Is the government’s expansion of free childcare actually going to work? The early years sector says not. They have warned that parents of two year olds won’t get the 15 funded hours they have been promised without eye-watering fee hikes overall – and that some nurseries may even be forced to close because they simply can’t balance the books. No wonder, then, that this policy was once again the focus of Labour’s attack at Education Questions in the Commons this afternoon.
Ministers really do think the complaints about the scheme now simply amount to teething problems
A number of opposition MPs, including Stella Creasy and shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson, raised the looming launch of these extra free hours, supposed to start in April, during the session. Creasy was particularly concerned about the impact this was having on children with special educational needs, and got a reply from the minister of state responsible for the policy, David Johnson.
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