New childcare staff offered £1,000 amid concerns about free hours rollout

Published

1 year ago

February 2, 2024

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The government is offering £1,000 to new childcare staff amid concerns about the rollout of free childcare hours in just two months’ time.

Nurseries and childminders say they are experiencing a recruitment and funding crisis which could derail plans to offer 15 subsidised hours a week to all two-year-olds in England.

Thousands of parents who have applied for the funding are thought to be in limbo as their provider hasn’t been told what rate they will get for each of these hours from the local authority.

Research suggests as many as 50,000 more staff may be needed to cope with increased demand when the 15 free hours are offered to babies from the age of nine months later this year.

It rises to 30 free hours for all under-fives from September 2025.

A £5m advertising campaign starts today offering tax-free cash payments for the first 3,000 people who qualify to work with pre-school children under a pilot scheme.

Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, told Sky News: “This is massive, it’s the biggest expansion of childcare in our history.

“We’re doing it because we know working families are struggling and childcare is a big component of their household budget.

“But there’s no doubt it’s a big delivery project. We are working on it; we are doing everything we can to make sure all those places are available.

“As of this morning there’s over 100,000 people who’ve got their code, so many, many people have. We issued the rates to local authorities in November, so every local authority has the funding rates that we are providing, which are much increased.

“So everybody can be comfortable that we are putting in the investment that’s required to grow this market.”

Ms Keegan denied parents were being given false hope, but said: “There have been some challenges, we’ve had to put some workarounds in place.”

She could not yet confirm how many extra staff the government believes will be needed.

The education secretary said the figure of 50,000 staff, from the Early Education and Childcare Coalition, was “misleading” as there is a high turnover of staff in the sector.

Nurseries still waiting to hear

A survey of local authorities by children’s charity Coram last week found 40% did not expect to have enough places in April, despite a £204m injection of Treasury funding.

Ministers will order councils – which have until 31 March to confirm their funding allocations for April – that they must provide their rates earlier as the scheme expands.

Stockwell Gardens Nursery in south London is among those waiting to hear about funding

Ten families already attending have applied for the free hours.

The manager, Bhumika Patel, said: “At the moment we are just waiting and telling them we’ll be in touch when we have more information. We don’t have anything to share yet.”

She said the nursery already has a waiting list, but parents with babies – or who are expecting – are already asking about the extension of free hours to babies.

‘Big panic’

June O’Sullivan OBE, who runs the London Early Years Foundation, a social enterprise of 39 nurseries which offers funded places to low-income families, predicted the later stages of the rollout would need to be slowed down.

“There’s a big panic, which is not very good for parents who think that they’re going to come on 1 April and we’re going to have all these places, which isn’t going to be the case,” she said.

“That’s been the real problem, and everyone is trying to scramble to fix it. There are simply not enough places because there are simply not enough places.

“I would say the government will have to slow it down, especially for babies who need specialist care. You can’t just throw babies in a room and say that’ll be fine.”

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Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said: “This is a startling reminder that the Conservatives have offered a childcare pledge without a plan.

“Childcare staff are leaving in their droves, leading to nursery closures right across the country.

“Cheap bungs to new staff when existing workers are turning their back on this key industry will not magic up new places for parents.”

Councillor Louise Gittins, chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, said: “This announcement is a positive step towards addressing the capacity and workforce issues facing childcare providers.

“Councils have been working hard to support providers to increase their workforce, but many feel constrained by their inability [to] determine where new providers can be established.”

UK

Palace confirms dates of Trump’s state visit – as King and Queen to host him at Windsor Castle

Published

7 hours ago

July 14, 2025

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Palace confirms dates of Trump's state visit - as King and Queen to host him at Windsor Castle

The dates for Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK have been announced, with the US president due to be welcomed by the King from 17 to 19 September.

Buckingham Palace also confirmed that President Trump and first lady Melania will be hosted by the King and Queen at Windsor Castle.

It was expected that the three-day state visit would take place in September after Mr Trump let slip earlier in April that he believed that was when his second “fest” was being planned for.

Windsor was also anticipated to be the location after the US president told reporters in the Oval Office that the letter from the King said Windsor would be the setting. Refurbishment works at Buckingham Palace also meant that Windsor was used last week for French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit.

This will be Mr Trump’s second state visit to the UK, an unprecedented gesture towards an American leader, having previously been invited to Buckingham Palace in 2019.

He has also been to Windsor Castle before, in 2018, but despite the considerable military pageantry of the day, and some confusion around inspecting the guard, it was simply for tea with Queen Elizabeth II.

Further details of what will happen during the three-day visit in September will be announced in due course.

On Friday, Sky News revealed it is now unlikely that the US president will address parliament, usually an honour given to visiting heads of state as part of their visit. Some MPs had raised significant concerns about him being given the privilege.

But the House of Commons will not be sitting at the time of Mr Trump’s visit as it will rise for party conference season on the 16 September, meaning the president will not be able to speak in parliament as President Macron did during his state visit this week. However, the House of Lords will be sitting.

