Free Childcare Scheme Set To Be Extended

By Tadhg Enright, Sky News Correspondent

A free childcare scheme starting today for 130,000 toddlers will be extended to 260,000 young children from September next year.

Children in around 40% of working families will qualify for up to 15 hours of free early education every week once the scheme is extended to anyone who meets the same eligibility criteria for free school meals.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said: "All the evidence shows that if you take two children - two five-year-olds hanging up their coats next to each other on the first day of school - the poorer child will already be behind their better off classmate before a single lesson has been taught.

"Without this help, children suffer and the whole class suffers as teachers have to focus more of their efforts on children who are frustrated and left behind through no fault of their own.

"I believe that every British family, whatever its structure, background and circumstances should be able to get on in life."

Mr Clegg said that adopted children, those in care and youngsters with a disability or special educational needs will also benefit from the changes to be brought in next September.

Critics however are concerned that the budget will not rise to match the doubling of numbers benefiting from the scheme.

Nick Clegg promoting the Government's free childcare offer in March

The Government will spend £534m on the scheme this year which will rise to £760m in 2014.

Welcoming the announcement, the Pre-school Learning Alliance warned the Government plans would fail if they were not properly funded.

Chief executive Neil Leitch said: "This is a tremendous initiative that will help to support young children who statistically run the risk of being marginalised throughout their entire life."

But he added: "Our fear is that should this well-intentioned initiative be grossly under-funded, the Deputy Prime Minister will not achieve the brighter start in life for these children that he wants."

Anand Shukla, chief executive of the Family and Childcare Trust, voiced fears that nursery closures could impede the delivery of free childcare.

"We are concerned that loss of nursery provision in children's centres is impacting on local authorities' ability to find sufficient places for the offer," he said.

New research by the Family and Childcare Trust, to be published later this month, indicates that a minimum of 108 nurseries across England have closed or were never commissioned as they were supposed to be, he added.

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