The government has today (17 October) launched the first stage of its plan to deliver 3,000 school-based nurseries, to help ensure families have access to affordable and quality early years provision in their local area.

Schools will be invited to bid for a share of £15 million of capital funding (up to £150,000) to deliver upgrades to spare spaces in primary schools to meet the target of up to 300 school-based nurseries in the first round.

The Department for Education (DfE) is also taking action to tackle reported instances of parents facing very high additional charges on top of the funded entitlement hours. These could include mandatory extra charges for nappies, lunch or other ‘consumables’ – and should not be made a condition of accessing a funded place.

In the coming months, DfE will be engaging with councils and providers to clarify their statutory guidance on charging, including on ‘top up fees’ and consider how DFE can better support councils to protect parents from overcharging.

Information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/school-based-nurseries-plan-kicks-off-with-15-million-funding