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To the Chancellor of the Exchequer,

When the 30-hour ‘free childcare’ offer was first announced in 2015, the Pre-school Learning Alliance – like many in the early years sector – welcomed the policy in principle. We know that many families in England are struggling with the cost of childcare, and we have always argued that all children should have access to quality, affordable childcare. However, less than three months into its rollout, it is clear that, without adequate funding, this flagship policy is in danger of creating a childcare crisis.

A recent survey of childcare providers conducted by the Alliance found that nearly 4 in 10 did not believe they would be sustainable by September 2018 as a result of the 30 hour policy. We are already regularly receiving reports of nurseries, pre-schools and childminders – many of which have been running for decades – being forced out of business because they simply cannot make the 30 hours work.

In the meantime, many providers are now being put in a position where the only way they can offer the 30 hours and remain viable is by introducing additional fees and charges for good and services like lunch, snacks and trips that they previously offered for free – or by structuring the delivery of the scheme in such a way that parents have no choice but to pay for so-called ‘optional’ extras.

The consequence of this is likely to be families on lower-incomes being pushed to the back of the queue when it comes to accessing places. This completely goes against the government’s commitment to improving social mobility. If the government is committed to delivering ‘free’ childcare to parents, then it must be truly free – and this cannot happen without adequate funding.

We know the Department for Education is aware of the challenges facing the sector. Only last week, the department announced a new ‘Delivery Support Fund’ to help tackle what it described as the “variety of challenges” the sector will face as the year progresses and the demand for 30 hours increases. So the government knows that things are only going to get more difficult for providers. But the sector doesn’t need one-off limited funding pots – it needs long-term sustainable funding.

The government has said that early years funding levels will remain frozen until 2020, despite inevitable increases in cost such as wages, rents and business rates. Recentlypublished local authority funding rates for 2018/19 reveal that the vast majority of councils won’t receive a penny more to fund the free entitlement next year. This is simply not sustainable. The fact that our Fair Future Funding campaign has 5000 provider and parent supporters shows the strength of feeling on this issue.

We want to make the 30 hours work, but this is not possible without adequate investment. The Budget is a significant opportunity to address this and commit to an increase in funding which would help secure the long-term future of the childcare sector in this country. As such, we urge you to use this Budget to tackle this issue once and for all, and ensure that this flagship manifesto pledge doesn’t end up as a broken promise to parents.

Neil Leitch, chief executive, Pre-school Learning Alliance

ENDS

ABOUT THE ALLIANCE

• The Pre-school Learning Alliance is the largest voluntary sector provider of quality affordable childcare and education in England.

• Through direct provision and its membership of 14,000 nurseries, sessional pre-schools and parent and toddler groups, the Alliance supports over 800,000 children and their families in England. The Alliance also develops and runs family learning programmes, offers information and advice, runs acclaimed training and accreditation programmes and campaigns to influence early years policy and practice.