NEWS

The report also highlights a “number of pressures” on the early years sector as childminder numbers continue to fall and group settings struggle to recruit quality staff. It says: “More nurseries lack enough qualified and experienced staff and become over-reliant on apprentices to fill gaps. That has a knock-on impact on the quality of their early education as well as their safeguarding expertise.”

Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Alliance, said: “Ofsted is absolutely right to highlight the acute recruitment challenge the early years sector is facing, and the significant detrimental impact this is likely to have on children’s learning and development.

“Now more than ever, it is vital that early educators are able to focus on supporting
each individual child’s early learning and mitigating the ongoing effects of the pandemic. Instead, they are forced to spend more and more energy firefighting relentless staffing challenges, with many providers battling just to ensure that they have enough staff on a day-to-day basis to keep their doors open.”

New Ofsted sector statistics show that 5,400 early years providers have closed since 2021. The statistics, which include the number of Ofsted-registered early years providers on 31 August 2022, show that there were a total of 65,000 providers registered – a decrease of 5,400 since 31 August 2021.

The statistics also show that 110 local authorities have seen the number of places in their local area fall since August 2021. This includes 26 local authorities that have seen a fall in places of more than 5% during this period.

Neil Leitch, CEO of the Alliance, commented: “What exactly is it going to take for the government to take action on the worsening crisis in our sector? The fact that we have lost 5,400 providers in just 12 months is a direct consequence of government inaction. Time and time again we have urged ministers to commit to the funding that the early years needs to survive – and now the sector is hurtling towards a catastrophe.

“The government had the opportunity to tackle this crisis at the recent Autumn Statement – but despite managing to somehow find an extra £2.3bn for schools, opted to completely ignore the early years. If this approach continues, there is absolutely no doubt we will continue to see further closures on an ever-increasing scale.

For providers to have any chance of remaining sustainable in the long term, the government must, as a matter of urgency, put forward a holistic, long term plan to properly fund the early years. The sector simply won’t survive anything less.”

However, she said that currently “not enough is being done” to support children in these years and said that “we have to fully appreciate those most preventative years” in order to tackle complex challenges such as homelessness, violence and addiction.

She concluded: “I am determined to shine a light on this issue and to do everything I can to secure much greater focus on those first crucial years for the youngest members of our society.”

Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Alliance, said: “The Princess of Wales is absolutely right to say that not enough is being done to highlight the unique importance of the early years in this country. Despite a wealth of research showing that the first five years of a child’s life are absolutely critical in shaping their long-term learning and development, all too often, education is still viewed as something that only begins once a child starts school – despite the fact that more than nine in ten children access some kind of formal early education.”

Neil Leitch, CEO of the Alliance, said: “We welcome confirmation from the education secretary that the government’s response to the SEND review will be published early next year. If we are to have any chance of transforming the life chances of children and young people with SEND, however, it is absolutely vital that the early years plays a central role in any future SEND government strategies.

“As such, while we look forward to hearing the education secretary’s plans in the new year, we urge her to recognise that any new policies in this important area must prioritise the early years, and include substantial and realistic investment in SEND provision, if they are to have any meaningful and lasting impact.”

The IFS Annual Report on Education Spending in England has argued that inflation, alongside rising costs in recent years, is putting early years providers under particular pressure. The Alliance
has called for further investment in the sector after last year’s Autumn Statement did not include any additional support for providers.

The report says that “rising levels of inflation and cost pressures” have reduced the impact of additional education funding, putting “severe strain” on providers budgets. It also highlights that early years providers are facing “faster rises in costs than overall levels of inflation”, with costs growing an estimated 32% between 201-18 and 2024-25.

Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Alliance, said: “The government has argued that without a plan for education, there is no plan for economic growth – but unless ministers finally wake up to the fact that education starts well before, and goes on long after, the school gates, any future policy is doomed to fail.

New research from the IFS has found that funding for the government’s 15- and 30-hours childcare offers will be 8% lower in real terms by 2024-25.

