A children’s nursery in Harrogate has urged parents to voice their opposition to government proposals which could see fewer staff caring for young children.
Rachel Wilkinson, proprietor of Green Gables Montessori Nursery on the Great Yorkshire Showground, said the plans to allow one member of staff to care for five two-year-olds were “not safe”.
“My main concern is that it’s OK saying you can have one member of staff to five toddlers, but the reality is you can’t keep them safe. It’s wholly inappropriate.
“We still operate one-to-three for that age range because we don’t think the one-to-four is safe.”
In childcare settings in England, each member of staff can currently care for up to four children aged two. The government today said it will consult with childcare professionals and parents over whether to increase that to five.
Meanwhile, the number of children with additional needs who require extra support has grown significantly since covid. Ms Wilkinson said it was down to children having much less social interaction during lockdowns – and those born since March 2020 were at the greatest risk, she said.
“Children at two are most likely to be diagnosed with additional needs and need as much support as children under the age of two, as well as all the learning opportunities. You can’t do that with one member of staff to five children.”
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The government said its proposal would help childcare providers to reduce costs and they could then pass savings on to parents, to enable them to access more affordable childcare as the cost of living rises.
However, Ms Wilkinson said the approach is completely wrong and there are better ways to address the challenges in the sector, such as increasing funding.
Children aged three and above receive funding for up to 30 hours’ childcare per week in term time in England.
Ms Wilkinson said the amount paid to the nursery for those hours was inadequate – it costs her £1.64 per hour more than she receives to care for each child.
Nurseries are not allowed to charge top-up fees and can only increase their prices so far. If rates rise too far, she said, providers would price themselves out of the market as parents would choose not to work.
Instead, she said she would like to see a range of measures to tackle the problems facing parents and childcare professionals.
“What would help the situation would be to stop business rates, to allow us to claim VAT back on investments – I have just bought £15,000 of equipment and paid 20% on it. That money that’s going to the government would have been reinvested in the nursery and come off the top line.
“I would like to pay my staff more than just above minimum rate. And the funding needs to actually be a viable amount. I think the calculation was done about 2016 and a lot has changed since then.
“Funding went up 6p per hour this time. Minimum wage went up by 60p per hour, plus you’ve got pensions and national insurance to pay. It just doesn’t add up.”
Children aged two would be affected by the proposed changes to childcare settings
Since covid, she said, nurseries have struggled to recruit, along with other relatively low-paying sectors, such as hospitality and social care.
Ms Wilkinson said she has managed not to need to close any of its rooms when staff are off sick, but other childcare settings have not been as fortunate.
Parents of children at other nurseries have told the Stray Ferret about last-minute cancellation of their childcare when too many staff have called in sick and there have not been enough agency workers to cover for them.
Combined with the increasing costs of fuel, food and other day-to-day expenses, Ms Wilkinson said it is no surprise that many nurseries are closing their doors.
Having established her nursery 27 years ago, she said she is increasingly concerned about the state of the sector.
Beckwithshaw has worst superfast broadband coverage in North Yorkshire“I think the profession was in crisis before the pandemic and that has just made it worse. It’s a perfect storm.”
The village of Beckwithshaw near Harrogate has the worst superfast broadband coverage in the whole of North Yorkshire.
House of Commons library data published recently reveals the village, alongside Menwith & Denton Moor, has superfast coverage of 66.4%, much lower than the UK average of 94.9%.
Superfast broadband is defined as a speed of between 30 Mbps and 300 Mbps.
Terri Micallef has run Rigg Farm Montessori Nursery in Beckwithshaw since 1994. She said she has faced years of poor broadband coverage which had a negative impact on her business.
She said:
“We use iPads for child observation and it was so slow and wasted so much time. It was so frustrating having to wait.”
In the end, she said she became so annoyed with poor speeds she ditched the broadband for a mobile internet router that has “worked really well.”
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The area of Beckwithshaw, Menwith, and Denton Moor has the second slowest average broadband speeds in the Skipton and Ripon constituency at 37.2 Mbps, which is to be expected considering it has the worst coverage in the county.
Pateley Bridge and Nidd Valley has the overall slowest speeds in the constituency at 36.4 Mbps.
In the Harrogate & Knaresborough constituency, Boroughbridge & Marton-Cum-Grafton has the slowest speeds at 46 Mbps. Saltergate has the quickest internet with a 94.1 Mbps average.
North Yorkshire County Council has responsibility for broadband in the county.
Robert Ling, assistant director for Technology and Change, said:
“We understand the importance of high-speed connectivity to businesses and residents. For that reason, North Yorkshire has been at the forefront of investment in broadband for some years, through the creation of high-speed connectivity provider NYnet and the Superfast North Yorkshire programme.
“We acknowledge that some areas are particularly difficult to reach for geographical and technical reasons, but we are working alongside communities and Building Digital UK to find innovative solutions.”