Nursery fees rise as free childcare scheme backfires

Funding for flagship policy is too low to cover costs, say pre-school providersMore than half of private nurseries have increased their fees in the past year, and experts predict further rises are on the way as nursery owners struggle to make up the shortfall caused by insufficient funding for a flagship government policy.Official figures, published by the Department for Education (DfE) and analysed by Labour, show 53% of private nurseries in England have put up their fees in the past 12 months,