NEWS

10 said that they would “probably” or “definitely” increase their fees this year.

The survey also found that more than a third of pre-schools, nurseries and childminders say it is likely that rising costs will force the closure of their setting within the next year, with a quarter (25%) describing this as “somewhat likely” and almost one in ten (9%) stating it would be “very likely”. More than four in five (83%) survey respondents stated that the level of government funding they receive for the three-and-four-year-old early entitlement offer is less than the cost of delivering places, while nearly three quarters (73%) said the same about the two-year-old offer.

As a result, around half (51%) of settings surveyed recorded a loss in the last year with the mean average loss amounting to nearly £14k in the last 12 months, while around two in ten (22%) broke even and just over a quarter (26%) recorded a profit. Nearly all of those surveyed (99%) said the government isn’t providing enough financial support to early years settings.

One provider said: “As an employer, we understand the need to pay staff a fair wage that is reflective of the current costs of living. However, as a business, this money has to come from somewhere and we are concerned about the pressure this may put on our setting and operating costs [...] We are reluctant to increase our fees because of the cost-of-living and the pressure that will put on our families, but we feel we have no choice.”

Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Alliance, said: “The early years sector in this country is in crisis. As our survey findings clearly show, current levels of government funding are nowhere near enough to support the delivery of affordable, sustainable quality care and education. As a result, nurseries, preschools and childminders are being left with an impossible choice: substantially increase fees for parents and carers or go out of business altogether. With inflation still sky-high, and the national living wage set to increase by record levels in just a couple of months, this situation is only going to get worse unless the government takes urgent action.”

New figures released by HMRC have revealed that more than half of the families eligible for the government’s tax-free childcare offer are not accessing the scheme.
 
The figures show that more than 405,000 families were using the scheme in December 2022 and a total of £41.5 million in top-up payments were made.
These figures show an increase in the number of families accessing the scheme compared with December when 77,500 fewer families were registered. However, this is still fewer than half of the number of families eligible for support, as there are estimated to be more than a million families entitled to access the scheme.

Families accessing the scheme can get up to £2,000 a year per child, or up to £4,000 a year per child if the child is disabled, by using the top-up payment system. For every £8 paid into the scheme, parents are given an extra £2 to spend on childcare. Working parents can use the scheme to pay for care at approved settings, including early year providers as well as after-school and breakfast clubs.

people understand the unique importance of the early years compared to other life stages.

The Princess of Wales said: “The way we develop, through our experiences, relationships, and surroundings during our early childhood, fundamentally shapes our whole lives. It affects everything from our ability to form relationships and thrive at work, to our mental and physical well-being as adults and the way we parent our own children.

“These are the most preventative years. By focusing our collective time, energy, and resources to build a supportive, nurturing world around the youngest members of our society and those caring for them, we can make a huge difference to the health and happiness of generations to come.

“All of society has a role to play in this, even if you are not directly involved in a child’s life, because we are all responsible for building a more compassionate world in which our children can grow, learn and live. In these difficult times, it is more important than ever to help support parents and caregivers provide loving, safe and secure homes for their babies and young children to thrive.”

Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Alliance said: “As this campaign shows, the first five years of a child’s life is absolutely pivotal to their future development and life chances, and the role of early education in this is crucial. And yet all too often over recent years, the early years has been de-prioritised when it comes to education policy – and crucially, funding – with a disproportionate focus placed on the later years of a child’s education and development.

“As such, we hope that the next stage of The Princess’ campaign will prompt conversation – and more importantly, action – from both society and government when it comes to valuing the early years sector and the importance of early childhood.”

two-year-olds and 10-hours a week for disadvantaged one-year-olds.

Disadvantaged two-year-olds are entitled to access 15-hours a week of early education and care. However, according to the i newspaper, the Chancellor is now set to reject these proposals and is understood to be “analysing other options from the DfE”, including more limited increases in the number of free hours.

Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Alliance, said: “England’s early years sector is facing its most difficult time in decades with settings closing in swathes, and experienced educators leaving in their droves. It’s clear, therefore, that ministers continuing to ignore the needs of early years providers will cause irreparable damage to the sector.

“As such, if the government has indeed scrapped this proposal, it must now take the opportunity to listen to what the sector needs, rather than continuing to put forward ridiculous and ill-thought-out policies that will only serve to inflict even more harm on an already fragile sector.”

A million children aged under fouryears-old are now living in poverty in the UK, according to new report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The charity’s annual poverty report reveals that a total of 3.9 million children in the UK are living in poverty, including 1 million aged under four-years-old, even with additional support.

The report also shows that one in six children are living in “persistent poverty” – that means they have spent at least three of the last four years in poverty. For children under the age of four, that is almost their whole lifetime.

Accord to the report, almost 40% of lone-parent families are now said to be living in poverty. Ethnic minority families are also more likely to experience poverty, with households headed by someone of Pakistani or Black ethnicity twice as likely to be in poverty than households headed by somebody white. Around half of households headed by someone of Bangladeshi ethnicity are living in poverty.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation highlighted how the £20 uplift in Universal Credit introduced during the pandemic took some families out of poverty, but since this has been removed families are struggling with the cost of basic essentials such as food, hygiene and warmth.

Peter Matejic, chief analyst at the charity, said: “The £20 uplift was the right political choice which clearly made a huge difference during the pandemic and may have prevented what were tremendously difficult years becoming a complete disaster for families around the UK. The relief provided by this measure, taken away just as the cost of living crisis hit, also demonstrated that the standard rates of social security are fundamentally not fit for purpose, with millions now going without essentials such as food, heating and cleanliness. These problems can be solved, but it takes the political will and imagination to tackle multiple injustices at once - and all of us need a government and an economy that works for us when times are hard.”

More two-year-olds living in Wales will be able to access the Welsh government’s 12-hours a week offer as the Flying Start scheme is due to be extended. The offer is currently only available to families living in the most disadvantaged areas of Wales but will be expanded to cover all twoyear-olds in the country in a phased expansion of the scheme.

More than 4,500 more two-year-olds will benefit from the scheme in 2023-24 and a further 5,200 will benefit in 2024-25.

Deputy minister for social services in Wales Julie Morgan said: “Developing high quality support for children and families in the early years has been a long-standing priority for the Welsh Government. I am delighted to announce a further £10 million in 2023-24 to extend the reach of this important scheme which will enable more children to access high quality childcare.

“This additional funding will make a considerable difference to the lives and outcomes of thousands of children and their families across Wales and offer opportunities for more children to access Welsh Medium provision. High quality learning and care in early years supports child development and plays an important role in supporting school readiness and addressing the attainment gap, particularly for children facing the greatest challenges.”

The Equal Hours? report found that early education and care can have a positive impact on children’s cognitive, behavioural and social outcomes, particularly if it is of high quality and particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Using data from the Study of Early Education and Development (SEED) and analysis by University of Oxford professor Edward Melhuish, the study also found that disadvantaged children benefit more from early education and care if they attend with children from a mix of socio-economic backgrounds.

Professor Melhuish said: “Overall, this analysis shows that children from lower-income families have potentially more to gain from the attention, support and learning of a high-quality early years setting.”