In its response a consultation on childcare regulation, the Government has said it plans to scrap the existing 1:8 staff-to-child ratio for children aged five to seven, as well as a requirement for a qualified childcare manager to be present. Instead, the Department for Education want to more closely align the number of staff in such settings with requirements for maintained schools and only have “sufficient staff” for a class of 30 children.
The National Day Nurseries Association’s chief executive, Purnima Tanuku, has said that they “strongly object” to the plans. However, Tanuku did welcome the plans to scrap the requirement for out-of-school providers to follow the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage, which she described as overly bureaucratic.
