Ceeda is a private sector research agency specialising in early years research. They have carried out research into the state of the sector using data gathered from 800 childcare providers including 245 childminders and 555 nurseries and pre-schools in the period November to December 2017. Some headline findings are as follows: only 33% of year-round daycare PVI settings are offering the 30 hours genuinely free, nine in every ten settings (90%) delivering NONE of their 30-hour places free say 3 & 4 year old funding rates are less than delivery costs, 22% of nurseries and pre-schools require private hours as part of a 30-hour offer, 30% of nurseries and pre-schools have cut training, 18% have lowered ratios, and 13% have lowered their qualification mix to cut costs. Crucially, 10% of nurseries and pre-schools and 9% of childminders doubt they will be operating in 12 month's time. You can read the full bulletin here. You can also discuss the findings and compare them to your own experience here.