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APPENDIX C
Day Nurseries - Scheme of Priorities
(a) The first priority for admission is given equally, subject to the other rules,
to the children (including adopted children) of:-
(i) mothers who are widows, separated or divorced wives, or wives whose
husbands are totally disabled or in prison, or unmarried mothers,
provided they are maintaining an independent home and are employed at
least 35 hours a week including meal times;
(ii) parents where the mother is in ill-health and cannot care adequately
for the children, or during the mother's confinement;
(iii) parents who are living in housing conditions detrimental to health, or
where other environmental factors are such that it is desirable for the
health of the child that it should be admitted to a day nursery; and
(iv) widowers or where the mother has left the home.
(b) The second priority for admission is given, subject to other rules, to
children where the mother is compelled to go to work as an economic necessity because
the father is unemployed or his net income (i.e., his gross income less rent and an
allowance of £1 for each child after the first, and at discretion, any unavoidable
expense of an exceptional kind) does not exceed £7 a week, provided that the mother
is employed for at least 35 hours a week, including meal times.
(c) Vacancies not required for children in the first and second priority classes
shall be offered to other children in a third priority class whose parents are both
working provided that the mother is employed for at least 35 hours a week, including
meal times.
(d) In assessing applications for all admissions an overriding consideration shall
be that the parent(s) is/are unable to make other satisfactory arrangements for the
care of the children.
(e) The Medical Officer of Health, with the approval of the Chairman of the Personal
Health Committee, is authorised, at his discretion, to admit, in appropriate cases,
the children of mothers working fewer hours than stipulated in the foregoing rules,
(a), (b) and (c).
(f) Places offered to children in the third priority class referred to in rule
(c), shall be initially for six months (unless a temporary admission for a shorter
period is required), subject to review after that time as in rule (h) below and renewals
for subsequent periods of six months shall be permitted, provided that vacancies
are not required at the time of review for children in the higher priority classes.
(g) The Medical Officer of Health has overriding discretion to admit any other
cases presenting special features and any appeal from his decision would be referred
to the Chairman of the Personal Health Committee.
(h) A review of the circumstances of the parents of all children admitted to day
nurseries, including, where appropriate, verification of parents' incomes, is made at
six-monthly intervals from the date of admission. Where a child no longer falls
within the first or second priority classes, a third priority vacancy is offered
wherever possible in accordance with the rules.
(i) Anrangements for all admissions are made by the Medical Officer of Health and
not by individual nurseries.
The Medical Officer of Health has discretion to allow children of non-working
mothers to spend a shorter period than the full day nursery day in the day nurseries.
Deaf children or children of deaf parents whom it is thought would benefit from
a hearing' environment, may be admitted to day nurseries for up to three hours a day
or fifteen hours a week without charge, except for any meals taken.
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