Nurseries in England are charging parents extra fees to compensate for government underfunding of free childcare hours, with some families paying thousands of pounds a year for consumables such as food, wipes, and nappies, campaigners have said.
The comments came as Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson asked the competition watchdog to investigate hidden extra charges that parents have encountered when trying to access government-funded childcare.
Eligible working parents in England can receive 30 hours a week of free childcare for children aged between nine months and four years old. However, the Department for Education (DfE) has stated that “too many” parents have reported being asked to pay more to secure a funded place, including waiting-list deposits, compulsory add-ons, and additional hours.
According to a survey conducted in May and June last year, nearly three-quarters of parents whose children attended formal childcare reported having to pay for extras, including meals, drinks, snacks, nappies, sun cream, and one-off activities such as special outings.
“It’s a cross-subsidy,” said Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, an educational charity, speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. He sought to illustrate the scale of the problem for childcare providers and the extent to which some were passing costs on to parents.
One parent, Rick Kelsey, writing in the Times last year, reported being charged as much as £16 a day—amounting to thousands of pounds annually for a child in full-time nursery—on top of standard fees. “I would love to see a toddler eat £16-worth of chicken nuggets and Babybel cheese before pickup,” Kelsey said. Leitch acknowledged that “it’s not £16 per lunch. This is a cross-subsidy, basically.”
The Ipsos poll last summer, which surveyed 2,000 parents of children up to four years old, suggested that more than a quarter found the cost of childcare to be the “primary barrier” to accessing their preferred option.
Writing in the Guardian, Phillipson said “too many parents are still not feeling the full benefit” of the government-funded childcare hours. “The vast majority of nurseries and childminders are doing a brilliant job—but we have to ask hard questions every time we hear stories of families hit with hidden charges, restricted hours, or excessive deposits that bear no relation to what parents are actually paying. That is not what this investment was meant to deliver.”
In her letter to the regulator, Phillipson requested details about the impact of extra charges on parents and providers. To make accessing childcare simpler, the government has also launched a digital map of providers in Bristol, south Gloucestershire, Bath, and north-east Somerset, which is due to be rolled out nationwide later this year. The tool is available via the Best Start in Life website.
A Competition and Markets Authority spokesperson said: “We welcome the request from the education secretary to carry out a review into the early years childcare sector. The CMA has been monitoring developments and exploring the merits of work in this area. This is an important sector that needs to work well for families, and we will be developing a specific proposal to put to our board.”
