Looking forward to those 30 hours of free nursery care? Think again …

The government’s flagship childcare policy launches on 1 September. But already parents and providers fear that it just can’t work

At Cambridge Day Nursery, three little boys are excitedly hula-hooping around each other on the large artificial grass lawn, while their friends scurry in and out of wooden wendy houses, banging doors in their wake. At the bottom of the garden, there is a small patch of wild woodland where the nursery holds its forest school classes and encourages the children to make dens and learn about nature. “Children love it here. But providing them with all of this costs money,” said director Liz Aldous. “I don’t think anyone comes into childcare to be a millionaire – but we do at least need to be able to cover our costs.”

What is worrying Aldous is a new flagship policy from the Department for Education that is designed to help parents with the exorbitant cost of childcare but instead is already causing widespread confusion and panic.

Related: Why the Tories’ so-called free childcare will punish children and families | Neil Leitch

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from Children | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2xmRgKm