up going for number 2 or 3 eventually, and the loser is the burger consumer, who can now only eat a pretty rubbish burger.

This is what is happening at your nursery. If you’ve chosen somewhere that has a beautiful environment and lovely equipment, this is expensive to provide. If you’ve chosen somewhere where the he staff are older and more experienced, this also costs more. If you’ve chosen somewhere because it has a huge garden, this will need paying for. If you’ve chosen somewhere with an educational ethos which appeals to you, this costs money. If, however you have chosen a village hall with volunteers included in the ratio, low rent, rates and utilities included in the hall hire then maybe you won’t have to pay extra. But you might, if one of the staff is a qualified teacher. Because the funding doesn’t allow for high quality.

ALL of these settings, no matter what they’re offering, are paid the same amount from the government. The same hourly rate for whichever nursery or setting you choose. So if you’ve chosen somewhere choose the equivalent of Ramsay’s in Harrod’s, don’t be surprised if you have to fill The Funding Gap. Because no one else can do that for you.

High quality settings are currently only funded at about 50% of the level needed. This is borne out by the fact that the government pays maintenanced nursery schools DOUBLE the rate. Sometimes more.

So when you see all of the anti-nursery propaganda (costing the tax payer £92m), please, please, Mind the Funding Gap and direct your ire towards those who are underfunding your child’s place.