Childcare provision in Hackney slammed as ‘insufficient’

Hackney Town Hall. Photograph: Hackney Citizen

Childcare provision across Hackney is insufficient and poor quality, according to a new study by the Family and Childcare Trust.

The 2014 London Childcare Report, commissioned by the trust to investigate the state of childcare in the capital, argues there is not enough childcare provision for two-to-four year-olds and a lack of facilities such as breakfast clubs and after-school clubs.

Hackney Council has pointed out that some of the report’s statistics come from the 2011 Census and that Hackney has developed since then, but the report uses statistics released as recently as this year.

For instance, the report challenged the quality of teaching in Hackney using data released in March 2014 by the Department of Education.

This showed that nearly 2,000 three- to- four-year-olds were being taught by staff without Qualified Teacher Status or Early Years Professional Status in 2013.

Using statistics from an October 2013 Ofsted report, the London Childcare Report found 15 per cent of early learning facilities were inadequate or required improvement.

Childcare is particularly important in Hackney as 13 per cent of households consist of single parents with dependent children, which is five points higher than the national average. Hackney has the sixth highest rate of single parent households in London.

The Childcare Act 2006 requires local authorities to provide sufficient childcare support and free early education. Childcare is essential for parents to be able to study or work full time.

The report used statistics from 2012 to highlight the high rate of child poverty in London. Out of 50,000 children in Hackney, around 30 per cent live in poverty, against a national average of 20.

Hackney has one of the highest rates of childhood poverty in London. Only Tower Hamlets, Islington, Newham and Barking & Dagenham have higher rates.

Marianne Miles, a spokesperson for single parent charity OnlyMums and a parent living in Hackney, said: “The childcare provisions before and after school and during the school holidays are inadequate, extremely expensive and unfairly discriminate against those on a single income.”

In response to the report, Councillor Anntoinette Bramble, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, said: “The data used in the report by the Family and Childcare Trust reflects the situation in Hackney in 2011.

“Since that time Hackney has created over 1,400 new childcare places, fulfilling its duty to ensure sufficient childcare and continuing to subsidise places for low income families and children with disabilities.”

She added: “Hackney prioritises high quality childcare and education and is committed to supporting parents in giving all children the best possible start in life. Eighty per cent of early years settings are judged by Ofsted to be ‘good’ or ‘better’.”

However Jill Rutter, the author of the report and head of research at the Trust, said that the extra 1,400 childcare places should have been published annually in the Council’s  childcare sufficiency report. “Hackney Council last published this information in 2012,” she said.

Ms Rutter said: “The most recent Government statistics show that of the 1,680 deprived two year olds who qualified for free early education in September 2013, just 27 per cent of them were attending nursery in January 2014, one of the lowest levels of uptake in England.

“Moreover, of the children who had a place, 14 per cent of these were with providers judged by Ofsted to need improvement – contrary to Department for Education guidance.”

There is some good news in the report: Hackney does have sufficient childcare for children younger than two and 57 per cent of five-year-olds in Hackney have achieved a good level of social and cognitive development.

Click here to access the full report.