In February this year, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer presented the US president with the letter from the King inviting him to visit during a meeting at the White House.

After reading it, Mr Trump said it was a “great, great honour”, adding “and that says at Windsor – that’s really something”.

In the letter, the King suggested they might meet at Balmoral or Dumfries House in Scotland first before the much grander state visit. However, it is understood that, although all options were explored, complexities in both the King and Mr Trump’s diaries meant it wasn’t possible.

This week, it emerged that Police Scotland are planning for a summer visit from the US president, which is likely to see him visit one or both of his golf clubs in Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire, and require substantial policing resources and probably units to be called in from elsewhere in the UK.

Precedent for second-term US presidents, who have already made a state visit, is usually tea or lunch with the monarch at Windsor Castle, as was the case for George W Bush and Barack Obama.

UK

Fireball at Southend Airport after small plane crashes

Published

16 hours ago

July 13, 2025

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Fireball at Southend Airport after small plane crashes

A small plane has crashed at Southend Airport in Essex.

Essex Police said it was at the scene of a “serious incident”.

Images posted online showed huge flames and a large cloud of black smoke, with one witness saying they saw a “fireball”.

A police statement said: “We were alerted shortly before 4pm to reports of a collision involving one 12-metre plane.

“We are working with all emergency services at the scene now and that work will be ongoing for several hours.

“We would please ask the public to avoid this area where possible while this work continues.”

It has been reported that the plane involved in the incident is a Beech B200 Super King Air.

According to flight-tracking service Flightradar, it took off at 3.48pm and was bound for Lelystad, a city in the Netherlands.

One man, who was at Southend Airport with his family around the time of the incident, said the aircraft “crashed headfirst into the ground”.

John Johnson said: “About three or four seconds after taking off, it started to bank heavily to its left, and then within a few seconds of that happening, it more or less inverted and crashed.

“There was a big fireball. Obviously, everybody was in shock in terms of witnessing it. All the kids saw it and the families saw it.”

Mr Johnson added that he phoned 999 to report the crash.

Southend Airport said the incident involved “a general aviation aircraft”.

Four flights scheduled to take off from Southend this afternoon were cancelled, according to its website.

Flightradar data shows two planes that had been due to land at Southend were diverted to nearby airports London Gatwick and London Stansted.

Essex County Fire and Rescue Service said four crews, along with off-road vehicles, have attended the scene.

Four ambulances and four hazardous area response team vehicles are also at the airport, as well as an air ambulance, the East of England Ambulance Service said.

Its statement described the incident as “still developing”.

David Burton-Sampson, the MP for Southend West and Leigh, posted on social media: “I am aware of an incident at Southend Airport. Please keep away and allow the emergency services to do their work.

“My thoughts are with everyone involved.”

Local councillor Matt Dent said on X: “At present all I know is that a small plane has crashed at the airport. My thoughts are with all those involved, and with the emergency services currently responding to the incident.”

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UK

Heidi Alexander says ‘fairness’ will be government’s ‘guiding principle’ when it comes to taxes at next budget

Published

22 hours ago

July 13, 2025

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Heidi Alexander says 'fairness' will be government's 'guiding principle' when it comes to taxes at next budget

Another hint that tax rises are coming in this autumn’s budget has been given by a senior minister.

Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was asked if Sir Keir Starmer and the rest of the cabinet had discussed hiking taxes in the wake of the government’s failed welfare reforms, which were shot down by their own MPs.

Trevor Phillips asked specifically if tax rises were discussed among the cabinet last week – including on an away day on Friday.

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Tax increases were not discussed “directly”, Ms Alexander said, but ministers were “cognisant” of the challenges facing them.

Asked what this means, Ms Alexander added: “I think your viewers would be surprised if we didn’t recognise that at the budget, the chancellor will need to look at the OBR forecast that is given to her and will make decisions in line with the fiscal rules that she has set out.

“We made a commitment in our manifesto not to be putting up taxes on people on modest incomes, working people. We have stuck to that.”

Ms Alexander said she wouldn’t comment directly on taxes and the budget at this point, adding: “So, the chancellor will set her budget. I’m not going to sit in a TV studio today and speculate on what the contents of that budget might be.

“When it comes to taxation, fairness is going to be our guiding principle.”

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Afterwards, shadow home secretary Chris Philp told Phillips: “That sounds to me like a barely disguised reference to tax rises coming in the autumn.”

He then went on to repeat the Conservative attack lines that Labour are “crashing the economy”.

Mr Philp then attacked the prime minister as “weak” for being unable to get his welfare reforms through the Commons.

Discussions about potential tax rises have come to the fore after the government had to gut its welfare reforms.

Sir Keir had wanted to change Personal Independence Payments (PIP), but a large Labour rebellion forced him to axe the changes.

With the savings from these proposed changes – around £5bn – already worked into the government’s sums, they will now need to find the money somewhere else.

The general belief is that this will take the form of tax rises, rather than spending cuts, with more money needed for military spending commitments, as well as other areas of priority for the government, such as the NHS.