Gary Fuller Challenges Capon on Nursery Education

Local Lib Dem Gary Fuller has written to Hythe County Councillor Chris Capon, who chairs the Kent County Council Children, Families and Education Policy Overview Committee, to ask why hardworking parents in Shepway may be paying for nursery education that could be offered for free.

Under Kent County Council policy, the 12.5 hours per week of free nursery education which children are entitled to from the age of three, and which guidance suggests should be offered as flexibly as possible, can be offered in 2.5 hour sessions, with charges being levied for time which exceeds this as long as it falls within a normal nursery session.

Where nurseries in Shepway apply this policy, it means the possibility of charges being levied from some of the poorest families in the County.

Commenting, Gary said:

"The point of the 12.5 hour entitlement is to offer local parents a flexible way of accessing the excellent nursery education that is available across Shepway without charge. By allowing the charging of hardworking parents, through what is essentially a loophole, Kent County Council is failing to live up to the spirit of the legislation.

"I sincerely hope that KCC will review this policy and allow parents to choose exactly how they wish to use their free entitlement."