Another looming mess by this govt?
Free childcare offer could force paying parents to give up work | Children & Young People Now
Another looming mess by this govt?
Free childcare offer could force paying parents to give up work | Children & Young People Now
What a stupid situation :( Children from disadvantaged families will be encouraged into childcare - at the expense of children from working families... and since it's only for 15 hours a week it's not exactly going to make a huge difference to workforce availability for the disadvantaged families now is it :(
Good to see they have thought it through so carefully :rolleyes:
Just when you think they can't make any more of a mess of things! :doh: It would be funny if it wasn't messing up people's lives!! :ohdear:
Maybe the Monster raving loony party need to be in power??
Is the funding for disadvantaged 2 yr olds available to all , regardless of whether parents actually use it to get into work? as the unemployment rate will go up with this happening, surely?
it is actually shocking that a nursery should be giving notice to full time children in order to accept the funded places - where is the ethos in that. as someone has said - where are those parents going to end up when they lose their jobs - more parents on benefits :panic::panic:
Once again LAs seem to be doing their own thing and pushing local policies...no way would I get rid of full time kids just because some LA needs a space for a 2 year old for many reasons
First many LA have ignored cms setting for years and decided we were not of value to look after any funded children let alone 'disadvantaged' ones unless we bent to their rules
When I run my own preschool 12 years ago Social Services used to call me regularly to offer spaces for poorer families...no discrimination there just a recognition that my setting was good and I was able to help these kids
second... a lot of silly propaganda is now out there claiming there is a drop in childcare spaces...nonsense when thousands of cms have spaces but are being blocked by silly LA's restrictions
third...it is in my view immoral to now concentrate on this scheme in this way...2 year olds are being pushed as the flagship for this govt and everything else is being forgotten and I detest the way these children are 'labelled' disadvantaged and in a way put on the market to be hoovered up by settings now willing to jump through so many hoops to accommodate them...
well the funding is reasonable for them (not sure why I call it that) but then drops to unacceptable levels when they are 3.
This is all a game and lets not forget the 2 year old scheme was actuallu introduced by the Labour party but Truss will be happy to claim it her own...except that without cms she will have too many spaces to fill despite the fact she is recruiting an army of new comers
Off to the 2 year old funding conference now and I am sure some and I say 'some' in the panel will be moaning again about the cost of childcare...I am in no mood to take any of that and to top it all my LA is attending...after months of wasted efforts to try and engage with them they will be there listening to the DfE telling them again that cms should be included in the funding....
If any 'big' news comes out I will post directly in the forum
Why do you think they want to up ratios???
this has already started in our area and because of the huge numbers of disadvantaged 2 year olds, nurseries in this area cant cope so childminders are getting asked more and more to take on the excess....but I have found that the parents who take up the free places arent actually wanting to go back to work....most of them are sitting in the local pubs for the 15 hours a week!!!
The ratios for cms have 'already' been increased via the EYFS as many cms are already looking after more that 3 children under 5
For day care and preschools ...the option of having 1:13 is also on the EYFS but not taken up..they must have good reasons for not doing so
and last because Truss has fixed her ideas on following France et al rather than focus on reducing costs by cutting red tape she is actually increasing it and increasing our costs...she would gain 'some' tiny bit of respect by listening and compromising instead of her senseless stand
I had a LA network meeting lastnight. My DO said the nurseries in my area are full and the childminders I know and myself are full. This news is abit worrying. Soon parents will not have alot of choices. Xx
It is sad that they are doing this but on the plus side childminders will have a good chance of filling full time places
Too right! Employers won't give them a job in the first place and they won't take one on as ALL new jobs need you to work a weekend. Some EVERY weekend! :(Quote:
Originally Posted by catlyn
But the idea of funded places isn't so that parents can go to work. It's an attempt to raise the development standards of 'disadvantaged' 2 year olds, who are statistically considered to be behind their more affluent peers. The government believes that putting these children into childcare at the age of 2 will improve their learning outcomes. It's nothing to do with getting parents back to work.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ripeberry
This is correct. This is an opportunity to make a difference to these children's lives, hopefully in the long term. 15 hours in a high quality childcare setting can make a huge difference in "closing the gap" between the children from "less advantaged" backgrounds (that's the phrase used here) and the children from more affluent backgrounds as has been proved in the pilot project. I was very sceptical in the beginning about how much difference can be made in just 10 hours (as it was then) and was surprised at the difference it made both to the children and some of their families. If some of the parents go out and get jobs when they wouldn't have done otherwise, well that's a bonus.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mouse
The other problem is that if the parents do go out to work while the children are receiving their funded hours, it could push family income to a level where the children no longer qualify for funding! It could actually trap some parents - don't work & get funded sessions or work & lose them!
it won't Mouse. Under the new phase of the project, once a child has the 2 year funding, the family keep it whether or not parents end up in work/off benefits. I found this out a few weeks back.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mouse
Thanks Juggler, that's good to know :)Quote:
Originally Posted by The Juggler