Pre-school Education: Fees and Charges
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has considered issuing guidance to early years providers to ensure that penalty charges are not applied where delays are not attributable to parents and carers.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
Through the department’s Best Start in Life strategy, we are focused on reforming the childcare system, delivering on our plan for change.
Government funding is intended to deliver 15 or 30 hours a week of funded, high-quality, flexible childcare, free of charge to parents. There must not be any mandatory charges for parents in relation to the funded hours.
Charges applied by private childcare providers for non-funded provision are established independently by providers and are regarded as a private business matter between parents and providers. These must not however be made a condition of accessing a funded place.
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