NEWS

rush[ing] through a childcare pledge without a plan to carry it out”. She confirmed that the 2025 early entitlement expansion will go ahead, but warned that “it won’t be the sunlit uplands promised by the Tories” and that “in some parts of the country, while parents may receive the hours they were promised, they might not get their first choice of nursery or childminder”.

The education secretary said: “There’s a big shortage of staff and places: the government’s spending watchdog has said that to deliver the rollout, in some parts of the country we will need to double or even triple capacity to deliver the additional hours. According to Department for Education (DfE) estimates, 40,000 additional educators and around 85,000 new places are required for the expanded offer rollout by September 2025.

A National Audit Office report published earlier this year found that, according to feedback collected by the DfE in March 2024, while 82% of local authorities were confident there were in enough places to meet increased demand in April 2024, this falls to just 34% for September 2024 and 9% for September 2025.

Bridget Phillipson has said that she will be setting out the government’s plans to use spare primary school classrooms to create extra places and to recruit more staff over the coming weeks and months by relaunching the DfE’s recruitment campaign.

The early years sector is “well placed to act as the foundation of an inclusive education system”, according to an independent report by ISOS Partnership.

The report, Towards an effective and financially sustainable approach to SEND in England, was commissioned by The County Councils Network and Local Government Association to identify the issues facing the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system and propose a series of recommendations to reform it.

It highlights that more children and young people than ever before are being identified as having SEND, which, combined with other factors – such as a “squeeze on public resources”, a hard-to-navigate system, and inadequate funding – is leading to poorer outcomes for children.

However, the report states that “attending an early years setting is likely to be the first opportunity to identify, assess and put in place support” to meet children’s needs, with obtaining the right SEND support for children in the early years “essential to driving a systematic approach to earlier intervention with a view to preventing needs from escalating later in a child’s education”.

This is evidenced by the recent evaluation of Sure Start from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), which found lower rates of education health and care plans (EHCPs) in young people aged 16 who had lived near a Sure Start centre, compared with those who had not.

Despite this finding, the acute recruitment and retention challenges in the early years sector, in addition to issues around access to SEND training and expertise, mean that “well-targeted early intervention and a fully-inclusive early years offer” aren’t often available.

The report concludes that the SEND system – from early years and beyond – should be reformed to overcome the range of challenges it faces and to improve the outcomes for children with SEND.

Almost a third of respondents (61%) reported that staff from their setting had left the sector entirely over the previous six months, while 82% had seen an increase in the number of staff members leaving the sector compared to two years ago.

The survey also revealed that, in the six months prior, 50% of respondents have had to limit or stop taking on new children, while 17% have reduced or restricted their opening hours.

Around four in 10 respondents (37%) said they are actively considering leaving the sector themselves; however, of those, 82% also said that feeling more valued by government would make them reconsider leaving, while 80% said the same of better pay and 53% of improved benefits such as sick pay.

These findings come just a month before the next phase of the early entitlement expansion, which will offer 15 hours per week of funded early years provision to eligible children aged nine months and older.

In response to the survey results, the Alliance is calling on the government to:

• determine and publish a set of pay ambitions for the early years sector in England, setting out what it considers to be suitable salary ranges for each role level in the sector – and to ensure that early entitlement funding is set and maintained at an adequate level to enable early years settings to meet those salary expectations.

• ensure that the early years is consistently recognised and valued as an education profession.

• ensure there are clear and consistent career pathways into and through the sector, as well as funded training and CPD opportunities.

According to analysis of early years attainment data, disadvantaged children were 4.6 months behind their peers in 2023, compared to 4.2 in 2019.

The most disadvantaged children are continuing to fall behind their peers at age five, new research from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) has found.

By the time children reach the age of 16, disadvantaged students are three grades behind their peers, while persistently-disadvantaged pupils (those eligible for free school meals for at least 80 per cent of their school lives) are almost two years behind.

The report also found that the gap for reception-aged children on SEN support and those with EHCPs has increased to its widest on record.

Parents of children under four cite ongoing concerns with the affordability and availability of early years places in a survey from the Department for Education (DfE).

The publication – Childcare and early years survey of parents 2023 – provides information on a survey of parents with children from birth to 14. It covers parents’ use of childcare and early years provision, and their views and experiences

The report found that over a third (37%) of families with pre-school-aged children said there weren’t enough places.

In addition, 46% have called for childcare and early education to be made more affordable, with 34% of parents with children under four finding it difficult or very difficult to meet their childcare costs – the highest proportion since 2014.

Further findings from the publication also show that, among families with children from birth to four years:

• 57% living in the most deprived areas received formal childcare, compared to 74% in the least deprived areas.

• 18% were more likely to say that they hadn’t used childcare because they couldn’t afford it.

• 6% were more likely to say that they had not used childcare because they couldn’t find a place due to local providers being full.

Parents of young children are not getting the support they need to give children the best possible start in life, new research from children’s charity UNICEF UK has warned.

According to a survey conducted by the charity, 87% of parents of babies, toddlers and children under five are worried about their children’s future life chances, with 66% warning that the cost-of-living crisis had negatively impacted their family, and 63% reporting that they are struggling with their mental health while being a parent.

The report also found that 62% of parents surveyed say that childcare is one of the biggest challenges facing parents, while 25% have had to borrow money/ gone into debt to make ends meet/pay for essentials.

UNICEF UK is calling on the new government to do more for young families and commit to a National Baby and Toddler Guarantee, which would mean every baby, toddler, and child under five years gets the support and services they need to thrive in their earliest years and beyond. This would include:

• increasing financial support to families, including ending the two-child limit and removing the benefits cap

• guaranteeing every child a place in a local, affordable, and quality early education and care setting

• ensuring every parent with a young child can access mental health support when they need it.