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The Early Years Alliance has issued a comment in response to a government announcement that the energy price cap for an average households to be capped at £2,500 a year for the next two years, with businesses set to receive an "equivalent guarantee" for a six month period. 

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

“While today’s announcement will give early years settings a little breathing space over the coming months, the fact that the government has only committed to supporting businesses over the next six months will do very little to ease their worries over the long-term. 

“It’s clear that the government has failed to understand the immense pressure that businesses, including those in the early years sector, are under. For nurseries, pre-schools and childminding settings, years of underfunding and sharply rising inflation, alongside current energy cost increases, have pushed many settings to the brink and, on the basis of the information that we have so far, today’s announcement simply does not go far enough. 

“With 4,000 early years settings forced to close in the last year alone, there is no time for the government to drag its feet on this. We urge the new prime minister to take urgent action to address acute financial challenges our sector is facing, before crisis turns into catastrophe.”