NURSERIES in East Lancashire have welcomed the government’s plans for more free childcare for three and four years olds – but warn it needs to be funded properly.

Access to free childcare for three-and-four-year-olds is to double to 30 hours a week during term time under measures announced in last week’s Queen’s Speech. The changes will affect 600,000 children a year in England from 2017.

Laura Knowles of Nook Barn Children’s Nursery in Blackburn said the news was very positive for parents of young children, although there were concerns about how nurseries, particularly private ones like hers, would maintain their high standards as there was likely to be a funding shortfall to maintain the building’s infrastructure and pay for the best staff.

Laura said: “It’s good news but as a nursery we will never lower our standards here and if there’s only so much per hour (to pay for the free childcare) where’s the other money coming from?”

At Coach House Nursery in Blackburn, John Westmoreland said it was early days and to comment on the Tory plan would be unfair as they only had a brief outline of the idea. He said the existing scheme, which has been criticised nationally for falling 20 per cent short of the cost of provision of the free places, was “far from generous”, adding: “But we have learned to live within our means.”

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-school Learning Alliance which represents many childcare groups across the area, said: “Simply raising funding rates by an arbitrary amount won’t be enough – it is absolutely crucial that the government ensures that the hourly rate of funding actually covers the cost of delivering funded places. Anything less risks destabilising a childcare system that is already struggling to stay afloat. What’s more, there are many practical considerations that must be addressed before the extension comes into effect, such as the restrictions many settings face in terms of capacity and use of premises, and how this will impact on their ability to offer 30 hours of funded provision to eligible families.”

Prime Minister David Cameron has said the £350 million-a-year cost would be funded through reductions in tax relief on pension contributions.