Changing space requirements for nurseries in England risks overcrowding, experts say

Plans to change space requirements for nurseries in England to enable them to offer more childcare places are being considered by the government, prompting warnings about overcrowding.

The Department for Education has launched a consultation on whether early years settings should be allowed to include “free-flow” outdoor areas within the required floor space for children aged two years and above.

Early years experts are concerned that the pressure to create more childcare places to meet the government’s funded childcare expansion plans is threatening to undermine quality.

In an earlier survey, nurseries said one of the barriers to expanding their childcare provision was physical space, and in particular the indoor floor space requirements set out in the early years foundation stage statutory frameworks.

Currently, each child under two requires 3.5 sq metres, each two-year-old requires 2.5 sq metres and children aged three to five 2.3 sq metres. Under existing requirements, outdoor space cannot be included where indoor activity is integral to the early years provision.

The government said its new proposals would enable early years providers to increase the number of childcare places they can offer without increasing the size of their building and support the early years market to meet additional demand for places.

The consultation said: “If any changes are made, it is critical to maintain a safe environment for children. That is why we want to hear from as many people as possible to inform a decision on what to do next.”

The consultation opened as the latest stage of the government’s rollout of its funded childcare expansion got under way. From Monday, all eligible working parents of children who will be nine months old before 1 September can apply to access up to 30 hours of funded childcare a week.

The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said: “Early years is my number one priority, and making sure families are able to benefit from this rollout is a promise made, and promise kept. But this is just the beginning.

“Through the hard work of the sector, supported by our record investment, landmark school-based nursery rollout and focus on vital early learning support, we will deliver an early years system that gives every child the best start in life.”

Neil Leitch, the CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said: “While we recognise that some settings may welcome the additional flexibility that would be created by this change, we remain concerned about the impact that such a policy could have on the quality of provision – and in particular, the risk that these reforms could result in overcrowding in some settings if the implementation, assuming these proposals go ahead, is not properly monitored.”

Purnima Tanuku, the executive chair of the National Day Nurseries Association, said: “Even if providers can increase capacity based on space, providers are still telling us that they need more staff to be able to meet local demand for places.

“We need to see a fully costed workforce strategy from the government to ensure that the sector can recruit and retain the specialist staff that we know are needed to give children the best start in life.”

The space consultation closes on 11 July.