Organisation calls for urgent action to safeguard childcare
ELEANOR BUSBY on a warning that the expansion of Government-funded childcare provision may create problems for both providers and parents
THE Early Years Alliance, a charity that represents 14,000 members in the early years sector, has warned that many childcare providers in England may struggle to meet increased demand for funded places under the Government’s offer. They also caution that families who do secure a place are likely to face higher fees and extra charges outside the funded childcare hours due to financial pressures on the sector.
According to the charity Pregnant Then Screwed (PTS), some parents are even considering leaving their jobs or reducing their working hours because of rising childcare costs, despite being eligible for new funding being phased in from April.
Last month, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that all eligible children in England will be able to benefit from the expansion of Government-funded childcare provision starting this spring.
However, with just six weeks left until the first stage of the offer, the Early Years Alliance (EYA) has expressed concern that providers will struggle to deliver enough places to meet demand for the new offer, and settings will be forced to increase fees due to funding challenges.
The EYA is urging the Government to recognise the “scale of the crisis” and increase investment to ensure places can be delivered to families across the country.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt revealed in March last year that families with children as young as nine months will be able to claim 30 hours of free childcare a week by 2025.
In a phased introduction of the policy, working parents of two-yearolds will be able to access 15 hours of free childcare from April. This will be expanded to working parents of all children older than nine months from September.
From September 2025, working parents of children under five will be entitled to 30 hours’ free childcare per week.
A survey by the EYA, involving 1,196 staff in early years providers in England, discovered that more than two in three (68%) said their settings are currently full and just 3% said they had a large number of spaces available.
The EYA survey, where most respondents were managers or owners, suggested that 19% said it was likely that their setting would opt out of at least some of the early entitlement offers entirely by September 2025. Among the early years providers planning to offer funded twoyear-old places, 86% said they are expecting it to lead to an increase in demand, and of those, 71% are not planning to increase the number of two year old places they offer.
More than four in five (86%) of
staff in nurseries and pre-schools said the increase in the national living wage from April will have a negative impact on their setting’s finances, and of those, 81% plan to increase fees to parents.
An online survey conducted between January 25 and February 8 revealed that only two out of five (41%) early years settings currently offering places to two-year-olds, and planning to continue doing so, had received confirmation of their funding rate from the local authority.
From the start of January, eligible parents of two-year-olds in England have been able to apply for a code to access the new 15 hours per week of Government-funded childcare starting in April. However, several childcare providers have not yet committed to offering funded places to families as they are unsure about local funding rates.
A separate poll by campaign group PTS, involving 6,256 parents eligible for the new funding for two-year olds, suggested that 48% have sent their code to their provider but have not received any response regarding its acceptance.
Only one in five (21%) parents said they have given their code to their provider and everything has been fine, according to the self-selecting survey by the PTS between 13th and 18th February.
Almost three out of four (71%) parents eligible for the new offer in April stated that childcare costs have recently increased or are about to increase and a third (34%) said they were considering leaving their jobs or reducing their hours due to increased childcare costs, the survey suggested.
Danielle, a mum from Cheshire, shared: “My little one is two, and we received a letter last week to say that fees will be going up from £65 a day to £86 a day. We are now paying £1,490 a month for four days a week. I’m going to have to leave my job as I simply can’t afford this.
“The 15-hour funding doesn’t kick in until April, which will help slightly, but what do I do right now as I simply can’t afford it.
“We’re not going to benefit in the slightest from the new government scheme. In fact, we’re now worse off.”
Neil Leitch, who is the boss of the EYA, said that more money and a good plan to keep workers is the “only way” to make sure places for little kids to learn and play are easy to get and don’t cost too much.
He explained: “With just weeks to go until the rollout of the extended offer, it is clear that despite the government’s continued promises, not all eligible families will be able to access the early years places they need.
“Years of sustained underfunding combined with a worsening staffing crisis and limitations on space means that many providers simply won’t be able to increase places to meet the surge in demand for the new offers, while others will have no choice but to limit the number of places they deliver under the expansion or opt out of the entitlements completely.
“And of course, with so many settings still struggling with the impact of inadequate funding rates in the face of sharp cost rises, even those parents who are able to secure a funded space are still likely to face sharp increases in fees and charges for anything outside of their entitlement hours.”
He added: “So as we approach the 2024 Budget, it is absolutely vital that the government acknowledges and recognises the scale of the crisis we are in and takes definitive action to turn things around. Continuing to deny there is a problem is simply not an option.”
Joeli Brearley, founder of PTS, said: “Unless the funding to providers increases, they will have no choice but to continue charging high fees to make up the shortfall.
“We are therefore calling on the Chancellor to increase the hourly rate, particularly the three-four year old entitlement, in the spring statement next month.”
A Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said: “We are rolling out the largest ever expansion in childcare support in England’s history, set to save families using the full 30 funded hours an average of £6,900 per year. Our average, funding rates for new entitlements are expected to be substantially higher than the hourly fees paid by parents last year, and we are already seeing providers looking to expand their placements across the country.
“We are continuing to support providers to deliver each stage of the rollout through increases to the rates we pay, our national recruitment campaign and establishing more qualification routes into the sector.”
It is absolutely vital that the Government acknowledges and recognises the scale of the crisis we are in
Neil Leitch, of the EYA