Found: Funding (England) , Research briefing 8052, February 2022 for more detail. 54 Q38 55 PQ 399 1 , [on Children

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 25 February 2021 to Question 155406 on Children: Day Care, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of extending the 30 hours of free childcare a week to full-time postgraduate students.

Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero

The government is not currently planning to extend the 30 hours of free childcare a week. However, the department recognises the value of parents continuing in education and we provide a range of support for students in further or higher education to assist them with childcare.

All parents are eligible for the universal 15 hours of free early education, which is available to all three and four-year-olds, regardless of family circumstances.

Working parents of three and four-year-olds may be eligible for an additional 15 hours of free childcare if they earn the equivalent of 16 hours a week at national minimum or living wage and under £100,000 per year. This entitlement aims to help working parents with the costs of childcare, so they can take up paid work if they want to, or work additional hours. Students who participate in paid work in addition to their studies and meet the income requirements will be eligible for the additional hours.

Parents who meet these income criteria may also be able to receive support from Tax Free Childcare, which can be worth up to £2,000 per year for children aged 0-11, or up to £4,000 per year for disabled children until the age of 17.

In addition to the above, eligible students starting a postgraduate master’s degree can receive a postgraduate master’s loan of up to £11,836 for students starting their courses in the 2022/23 academic year. The loan is intended as a contribution to the cost of study, rather than to specifically cover tuition fees or livings costs.

Further information on the childcare offers available to parents can be found at: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to advice published on the gov.uk website which states that people who are on adoption leave cannot apply for Tax Free Childcare in respect of the child for whom they are on Adoption Leave unless they are going back to work within 31 days of the date on which they first applied, whether that restriction also applies to those on shared parental, maternity or paternity leave.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

I can confirm the same rule applies to people on all forms of parental leave (including maternity, paternity and shared parental leave) unless they are expected to return to work within 31 days of the date in which their leave started. Parents remain eligible for Tax-Free Childcare for children other than the child that is the subject of the parental or adoption leave.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of trends in the cost of childcare places as a proportion of average household incomes.

Answered by Kelly Tolhurst

The department has not made such assessments with Cabinet colleagues.

We continue to work across government to look at ways to make childcare more affordable and accessible and to encourage families to use their entitlements. In July 2022, we announced measures to increase take-up of childcare support and reduce the costs and bureaucracy facing providers. These plans give providers more flexibility and autonomy and ensure families can access government support to save them money on their childcare bills.

The department has a £1.2 million campaign underway via the Childcare Choices website to ensure that every parent knows about the government funded support they are eligible for. More information is available at: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.

The department is also working to expand the childminder market and encourage the growth of childminder agencies, which will enable greater access to this flexible, affordable form of care.

Data from the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development shows that the net cost of full-time, centre-based childcare in the UK in 2021 for couples was 26% of household income, taking account of childcare benefits for a couple where both parents earn 67% of the average wage and have two children aged 2 and 3. This has increased slightly over recent years, from 23% in 2012, 25% in 2015 and 2018 and from 26% in 2019.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the potential impact of the cost of nursery places on household finances; and if the Government will provide more childcare support to parents.

Answered by Kelly Tolhurst

The department has not made such assessments with Cabinet colleagues.

We continue to work across government to look at ways to make childcare more affordable and accessible and to encourage families to use their entitlements. In July 2022, we announced measures to increase take-up of childcare support and reduce the costs and bureaucracy facing providers. These plans give providers more flexibility and autonomy and ensure families can access government support to save them money on their childcare bills.

The department has a £1.2 million campaign underway via the Childcare Choices website to ensure that every parent knows about the government funded support they are eligible for. More information is available at: https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.

The department is also working to expand the childminder market and encourage the growth of childminder agencies, which will enable greater access to this flexible, affordable form of care.

Data from the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development shows that the net cost of full-time, centre-based childcare in the UK in 2021 for couples was 26% of household income, taking account of childcare benefits for a couple where both parents earn 67% of the average wage and have two children aged 2 and 3. This has increased slightly over recent years, from 23% in 2012, 25% in 2015 and 2018 and from 26% in 2019.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made with Cabinet colleagues of the adequacy of the Government's energy support package for supporting childcare providers.

Answered by Kelly Tolhurst

The department is exploring ways to mitigate the impact of the rising cost of living on early years providers and the children in their care. We are in regular contact with local authorities to monitor their delivery of childcare and gauge the impact at local levels.

