Alliance reacts to research showing only one-third of most economically disadvantaged families access early years places
Please find a comment below from the Early Years Alliance following research published by IPPR and Save the Children on early years availability. The analysis finds that 36% of the poorest families access formal early education and childcare and differing levels of access to provision across the country, especially in rural and economically deprived areas. It also warns that if childminder numbers continue to decline at the current rate, there will be no childminders left by 2033.
Commenting, Neil Leitch CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said: “We know that access to early education has a proven impact on a child’s development and life chances, particularly for children from more deprived backgrounds – and yet, as today’s findings show, these families are even more likely to struggle to access places.
“Add to this the fact that availability of early years provision hugely varies across the country, and it’s clear the sector is in need of urgent support. After all, while the sector may be in the midst of a significant expansion, given that early entitlement places are solely aimed at working families means that those likely to gain the most from early education simply fall through the gap.
"On top of this, the fact that today’s research warns that there will be no childminders left by 2033 should set alarm bells ringing throughout government. Childminder professionals are not only an incredibly important source of quality, flexible home-based care and education, but for far too long they have been sidelined when it comes to government support. As such, not only has it never been important to value and support this part of the sector but it’s clear that time to address plummeting childminder numbers to quickly running out.
"Now, just days after the government’s commitment to the sector and to prioritising child development, these findings are a clear example of the scale of the task at hand. At the Alliance we look forward to working with ministers to ensure that the sector receives meaningful funding and support before provider numbers plummet even further and more families lose out."