National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) today welcomed how the Government is looking to extend free nursery places for two year olds as part of a £7bn ‘fairness fund’ for disadvantaged children. However, NDNA highlighted it was crucial to resolve issues with funding for existing free sessions to ensure the sector could provide a high-quality entitlement for two year olds.
Purnima Tanuku, Chief Executive of National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) comments: “NDNA welcomes how government is recognising the value of early years, and seeing how high-quality provision can support children from less advantaged backgrounds. Evidence demonstrates that working with families in their child’s earliest years delivers long-term outcomes that continue throughout a child’s schooling and into adulthood. We are keen to know more about what proportion of this money will be available for free places for two year olds, and how many children may benefit. More widely, NDNA is also urging government to recognise how it is vital to continue to provide investment in early years, including in the workforce, to support these children in receiving a continuously improving service.”
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From September 2010 the current free entitlement will increase from 12.5 to 15 hours per week for 38 weeks of the year, and parents will be able to use it more flexibly than at present – over at least three days a week. Since September 2009, all local authorities (LAs) have been required to make the offer available to 25 per cent of their most disadvantaged 3- and 4-year-olds.
