Education back down over nursery cuts

Tuesday 14 June 2016

Education have backed down over their plans to cut nursery fee subsidies to families earning £75,000 – a new plan will phase out the subsidies to families earning between £85,000 and £100,000.

But a review out this morning has called on the Education Minister to pull the changes entirely until his department has properly examined how they will affect families, and how they will fit into other States policies.

Deputy Louise Doublet, the chairman of the Scrutiny Panel, has said that instead of cutting nursery funding in contravention of Strategic Plan commitments, he should have stood up to ministers and not made the cuts.

The change of plan announced late yesterday by the minister comes with the States due to debate plans today that would have stopped the proposed changes, which are due to come into force in 2017.

The initial announcement was controversial, with parents, nurseries and politicians all protesting that the move would target middle income families.

Education had said that the cut would have saved £250,000 and would have affected around 100 families.

At the moment, all children aged three and four and in the year before they start reception to get 20 hours of free care for 38 weeks per year in term time, at a cost to the States of £3,914 each.

Under the revised scheme now proposed by Education, the funding would be reduced for families earning between £85,000 and £100,000, and cut entirely for anyone earning six figures.

The new subsidies would cover:

• Household income of £85,000 and below – 20 hours.

• Household income of £85,000 to £90,000 – 15 hours.

• Household income of £90,000 to £95,000 – 10 hours.

• Household income of £95,000 to £100,000 – 5 hours.

• Household income of £100,000 and above – not eligible.

In a statement yesterday afternoon, Education Minister Rod Bryans said: “We are raising the bar to take account of parents’ concerns about the threshold and we are introducing a sliding scale that will reduce the number of families affected.

“This would retain the principle of means testing. It would allow a greater percentage of people to receive the full 20 hours.

“The sliding scale creates a buffer giving parents an element of free nursery and, ultimately, it reduces the number of families affected. Discounts will also be in place for families with twins.”

But the minister’s attempt to find a half-way house has not won over the Scrutiny Panel – they say that he should pull the proposals entirely because they have not been properly thought-through, because they will affect young families, because they are likely to lead to fewer women in the workplace, and because some children could be denied the opportunity for early years development.

Their report says: “The Panel is unable to support the Minister’s proposal. It has not been developed with appropriate levels of research, impact assessments or consultation with stakeholders and as such raises too many significant issues that the Minister has been unable to adequately answer.

“We strongly recommend that it is withdrawn, at the very least until such as time as that work has been carried out and the information gathered taken fully into account.”