MPS hit out at nursery top-up fees

SOME families are being denied access to free nursery education unless they agree to pay compulsory “topup fees” for extra hours, a cross-party group of MPS suggested today. The practice risks excluding poorer families from nurseries, according to the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Under the current system, three and four-year-olds are entitled to 15 hours of government-funded nursery education each week. But in a new report, the PAC raises concerns that some families are being told they are eligible only if they pay for additional hours. “We are concerned that some providers may be excluding families which do not pay for additional hours,” the report says.