Lancashire County Council responds to 'nursery funding cut' claims amid warning over closures
Lancashire County Council says it has not ruled out continuing to provide nurseries and early years providers with the same level of funding they currently receive to deliver free childcare entitlements.
It comes after the county’s Labour MPs last week wrote to the Reform UK-run authority to express concern that it may be considering cutting the proportion of government cash that is passed on to the operators of early years services.
The National Day Nurseries Association estimates that changes to the current arrangements could lead to a £3m funding reduction to nurseries in Lancashire.
Rossendale and Darwen MP Andy MacNae said some providers had warned him any cuts could increase costs for families or even force some establishments to close.
In response, the county council – whose area excludes Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen – has said it will consider “a number of possible options” as part of a consultation to take place in September.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands any changes decided upon would then come into effect in April 2026.
However, the authority has stressed that the present set-up – which sees the authority transfer to local providers 100 percent of the funding it receives from the Department for Education – will be kept on the table during that process.
The money is used to fund free childcare entitlements which have expanded in recent years and are about to do so again from September. Eligible working parents will then be able to access up to 30 free hours per week – across 38 weeks a year – for children aged nine months through until they start school.
However, under government rules, councils can retain up to five percent of that cash pot to cover the cost of early years services they provide centrally, including for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
They can also opt to use that proportion of the funding to provide any extra hours that they choose to deliver in addition to national childcare entitlements – or even move that element of the money out of the so-called ‘early years block’ altogether.
A spokesperson for Lancashire County Council said: “We will be carrying out our annual consultation into funding for this service and we will consider a number of possible options.
“One of those options will be to pass on 100 percent of the funding to early years providers, as we currently do. We will share the outcome of the consultation when this has been completed.”
The letter from 13 Labour MPs to the county council said: “We should, at all levels of government, be doing everything we can to reduce the burden on both childcare providers and families, not taking support away from them.
“We understand that you have the right to cut this funding if you wish to, but that would be a choice that impacts 1000s of Lancashire residents for the worse and would cause untold stress on young families.
“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Lancashire is in a stage of growth and opportunity. We should be investing in its future, not cutting support for that future to the bone.”
The government currently requires that the 95 percent ‘pass-through’ of funding is applied separately to most of the individual childcare entitlements within the range which are available – some of which depend on family circumstances.