What do the new early years policies mean for families?

The Chancellor presented his Spring Budget 2023 to Parliament on 15 March 2023, outlining the government’s spending plans for the next financial year including huge new pledges on early education and care. The Chancellor called it the “biggest transformation in childcare in [his] lifetime”. But what will this look like in practice? And when can families start accessing the offer? Here we’ve shared all the information we have so far…

Firstly, and most significantly, the government announced plans to extend the 30-hours offer to eligible working parents of children from nine months old in England, in a bid to help more parents return to work. Currently, all children aged three- and four-years-old can access 15 hours of funded early education and care, while children with eligible working parents can access an additional 15 hours a week. Some children aged two, whose parents are in receipt of certain benefits, can also access 15 hours a week of funded education and care. Because of the scale of this expansion the scheme will be extended in phases:

April 2024 – 15 hours a week offered to all eligible working parents of two-year-olds

September 2024 – 15 hours a week offered to all eligible working parents of children from nine-months-old-months-old

September 2025 – an additional 15 hours a week (total 30 hours a week) will be offered to children of eligible working parents from nine months to two-years-old, effectively extending the current 30 hours offer to all eligible families with children from nine months to four-years-old.

Like the current 15 and 30 hours offer, these offers are funded on a termly basis – that means it is only available for 38 weeks a year. If your child attends a setting year-round rather than termly, your early years provider may allow you to stretch the offer over the year – that’s 570 hours a year for the 15 hours offer or 1,140 hours a year for the 30-hour offer. This means, for example that they may offer you 22 funded hours a week over 52 weeks.

The increased 30 hour offer, like the current version, will also only be available to parents who are both earning at least the equivalent of 16 hours a week on the minimum wage and not more than £100,000 a year, though there are some exceptions – for example, if one parent is in receipt of certain benefits, such as Incapacity Benefit, Severe Disablement Allowance, Carer’s Allowance. Lone parents will also have to meet these criteria. Parents who are on leave from work (i.e. sick leave, annual leave or shared parental, maternity, paternity or adoption leave) can also access this scheme.

Families that claim Universal Credit will be able to claim for an increased amount of early education and care. The current maximum is £646 for one child or £1,108 for two or more children. From summer 2023 it will increase to £951 for one child or £1,630 for two or more children.

Alongside this increase, parents will also be paid for some of this upfront, rather than having to pay for it in advance and claiming it back. The amount that will be paid upfront and the exact timing of the payment has yet to be announced.

The government has also announced plans to increase the maximum staff:child ratios in nurseries and pre-schools for two-year-olds. This will require there to be one member of staff for every five two-year-olds, up from the current maximum of four. The new ratios will be introduced in September and will remain optional for early years providers.

Local authorities will be given £289 million over two academic years, starting in September 2024, to set up wraparound provision at schools to “stimulate supply in the wraparound market and support the ambition that all children should be able to access 8am to 6pm childcare provision in their local area”.