Manifesto launched to tackle unique challenges for day nurseries in Wales
The National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA Cymru) is calling on the next Welsh government to focus on high-quality early childhood play, learning and care to support every family in every community.
Early indications from NDNA’s nursery survey suggest that 89% of day nurseries in Wales make a loss on sessional places and 79% say the full day rate doesn’t cover their costs.
As a result of rising staffing costs – with the average increase in staff bills around 10.5% – nurseries are having to put up their fees to parents by an average of 7.5%, so they are not passing on the full increase to parents. One nursery told NDNA: “We can’t increase prices as parents are struggling to pay their bill already”.
To help mitigate these costs, nurseries are spending less on resources and reducing staffing hours and training which could damage quality in the long run. One respondent said that they had been forced to lay off three members of staff.
To address the specific challenges faced by day nurseries in Wales, NDNA Cymru has published its manifesto The Best Start for Children in Wales. The manifesto calls for better funding rates which reflect real costs, a fully funded workforce strategy and longer-term planning so our children can thrive in nursery settings.
Our manifesto outlines four immediate priorities for the next Welsh Government, including:
- Conducting a national review of funded childcare in Wales to ensure hourly rates cover delivery costs and ALN funding is adequate
- Preventing damage to existing childcare providers by ensuring existing capacity is assessed before new capital projects are approved
- Implement a progressive system of universal, fully funded childcare with targeted support for children with the most to gain
- Develop a clear and fully funded workforce strategy.
Download Wales manifesto here:
Tim McLachlan, Chief Executive of NDNA Cymru said: “The next Welsh Government has the opportunity to do things better. We are calling on all parties to put children at the heart of any future policy, making sure it is properly funded and delivered consistently in communities across Wales.
“Our survey of day nurseries shows that they face unique funding pressures. It cannot be good for children, families or the economy to have nurseries fighting just to survive when we want to see them thrive.
“We have also seen examples where public money has been wasted in creating new childcare in areas where there the existing high-quality nurseries have then been forced to close. Steps need to be in place to ensure that established nurseries, where children are already settled and getting the best start in life, are not damaged in this way.
“Parents rightly want more support to make childcare more affordable. But to be fair to everyone and make sure that polices can be delivered, political parties must make sure any promise they make is fully funded. A thorough workforce plan needs to be in place to tackle existing shortfalls and ensure any expansion is deliverable and sustainable.”
NDNA Cymru is calling for a funded childcare landscape that works for children, families and providers. With 92% of respondents to the survey saying they are currently operating at a loss or just breaking even, it is more important that the next Welsh government ensures providers’ costs are covered.
The charity is also promoting policies that will ensure funded childcare supports families in every community and delivers inspirational early experiences. This means a fair and consistent approach across Wales underwritten by national guidance and an evidence-based approach. It also requires see investment in the skilled and professional workforce and ensuring ALN funding is adequate to meet children’s needs.
Other findings from the survey include:
- 79% said that the new funding rate of £6.67 for full day care of three and four-year-olds did not cover their costs – the average shortfall per hour per child was £1.56
- 89% said that the new funding rate of £6.67 for sessional care of three and four-year-olds did not cover their costs – the average shortfall per hour per child was £2.05
- The average number of childcare hours which were paid by Government totalled 47.6% compared to parent-paid hours
- 89% would value flexibility to decide whether those staff members who are working towards qualifications could count as being qualified in ratios
Responding to the survey nurseries said:
“In the 39 years I have been operating successfully and at a very high level of quality, this is the most challenging and disheartening time for my business in relation to financial sustainability. Continual year on year, increased staffing and general day to day costs, along with the low level of funding costs from Welsh Government are severely lacking both for the [Childcare offer for Wales] and the Flying Start rollout.
“Funding and fees are a constant worry alongside staff recruitment and retention; childcare is a lot more challenging and increases each year make it harder and harder.”
“There is such a shortage of qualified and experienced staff, you need to provide higher wages to recruit and retain them. I would pay my team substantially more if the funded childcare was increased.”
We have developed template letters for providers to send to Welsh Senedd candidates and parents. You can download them here:
- Wales
- childcare
- early education
- early years
- NDNA
- NDNA Cymru
- nurseries
- staff wellbeing policy
- Staffing
- Wales
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