NEWS

Alliance CEO accuses government of turning children into “numbers on a Treasury spreadsheet” in annual conference speech

Alliance chief executive Neil Leitch issued a damning indictment on the government’s approach to early education and care at this year’s Early Years Alliance annual conference, accusing ministers of prioritising a desire to use more ‘free childcare’ as a means to boost the economy over and above the needs of young children.

“Never, ever let anyone tell you that all you do is ‘look after’ children.”

The conference, Families at the Heart, took place virtually at 6pm on Thursday 15 June 2023.

In his speech, Neil criticised the government’s approach to the planned extension of the 30-hours offer to one- and two-year-olds, arguing that the proposals have “absolutely nothing to do with supporting early learning or child development or improving children’s life chances”.

Referencing the Chancellor’s announcement of the plans during the Spring Budget earlier this year, he said:

“For all the talk of the mums who can go back to work as a result of the new offer, and the boost it will give to the economy, there was absolutely no mention of quality. No mention of good practice. No mention of the standard of care and education that these children should be receiving. And those charged with the stewardship of our children’s education and care stood back, rolled over and allowed our children to become numbers on a Treasury spreadsheet.”

Referencing his own challenging childhood, Neil also issued a rallying cry to the early years workforce, highlighting the huge support that providers offer to families – and particularly those in need – saying:

“You are the ones who spot when a child comes into your setting a little quieter than normal, or with clothes that don’t fit quite as they should. You recognise that a child’s speech, or social interactions, aren’t developing as you might expect. You notice that something isn’t quite right at pick-up, and you take action … not only to help the child, but to support the family as well. What you are doing every day, in the most challenging of circumstances, is nothing short of extraordinary.

“So never, ever let anyone tell you that all you do is ‘look after’ children. Or that your value is defined by the hourly rate you get paid by government … or the one-word label placed on you by Ofsted. Take it from someone who knows: what you give to families, and the kindness you show them, is worth its weight in gold.”

The conference also featured keynote speeches from Lord John Bird MBE, founder and editor-in-chief of The Big Issue, and Beverley Barnett-Jones MBE, Associate Director (Practice and Impact), Nuffield Family Justice Observatory and member of the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood expert advisory group, who both raised the importance of the role of early years in helping children and families in need.

Click here for more on this year’s annual conference.


Labour Party reportedly mulling means-tested early years offer
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The Labour Party is considering replacing the current ‘free childcare’ model with a means-tested approach to early years provision, according to reports.

In June, the Guardian claimed that the party is mulling giving greater support to those on lower-incomes, while tapering it off for wealthier families. Labour officials are looking at whether the current £100,000 limit on eligibility for the early entitlement offers could be adjusted so that some families below that threshold do not get the full entitlement in order to provide more support for poorer families.

A Labour spokesperson was reported as saying: “An expansion of childcare to all children is not Labour’s policy.”

Commenting on the reports, Alliance CEO Neil Leitch said: “It’s clear that the current approach of making grand promises of more and more free childcare without fully considering the funding needed to make them viable – something that parties from across the political spectrum have been guilty of – simply isn’t working.

“Instead, we’ve been left with a broken system where parents are faced with soaring prices, settings are struggling to keep their doors open and early years professionals are leaving in their droves.

“We fully support the principal of universal early years provision but have also always argued that if this is not possible, investment should be targeted at the families most in need of support, whose children research has shown will benefit the most from access to a high-quality early education.

 “Of course, the devil is, as always, in the detail. How exactly would means-testing work in practice? What steps would be taken to prevent this creating an additional workload burden on providers? And at what level would any subsidised hours be funded?

“Ultimately, whoever is in government after the next election, what the early years needs is a clear and comprehensive strategy, underpinned by adequate investment and with the needs of the child at its centre. The sector is unlikely to survive anything less.”


Councils voice closure fears ahead of 30-hours expansion

Nearly nine in 10 councils fear that early years closures this year will undermine capacity ahead of the rollout of the government’s extension of the 30 hours free childcare scheme, new research by the Local Government Association has revealed. 

88% of councils are concerned that early years closures in 2023 will undermine capacity

The report by Isos Partnership, Nursery closures: Research on the nature, impact and drivers of nursery closures in England, found 88% of councils are concerned that early years closures in 2023 will be significant and undermine sufficiency, while fewer than half (48%) of councils are fully confident of having sufficient provision for children aged two under the current entitlements. 40% of councils saw a spike in settings closing in 2022, compared to the year before.

Commenting, Cllr Louise Gittins, Chair of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board, said that the organisation has “serious concerns” about the ability of local areas to secure sufficient early years places ahead of the rollout of the extended offer.

She said: “Nurseries and childcare providers are already under massive pressure, grappling with severe financial and workforce challenges, which has seen staff numbers depleted and an acceleration in places closing.

“Alongside the improved funding rates, it is vital the government’s planned recruitment drive tackles the staffing shortages and provides an opportunity for staff to progress and thrive in a fulfilling career.”

Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said: “We know that settings are already closing at an alarming rate, with Ofsted data released less than a week ago showing that nearly 5,000 settings closed in the last year alone.

“We have no doubt therefore, that, in its current form, expanding the so-called ‘free childcare’ offers will only lead to further closures – and that rather than making it easier for parents to access high-quality early education and care, it will only make it harder.

“The only way that this expansion won’t result in complete disaster is if the government effectively engages with the sector when determining how the expansion will work in practice and, critically, ensures that the funding provided not only meets the costs of delivering places, but also encourages settings to grow to meet any increased demand.

“Anything less will not only result in total failure of plans to the extended offers, but also seal the fate for thousands more settings across the country.”


Ofsted launches complaints consultation but focuses wider inspection reforms on schools

Ofsted has launched a formal consultation on significant changes to the inspection complaints system. The changes would apply to all education settings, including early years providers.

Key proposals include extending on-site dialogue during inspections to “help address any issues at an early stage”; introducing a new opportunity for providers to contact a Senior HMI the day after an inspection if they have concerns about the process or outcome; and allowing complainants to escalate concerns to the Independent Complaints Adjudication Service for Ofsted (ICASO) at an earlier point in the process.

The new consultation will run until Friday 15 July 2023. The consultation document, which includes the full proposals, is available at bit.ly/ OfstedconsultationU5mag.

However, Ofsted has confirmed that a wider package of newly-announced changes will only apply to schools. These include re-inspecting schools that, while graded inadequate overall due to ineffective safeguarding, were judged good or better in all other areas; giving schools more information about the broad timing of their next inspection, ensuring that inspection reports refer to ‘the school’ by default, rather than individuals when discussing areas of weakness as of September.

Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said: “It’s clear that Ofsted has completely underestimated the negative impact of inspections on the early years workforce – and of course, this is at a time when we should be doing all we can to encourage educators to join, and remain in, the early years. Our sector, and the talented professionals that work within it, deserve so much better.

“It is absolutely critical, therefore, that as discussions around Ofsted inspections continue, any reforms are applied to all education settings inspected under the Education Inspection Framework – including early years providers – and not just schools. The idea that inspections should be a collaborative and positive process focused on supporting high-quality provision is true of the whole education sector, and not just a part of it.”

A spokesperson for Ofsted said: “Our approach to safeguarding, and the timing of inspections, in early years will remain as it is currently. This is in part because of our role as the regulator in the early years sector (where for schools we are just the inspectorate) and the way that inspection timings are set out differently. This means that some of the changes announced would not be applicable to much of our early years work.”


Ofsted statistics highlight the loss of 4,800 early years settings since March 2022
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The number of early years providers operating in England has fallen by 7% to 63,200 since 31 March 2022 – a total loss of 4,800 Ofsted-registered early years settings in just one year, the latest Ofsted statistics have revealed. 

This has reduced the number of Ofsted-registered early years places available by 24,500 (2%) to 1.27 million places. Falling childminder numbers accounted for the majority of the closures, with the number of registered childminding settings down by 3,500 in the year.

The report also revealed that, since 2015/16, the total number of registered providers has continued to drop year on year, reducing by over 20,000 places.

Commenting on the findings, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said: “Today’s Ofsted figures are a clear example of exactly what we have been warning about: years of underfunding and completely disregarding the early years sector have left it a shell of its former self, with provider numbers plummeting at an alarming rate.”


Disadvantaged children set to miss out despite increased early years investment, report finds

The planned £4 billion increase in government investment into early years disproportionately benefits higher-income families, according to a new report from two charities. According to research from Coram Family and Childcare and Joseph Rowntree Foundation, even with the extra investment announced at the Spring Budget, children will miss out on the high-quality early years care and education that supports their development.

The report, Tackling Disadvantage Through Childcare, also found that a low-earning parent or carer takes home around £4 per hour worked once early years costs and the Universal Credit taper rate have been applied, effectively eroding over half of their earnings.

The organisations are calling for a complete reform of the early years system, such as investment in and focus on improving quality, including better pay for professionals and higher levels of qualification; government directly funding early years places, as they do for school places; a simple, affordable, means-tested payment system for parents; and 15 hours per week for all two-year-olds and 30 hours for all three- and four-year-olds.

Megan Jarvie, head of Coram Family and Childcare, said: “We urgently need to rebalance the childcare and early years system to better serve the children who stand to benefit the most. We have set out a reformed system to better meet the needs of all families and children, and to level the playing field for disadvantaged children.”

Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said: “Families from disadvantaged backgrounds should be at the heart of any early years policies but for years they have been pushed to the sidelines and, as the research shows, this oversight is having and will continue to have serious repercussions on their development, unless proper action is taken.

“Now, when the government is looking at how it will implement the 30-hour-offer expansion, it is essential that it communicates, listens and funds the sector to ensure that, at the very least, the capacity is there to ensure that every child, no matter their background, can access and benefit from early education.”