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The Early Years Alliance has issued a comment in response to research from the IFS which reported that total funding for the "free childcare offers" will be 8% lower in real terms in 2024-25 than it is this year. The report can be downloaded

Commenting Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said:  

“While the news that early years funding is failing to keep up with inflation will come as little surprise to anyone in the sector, the news that real-terms funding for the so-called ‘free childcare’ offers is set to fall by 8% over the next two years is still deeply worrying. 

“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. This is, quite simply, the only way to ensures that early years settings can remain viable not just now, but in the years to come.”