Nursery Expansion in Schools: Promises Kept or Promises Broken?

Join us for the latest announcement from the Labour Government regarding the roll-out of school-based nursery capital grants. Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson outlines the ambitious plan to open and expand nurseries in primary schools, backed by £37 million in funding for an initial 300 schools, aiming for 3,000 new nurseries in the long term. 

We explore the government's vision for these nurseries to serve communities facing challenges, potentially creating up to 6,000 new nursery places by September. The goal is to align with the expansion of the 30 hours a week childcare entitlement, benefiting working parents of children from nine months upwards.

However, the announcement has sparked debate. Shadow Secretary of State Laura Trott raises serious concerns about the government "taking away half a billion pounds from nurseries" through NI increases, potentially leading to closures and price hikes. We dissect the opposition's claims that the previous government already had plans in place and critique the impact of the current policies on the wider nursery sector.

This episode examines the potential benefits for families and the potential risks to the existing childcare landscape.

Source: School-based Nursery Capital Grants
Volume 765: debated on Wednesday 2 April 2025

Key Takeaways:

• The Labour Government is investing £37 million to open and expand nurseries in 300 primary schools as the first step towards 3,000 school-based nurseries.
• This aims to create up to 6,000 new nursery places, with most starting in September.
• The government highlights the importance of early years for child development and closing attainment gaps.
• A key objective is to provide 30 hours of government-funded childcare for working parents of children from nine months up to school age.
• The opposition argues that national insurance increases are negatively impacting the entire nursery sector, potentially leading to closures and higher costs for parents.
• Concerns are raised about

Chapters

• 0:52 £37m funding
• 1:57 30 hours a week funded childcare
• 2:50 Doubling Early Year Pupil Premium
• 3:33 Free Breakfast Clubs
• 3:54 National Insurance increase and financial pressures
• 6:30 Private and charitable providers
• 8:12 Rural communities
• 8:34 Recruitment problems
• 9:20 Conclusions

Transcript

Hello, benchwarmers, and welcome again to the bench report. You're listening to Amy and Ivan. Hello, everyone. You sent us some fascinating information this week, all about the UK government's brand new school based nursery capital grants. That's right.

A really interesting development. So our deep dive today is gonna be all about figuring out, well, what this announcement really means, what the government hopes to achieve. And, crucially, what everyone else thinks about it, the different perspectives. Exactly. This is something you specifically wanted us to explore, and it really gets to the heart of some crucial issues, how we support young children, families.

And where government investment fits in. We've looked at the official statements, the responses from, different parties, even some local angles. Great. So we should have a good overview. Let's dive straight in then.

The secretary of safer education, Bridgette Phillipson. Yes. She announced £37,000,000 in funding. Capital grants, specifically. So money for, like, building things.

Precisely. Building or expanding for 300 primary schools to either open new nurseries or make their existing ones, you know, bigger. And this feels like just the start, doesn't it? They're talking about aiming for 3,000 eventually. That's the long term vision.

Yes. This initial £37,000,000 is definitely framed as a, well, a significant first step. And the core idea, as she explained it, it's about making childcare easier for parents. Easier to access and also giving every child the best possible start, really focusing on equal opportunities from the get go. Which connects to tackling those early learning and development gaps?

Makes sense the earlier the support, the better. Exactly. The announcement highlighted that these gaps often appear very early on. And they get harder to fix later. Much harder.

So this initiative ties into their wider early years investment over 8,000,000,000 they mentioned. Plus the prime minister's goal of kids starting school ready to learn. All connected. Now these first three hundred nurseries, they're mostly expected by September 2025. That's quite specific timing.

Why then? Ah, that date is key. It coincides with the final stage of the plan for thirty hours a week funded childcare. For working parents of children from nine months old. That's the one.

So the idea is these new places open up just as more parents become eligible for that extra support. Okay. So some coordination there. And they did mention working with existing providers too, not just schools. Yes.

Voluntary and private nurseries as well. The emphasis is meant to be on partnership. Not just replacing them? No. Collaborating to find effective approaches and scale up.

They even, contrasted this with the previous government. Right. Suggesting they inherited promises without a clear plan. That was the line. Yes.

An unfunded pledge, I think they called it. And they also highlighted doubling the early years pupil premium. Remind us what that is. That's extra funding for settings to support children from lower income families. So doubling it suggests a stronger focus on, well, tackling inequality through this.

And the focus on putting nurseries within primary schools that give examples like Saint Anne's and Weston Super Mare, Fullbridge and Peterborough. What's the thinking there? Colocation. The main idea is smoother transitions for kids from nursery straight into reception class. Less anxiety maybe, familiar surroundings.

Exactly. Helps them get used to the school environment. Phillipson shared a story about a mom at Fullbridge whose son felt really confident about starting school because he was already at the nursery on-site. Building those community ties. And they mentioned free breakfast clubs too.

Another piece. Seems like it. Starting with 750 early adopters this year, it's presented as another way schools can support kids' well-being, readiness to learn, and help the community. The overall message from the government seems pretty optimistic then. Hope, brighter future.

That's the framing, definitely. Okay. So that's the government's perspective. But as always, there are others. Laura Trott from the Conservatives.

She responded, welcomed it, but with concerns. Big concerns. Yes. While acknowledging the £37,000,000, she immediately flagged what she claims is half a billion pounds being taken away from nurseries. Half a billion.

