Chief Education officer Justin Donovan said the decision to postpone the proposal by 12 months was made so that his department had time to handle the extra work required to deal with the decision.
Currently all three-and four-year-olds, regardless of household income, are entitled to 20 hours a week of free nursery education during term time for one year. The free hours are paid for by the Nursery Education Fund.
However, the States recently approved introducing means-testing of the government’s nursery grant, under which £3,914 per child is paid to private nurseries.
It was also decided that parents who use nursery classes in States primary schools should be means-tested too.
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