The new government Energy Bill Relief Scheme will provide a discount on wholesale gas and electricity prices for all non-domestic customers including all UK businesses. Providers in all Department of Education sectors, including providers of childcare on non-domestic premises, are eligible for this scheme.

The department will continue to work closely with the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy to monitor the impacts of this scheme and of energy costs on the early years and childcare sector.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has he made of trends in the availability of childcare places (a) nationally and (b) in York.

Answered by Kelly Tolhurst

The department continues to monitor the sufficiency of childcare nationally. The key measure of sufficiency is whether the supply of available places is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents and children. Ofsted data currently shows that the number of places offered by providers on the Early Years Register has remained stable at 1.3 million places since August 2015. We also discuss sufficiency of provision in our regular conversations with local authorities. Local authorities are not currently reporting any substantial sufficiency issues and we have not seen a substantial number of parents unable to secure a childcare place, either nationally or in York specifically.

According to findings from the 2021 childcare and early years providers survey, 70% of group-based providers reported having spare places in their full day provision and 49% reported having spare capacity on average across the week: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childcare-and-early-years-providers-survey-2021.

The department does not hold information on the trends in the availability of childcare in York.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has plans to increase Government funding for early years providers.

Answered by Kelly Tolhurst

The department has spent over £3.5 billion in each of the past three years on its early education entitlements and the government will continue to support families with their childcare costs.

In the 2021 Spending Review, we announced additional funding of £160 million in the 2022/23 financial year, £180 million in the 2023/24 financial year and £170 million in the 2024/25 financial year, compared to the 2021/22 financial year. This is for local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers and reflects cost pressures and changes in the number of eligible children anticipated at the time of the Spending Review.

For the 2022/23 financial year, the department has increased the hourly funding rates for all local authorities by 21p an hour for the 2-year-old entitlement and, for the vast majority of areas, by 17p an hour for the 3 and 4-year-old entitlement.

Over the summer, the department is consulting on proposals to update the formulae used to deliver the early years entitlements funding. This will ensure the funding system remains fair, effective and responsive to changing levels of need across different areas.

The department expects to announce the early years funding rates for local authorities for the 2023/24 financial year in the autumn in the normal way.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the average annual energy usage of (a) nurseries, (b) childminders and (c) other childcare providers in each of the past five years.

Answered by Kelly Tolhurst

The department recognises and continues to assess the impact rising energy prices and inflation are having on nurseries, childminders and other childcare providers.

On Thursday 8 September, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister announced measures to tackle the root cause of the issues in the UK energy market including the introduction of an Energy Price Guarantee’ to limit the price suppliers can charge customers for units of gas and electricity.

To support childminders operating from their own home who are on domestic energy tariffs, typical UK households will pay no more than £2,500 a year on their gas and electricity bill for the next two years from Saturday 1 October. This will save the average household £1,000 a year based on current energy prices from October. This will be in addition to the announced £400 energy bills discount for all households and together they will bring costs close to where the energy price cap stands today.

There will be a new six-month scheme for businesses and all non-domestic energy users, including charities and public sector organisations. Providers in all educational sectors will therefore be eligible, including providers of childcare on non-domestic premises like nurseries.

After this initial six-month scheme for non-domestic customers, the government will provide ongoing, focused support for vulnerable sectors. There will be a review in three months’ time to consider where this should be targeted to make sure those most in need get support.

We will continue to work closely with the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy to monitor the impacts on the early years and childcare sector. We will share further detail with the sector in due course.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to support (a) nurseries, (b) childminders and (c) other childcare providers with the rising cost of energy bills.

Answered by Kelly Tolhurst

The department recognises and continues to assess the impact rising energy prices and inflation are having on nurseries, childminders and other childcare providers.

On Thursday 8 September, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister announced measures to tackle the root cause of the issues in the UK energy market including the introduction of an Energy Price Guarantee’ to limit the price suppliers can charge customers for units of gas and electricity.

To support childminders operating from their own home who are on domestic energy tariffs, typical UK households will pay no more than £2,500 a year on their gas and electricity bill for the next two years from Saturday 1 October. This will save the average household £1,000 a year based on current energy prices from October. This will be in addition to the announced £400 energy bills discount for all households and together they will bring costs close to where the energy price cap stands today.

