Cash-strapped nurseries and childminders in the county are set to receive 11th hour financial support from the government amid the pandemic.

This comes just two days after Kent County Council's (KCC) Conservatives put pressure on the Department for Education to change its funding formula for early year services in 2021, which was based on the "headcount" of children.

Many preschool services in Kent's 13 districts faced losing half of their annual income as many more children have stayed at home, or have had to self-isolate, after the third UK-wide lockdown was imposed last Monday.

Earlier today, KCC's cabinet member for education, Cllr Richard Long (Con), said the controversial proposals have been "reversed" to keep nurseries afloat during the coronavirus crisis.

Cllr Long told a virtual panel of councillors: "The government had ignored the fact this would impact the viability of a great many early year settings."

Nursery managers have welcomed the government u-turn after saying more money remains "essential" to keeping services running.

Dave Whitehead, the chief executive of the Potential in Everyone Academy Trust in Sittingbourne, said he was "hugely relieved" as the two nurseries he represents, including the Oaks Infant School, faced losing thousands of pounds.

With only 25% of children attending, he said: "It would have been a huge financial blow for the schools to bear the burden of the costs."

The Conservative government announced that all children should attend their "expected hours" in nurseries on January 4.

However just 14,000 children were using early years services across Kent last week, which represents around 50% of the normal attendance.

But around 27,000 children were using the same services last month, marking 94% of the total number eligible. This means some nurseries and childminders would have lost out on at least 44% of income.

On Wednesday, KCC leader Roger Gough (Con) and Cllr Long wrote a letter to government minister Vicky Ford, who is the Secretary of State for children and families, calling for an urgent review.

Following this, public cash support for nurseries is expected to rise to around 94% and Cllr Long says this takes away the "threat" of potential closures.

Reacting to this, nursery manager Emma Dawson and her staff look after 40 children at Oakley nursery in Sevenoaks, which has 90% attendance. She said: "The government's decision would have affected us financially."

She added: "Families have become more nervous to send their children here and we would have lost out on essential money. We still have staff to pay.

"We were pleased that KCC got the government to change the guidance because we will be able to continue to have children to use our services."

The early year services which are in Kent include 768 early year providers in Kent, including nurseries and preschools. A total of 981 childminders and 89 nurseries are attached to existing primary schools.

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