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Commenting on government plans to accelerate spending worth Â£5bn on a range of new infrastructure projects, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said:

"While any investment that helps the country recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic is of course positive, it is beyond frustrating to see yet another series of large-scale investments announced by government at a time when the financial needs of the early years sector continue to be ignored. 

"With well over a million children normally attending childcare settings, ensuring that we have a functioning, sustainable early years sector is going to be absolutely critical to supporting parents to go back to work - and yet, to date, the government has refused to commit to the transitional funding the sector desperately needs to make it through this difficult period. 

"With one in four nurseries, pre-schools and childminders in England fearing closure within the year, ministers simply cannot afford to turn a blind eye to this issue any longer. As such, we urge the government to ensure that when the next round of headline-grabbing spending announcements are made, further investment into the early years sector is front and centre."

Editor notes 

• The Early Years Alliance is the largest and most representative early years membership organisation in England. A registered educational charity, it also provides high-quality affordable childcare and education to support children and families in areas of deprivation throughout the country.

• The Alliance represents 14,000 members and supports them to deliver care and learning to more than 800,000 families every year. We deliver family learning projects, offer information and advice, produce specialist publications, run acclaimed training programmes and campaign to influence early years policy and practice.

• The Alliance website is