To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect on the viability of private, voluntary and independent childcare providers of current levels of business rates paid by those providers.
Answered on
12 September 2018
We are investing a record amount on childcare support, spending around £6 billion per year by the period 2019 to 2020. This includes £1 billion a year to deliver 30 hours of free childcare and to increase our hourly funding rates that we introduced in April 2017.
The department’s increased level of investment was based on our ‘Review of Childcare Costs’, which was described as ‘thorough and wide ranging’ by the National Audit Office. The review looked at the costs of childcare provision, including business rates. We have commissioned new research to understand provider’s current costs.
The government has also increased Small Business Rate Relief and provided local authorities with funding to support £300 million of discretionary business rates relief. Local authorities are able to use this to support local nurseries.