Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to support private nurseries that are facing a loss of revenue as a result of restrictions implemented during the covid-19 outbreak to maintain places.

The government has set out specific measures to support childcare providers, including:

• Funding for the government’s early years entitlements will continue being paid to local authorities
• Nurseries being among the businesses eligible for a business rates holiday for one year from 1 April

Childcare providers will also benefit from the wider measures the Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced to support the people and businesses of the UK:

• A three-point plan announced in the Budget providing £12 billion of support for public services, individuals and businesses whose finances are affected by the outbreak
• A package to provide additional support for businesses and individuals totalling £350 billion
• The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to help firms continue to keep people in employment. This means that businesses can put workers on temporary leave and the government will pay them cash grants of 80% of their wages up to a cap of £2,500, providing they keep the worker employed
• The Self-Employed Income Support Scheme to enable those eligible to receive a cash grant worth 80% of their average monthly trading profit over the last three years.

More details on the support available are included in the latest guidance for early years settings, which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-financial-support-for-education-early-years-and-childrens-social-care.

We continue to work closely with the early years sector and remain committed to doing all we can to support childcare providers through this uncertain period. We will publish further guidance where appropriate.