Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will take steps to prevent early years settings charging retainer fees to parents hoping to secure Government funded nursery places for their children.

English local authorities have a statutory duty under section 7 of the Childcare Act 2006 to secure early years provision free of charge for eligible two-year-old children and all three- and four-year old children in their area. Local authorities are responsible for ensuring that parents are not charged for any part of their child’s free entitlement.

The Department’s statutory guidance states that local authorities should ‘ensure that if providers charge for any goods or services, this is not a condition of children accessing their place’. The Statutory Guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-education-and-childcare--2.

We will publish updated statutory guidance in early 2017, which will restate the Government position on providers charging for additional services or consumables. We will make clear that local authorities should ensure that providers do not charge parents a deposit or retainer fee as a condition of taking up their child’s free place.