There will be a new six-month scheme for businesses and all non-domestic energy users, including charities and public sector organisations. Providers in all educational sectors will therefore be eligible, including providers of childcare on non-domestic premises like nurseries.

After this initial six-month scheme for non-domestic customers, the government will provide ongoing, focused support for vulnerable sectors. There will be a review in three months’ time to consider where this should be targeted to make sure those most in need get support.

We will continue to work closely with the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy to monitor the impacts on the early years and childcare sector. We will share further detail with the sector in due course.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of rising energy bills on (a) nurseries, (b) childminders and (c) other childcare providers.

Answered by Kelly Tolhurst

The department recognises and continues to assess the impact rising energy prices and inflation are having on nurseries, childminders and other childcare providers.

On Thursday 8 September, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister announced measures to tackle the root cause of the issues in the UK energy market including the introduction of an Energy Price Guarantee’ to limit the price suppliers can charge customers for units of gas and electricity.

To support childminders operating from their own home who are on domestic energy tariffs, typical UK households will pay no more than £2,500 a year on their gas and electricity bill for the next two years from Saturday 1 October. This will save the average household £1,000 a year based on current energy prices from October. This will be in addition to the announced £400 energy bills discount for all households and together they will bring costs close to where the energy price cap stands today.

There will be a new six-month scheme for businesses and all non-domestic energy users, including charities and public sector organisations. Providers in all educational sectors will therefore be eligible, including providers of childcare on non-domestic premises like nurseries.

After this initial six-month scheme for non-domestic customers, the government will provide ongoing, focused support for vulnerable sectors. There will be a review in three months’ time to consider where this should be targeted to make sure those most in need get support.

We will continue to work closely with the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy to monitor the impacts on the early years and childcare sector. We will share further detail with the sector in due course.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to support (a) nurseries, (b) childminders and (c) other childcare providers with the impact of rising levels of inflation.

Answered by Kelly Tolhurst

The department recognises and continues to assess the impact rising energy prices and inflation are having on nurseries, childminders and other childcare providers.

On Thursday 8 September, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister announced measures to tackle the root cause of the issues in the UK energy market including the introduction of an Energy Price Guarantee’ to limit the price suppliers can charge customers for units of gas and electricity.

To support childminders operating from their own home who are on domestic energy tariffs, typical UK households will pay no more than £2,500 a year on their gas and electricity bill for the next two years from Saturday 1 October. This will save the average household £1,000 a year based on current energy prices from October. This will be in addition to the announced £400 energy bills discount for all households and together they will bring costs close to where the energy price cap stands today.

There will be a new six-month scheme for businesses and all non-domestic energy users, including charities and public sector organisations. Providers in all educational sectors will therefore be eligible, including providers of childcare on non-domestic premises like nurseries.

After this initial six-month scheme for non-domestic customers, the government will provide ongoing, focused support for vulnerable sectors. There will be a review in three months’ time to consider where this should be targeted to make sure those most in need get support.

We will continue to work closely with the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy to monitor the impacts on the early years and childcare sector. We will share further detail with the sector in due course.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of trends in the level of inflation on costs for (a) nurseries, (b) childminders and (c) other childcare providers.

Answered by Kelly Tolhurst

The department recognises and continues to assess the impact rising energy prices and inflation are having on nurseries, childminders and other childcare providers.

On Thursday 8 September, my right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister announced measures to tackle the root cause of the issues in the UK energy market including the introduction of an Energy Price Guarantee’ to limit the price suppliers can charge customers for units of gas and electricity.

To support childminders operating from their own home who are on domestic energy tariffs, typical UK households will pay no more than £2,500 a year on their gas and electricity bill for the next two years from Saturday 1 October. This will save the average household £1,000 a year based on current energy prices from October. This will be in addition to the announced £400 energy bills discount for all households and together they will bring costs close to where the energy price cap stands today.

There will be a new six-month scheme for businesses and all non-domestic energy users, including charities and public sector organisations. Providers in all educational sectors will therefore be eligible, including providers of childcare on non-domestic premises like nurseries.

After this initial six-month scheme for non-domestic customers, the government will provide ongoing, focused support for vulnerable sectors. There will be a review in three months’ time to consider where this should be targeted to make sure those most in need get support.

We will continue to work closely with the Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy to monitor the impacts on the early years and childcare sector. We will share further detail with the sector in due course.

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