The research finds that while funding for the offers has increased in the past 20 years, most of this was driven by new entitlements, rather than increases to the hourly rate paid to providers.

The IFS estimates that costs for early years providers have increased by 11% in the past three years, driven by rises in the National Living Wage. This compares to a 7% increase in the cost of consumer goods in the same period.

The IFS estimates that by 2024-25, today’s funding rates will decrease by 10p an hour in real terms.

The IFS says: “Going forward, high levels of inflation mean that even substantial cash-terms increases in the early years core funding rate will struggle to keep up with providers’ rising costs.”

Neil Leitch, CEO of the Alliance, commented: “Years of inadequate investment from government has meant that many nurseries, pre-schools and childminders are already teetering on the edge of survival, with 4,000 settings permanently closing in the last year alone. As such, it is almost impossible to imagine how the sector will be able to survive with such a significant real-terms funding drop.

“We know that early years providers are deeply committed to providing high-quality education to our youngest children, as well as the childcare that many parents rely on – but this alone isn’t enough to pay the bills and keep the doors open. The fact is that the early years funding system in this country is broken and the way in which the government views and treats our vital sector needs an urgent rethink before it completely implodes.

“Rather than continuing to push ahead with ill thought-out deregulation plans, it is vital that ministers put forward a long term plan for the sector that includes adequate, realistic funding.”

Claire Coutinho has been appointed minister for children, families and wellbeing at the Department for Education (DfE) with responsibility for the early years.

Coutinho has served as MP for East Surrey since
2019 and has previously served as parliamentary under-secretary of state for disabled people at the
Department for Work and Pensions.

Before becoming an MP Coutinho worked for the Centre for Social Justice thinktank and accountancy firm KPMG. Coutinho replaces Kelly Tolhurst, who previously served as minister for schools and childhood.

Nick Gibb has also re-joined the DfE team, having been reappointed minister of state for schools, while Robert Halfon has taken on the minister for skills, apprenticeships and higher education role.

Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Alliance, said: “There’s no doubt that Ms Coutinho takes on this new responsibility at a particularly difficult time for the early years, with the sector not only dealing with an array of long-term challenges, including underfunding and recruitment, but also the ongoing
uncertainty around the outcome of government’s
deregulation proposals.

“As such, we hope that the new minister will act
as a true advocate for our vital sector, and work in partnership with us to fight for greater investment,
better recognition of our workforce, and the scrapping of proposals that would actively harm the sector, including plans to relax ratios.”

The official e-petition against government proposals to relax ratios for two-year-olds was debated in Westminster Hall in November last
year. The e-petition, started by Zoe and Lewis Steeper, whose son Oliver tragically died after an incident at a nursery, reached 100,000 signatures on 28 September which meant it could be considered for debate in parliament.

The debate was led by Catherine McKinnell MP for Newcastle North and chair of the House of Commons Petition Committee. McKinnell stated there was “genuine apprehension” from parents, providers and experts surrounding the proposed changes and said it would “jeopardise the quality and safety” of early years education and care. She told MPs that, when researching ahead of the debate, she was unable to find a single expert who was in favour of the government’s proposals.

Later in the debate Justin Tomlinson, Conservative MP for North Swindon questioned how settings would be able to cope with the changes: “It is all about quality, and I cannot see single argument that changing ratios would improve quality”.

MPs also highlighted the negative impact that these changes will have on the early years workforce. Steve Brine MP for Winchester said it “will only increase the pressure and stress within the workforce, and more of these vital workers will leave the sector, which already faces a recruitment and retention crisis”. Brine also referenced a letter he recently received from an early educator who said the changes to ratios “gave her nightmares”.

Attendees also questioned the government’s claim that the proposals will save parents money and called on the Department for Education to show their “workings-out” to support this. Shadow early years minister Helen Hayes said there is “no evidence” the changes will save money. Meanwhile, Munira Wilson, Liberal Democrat MP for Twickenham and education
spokesperson for the early years said stating that ratios will save parents money is a “red herring”.