Parents ‘will not be capable to declare free childcare hours’ due to Tory ‘s***present’

Rishi Sunak’s flagship promise to ship free childcare to thousands and thousands extra households is in danger due to funding, IT and staffing issues, it’s claimed.

Insiders have warned lights are “flashing red across the board” as officers desperately attempt to get the scheme up and working by April. It could be massively damaging if the Government is unable to ship after Jeremy Hunt made it a central a part of his Budget in March final 12 months.

It is known that 1000’s of oldsters have been instructed they will not be capable to supply free childcare this 12 months due to a collection of points. The Department for Education has acknowledged {that a} “minority of parents” have been impacted.

A Treasury supply instructed The Times: “The strategy is flashing red all over the board. No one at the Treasury trusts the Department for Education to deliver it and there’s fear they’re going to miss all the timelines set out for delivery.” And a Whitehall supply instructed the newspaper that September is “going to be an absolute s***show” with mother and father not getting their locations. It is claimed the Department for Education (DfE) initially miscalculated the price of the scheme – leaving it with a £120million shortfall.

Labour has lashed out on the Government, with shadow schooling secretary Bridget Phillipson saying: “First the chaos of crumbling concrete buildings, then the botched budgets for our schools, now the disastrous failure on delivering childcare commitments, with families paying the price. Funded hours are no good if families can’t access them – the Conservatives’ promise to parents now lies in tatters because there was no plan behind the pledge in last year’s Budget Statement.”

Under the plans introduced by Mr Hunt, working mother and father of two 12 months olds will be capable to get 15 hours of free childcare from April. And in September, the Government says, this will probably be prolonged to working mother and father of all kids over 9 months.

From September subsequent 12 months, working mother and father of youngsters beneath 5 will probably be entitled to 30 hours’ free childcare per week. But there are questions on whether or not this may be delivered. Nurseries don’t but know the way a lot they are going to be paid for every of the locations – with many warning mother and father they will not be capable to instantly honour the Government’s free hours pledge.

In a press release the DfE stated: “We are rolling out the single largest expansion in childcare in England’s history, ensuring working parents with 30 hours of free childcare a week, starting at nine months old all the way up to their child starting school. We are pleased that thousands of parents have already applied for the expansion starting in April.

“However, a pre-existing feature in the system, where parents re-confirm their eligibility every three months, is impacting a minority of parents when combined with a small number of providers who are asking for codes much earlier than April. Parents who can’t re-confirm online until the second half of February or March will therefore automatically receive a letter with a code from HMRC before the middle of February, without needing to take any action.”

Neil Leitch, chief government of charity the Early Years Alliance, instructed The Times: “The government cannot expect providers to offer places to parents from April without telling them what they are going to be paid.”