Alliance comments on new IFS research revealing almost half of children say their social and emotional skills worsen during the pandemic

Please find a comment from the Early Years Alliance on new research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which found that nearly half of parents (47%) reported that their child's social and emotional skills had worsened during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, with children aged 4-7 the worst affected.

Commenting, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said: 

“It is incredibly concerning, though sadly not surprising, that such a high proportion of families have reported that their children’s social and emotional skills worsened during the pandemic.

“And while it is vital that, moving forward, all children are given the care and attention they need to make up for the ‘lost learning’ during this period, given the particularly significant impact of the pandemic on younger children, it’s clear that this needs to start in the early years.

“How can it be, then, that at a time when young children need more individual and high-quality support than ever, ministers have chosen to take an approach to early years policy will achieve the exact opposite?

“From the relaxing of ratios to the lowering of qualification requirements, the government’s insistence on prioritising increasing capacity in the early years over and above ensuring quality provision is the worst possible approach at the worst possible time.”