At the beginning of the month FSF ran a survey to prepare for the early education and childcare APPG meeting on November 1st. 867 FSF members responded and the headline data is interesting:

• The financial impact of the 30 hours scheme has been that 36% of our respondents have seen their income fall since September and 37% have seen no change, with the majority of the 'no change' having decided not to offer the scheme.
• 55% of respondents said that the administration of the scheme had increased their work load and that this increase was being worked unpaid.
• 47% of respondents either knew their setting was unsustainable or were unsure of their setting's sustainability with a further 15% reporting that they 'really didn't know' what the future held. Only 39% of providers felt that they were sustainable going forward (with many of these saying that this is because they are not offering the 30 hours scheme.)

If you would like to read the summary responses you can do so on this thread