Early years settings are overwhelmingly against Government plans to change ratios, with just 2 per cent of the opinion that the rule change would enable them to lower fees for parents, according to a survey by the Early Years Alliance.
Around nine in 10 of the nursery and pre-school respondents to the online survey oppose Government plans to relax childcare ratios.
If the Government does relax early years ratios, just 13 per cent of nurseries and pre-schools would regularly or permanently use the new ratios, with the same small percentage predicting moderate or significant financial benefits from ratios changes. Fewer still – just 2 per cent of all nursery and pre-school respondents – say that ratio rule changes would lead to a cut in childcare fees at their setting.
