Government plans new 30-hour evaluation
By Shannon Hawthorne
The Department for Education (DfE) is planning to commission an evaluation of 30 hour funded childcare offer in 2018, children and families minister Robert Goodwill has confirmed.
On Thursday 19 October, shadow early years minister Tracy Brabin asked in a parliamentary question whether the DfE plans to monitor the level of additional charges placed on parents accessing funded childcare by providers.
In response, Robert Goodwill confirmed that the government is “currently procuring an independent evaluator to conduct an evaluation of the first two terms of national rollout of 30 hours in 10-20 local authorities across England”. He added that this evaluation will “include qualitative research to understand charging practices”.
DfE guidance
He also confirmed that under DfE rules, early years providers can charge for additional good and services, but cannot make these charges a condition of taking up a place. He also stated that “the duty of the local authority to ensure that providers are not charging parents inappropriately”.
In July 2017, the Department updated the Early Education and Childcare: operational guidance to state that parents should “expect to pay” for meals, consumables and activities. Previously, the guidance had stated that providers “can” charge for meals and snacks as long as parents were not required to pay as a condition of taking up an extended entitlement place.