How? Because, she argues, the government hasn't compensated them for the recent national insurance increase. Wow. And she quoted the Early Years Alliance saying this could be catastrophic, closures, price hikes. That's the fear they raised, that the NI cost increase will hit existing providers hard, potentially outweighing the benefit of these grants for many.

And Trott disputed the pledge without a plan line too. She did. Argue the current expansion is actually built on conservative plans, which she said had already halved costs for under threes. So a real disagreement there about credit and responsibility. She mentioned hearing from nursery owners who are struggling personally, going without pay.

Yes. Painting a picture of intense financial pressure on existing nurseries. The conservative view really stresses these difficulties. Questioning the logic of adding costs with NI while funding new school places. Exactly.

And they mentioned worries about, what was it, maybe 400 nurseries potentially closing, again, citing the EYA. Did she have specific questions for the government? Quite a few. The actual cost of this NI hike, the the jobs tax on the sector, how they'll track closures. And details on the 300 nurseries themselves, where they are, how they were picked?

Yes. Selection criteria, was it spare capacity or high need? And crucial questions about operations, will they be open year round or just term time? That's a big difference for working parents. Huge.

And will these school nurseries get NI compensation that other providers don't, comparing support levels? So the worry is creating an uneven playing field. School based nurseries getting a better deal. That seems to be a major concern. And they use that EYA quote again, school provision is just one piece of the puzzle.

Meaning you can't just focus on schools and ignore the rest. That's the argument, that it could weaken the overall system and maybe even make childcare more expensive or harder to find long term. Okay. What about the liberal Democrats? Munira Wilson also responded.

She welcomed it too, didn't she? Yeah. Especially for childcare deserts. Yes. Positive about increasing access where provision is low, and she also welcomed the uplift in the early years pupil premium.

But similar concerns to the conservatives, that school nurseries alone aren't the whole answer. Very much so. She stressed that private and charitable providers deliver most of the free entitlement hours. And they face challenges too. Big ones.

Again, the NI hike came up, but also insufficient government funding rates not covering actual costs and issues with guidance on funding agreements. She cited that Early Years Alliance survey too, didn't she? Yeah. Potential place reductions, fee increases, closures. Yes.

Painting that same concerning picture from the provider perspective, she even mentioned a specific nursery in her constituency, building blocks. Operating at a loss. Apparently so. Really bringing it down to the local real world impact of these financial pressures. So what was she asking the government for specifically?

Three main things. An urgent review of the free entitlement funding rates to ensure they cover costs. Makes sense. An exemption from the NI hike for early years providers, and a rethink of the guidance on charging and funding agreements. So, again, while seeing potential in school nurseries, the Lib Dems are focused on broader financial support for the existing sector.

Definitely. It's striking how both opposition parties are really zeroing in on the pressures faced by private and voluntary providers. Now the announcement did list quite a few specific schools getting this initial funding. We saw a long list. Yes.

Lots of names came up in the statement and in parliament afterwards. Gives you a real sense of the geographic spread, and they highlighted that about a third thirty four percent are in disadvantaged communities. So a deliberate effort to target need. That's the message. Targeting resources where they believe they're most needed.

And potential savings for parents were mentioned, up to £7,500 a year. That figure was quoted by some MPs. Yes. Likely representing the maximum saving for a family using the full thirty hours. It's a key selling point.

But I did see some flags raised about rural areas specifically. Ah, yes. That's an important nuance. Concerns about the impact on existing private nurseries in those more rural settings. Where there might be fewer alternatives anyway.

Exactly. Introducing a new school based nursery could hit existing rural providers harder if they aren't also supported adequately. Sustainability concerns. Let's talk workforce. Crucial piece, we know the sector struggles with recruitment retention.

Manuela Pertiguela raised this. She did. You can't expand provision without enough qualified, dedicated staff. It's a major bottleneck. What are the government doing about that?

Anything mentioned? They pointed to a couple of things, an experience based route to get level three qualifications and the early years teacher degree apprenticeship. Trying to create more pathways in. And upscale the current workforce. They also said more details on wider workforce reforms are coming later this year.

Okay. And just to recap the big picture, the plan is 3,000 school based nurseries over this parliament. This is just phase one. That's the stated ambition, a long term commitment to reshape early years as they see it. So for everyone listening, the takeaway seems to be the government is pushing hard on school based nurseries.

Key goals, more availability, lower costs, better school readiness. Especially for disadvantaged areas. But and it's a big but. Serious concerns are being voiced by the opposition and the existing private voluntary sector. Merely about the financial hit from the NI changes and whether there's enough support for the providers who deliver most childcare now.

Exactly. So funding is allocated for these first three hundred schools, places expected by September 2025. But the debate over the best way to support early years and families is clearly ongoing. And the workforce issue recruiting and keeping staff is absolutely critical. That needs solving for any expansion to work long term.

It's definitely one to watch. It really makes you think, doesn't it? What is the right balance between these government led school nurseries and the private and voluntary providers we already have? Mhmm. What are the long term implications of this approach?

For families, yes, but also for the people actually working in early years. It's complex. It certainly is. Raises big questions about the future shape of the whole sector and how different types of provision can or should work together effectively across the country. As always, check out the transcript and episode notes for more information.

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