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The government must take urgent action to ensure that families can access early years places when and where they need them, and not just focus on tackling rising costs, at this week’s Budget, leading early years organisation the Early Years Alliance has warned. 

The call comes after a new Freedom of Information (FOI) investigation by the organisation found that the vast majority of local authorities collect little to no information on whether early years provision in their area is meeting the day-to-day needs of local families. In light of the findings, the Alliance has branded government claims that that there are enough childcare and early education places in England to meet demand as “meaningless”. 

Government ministers have repeatedly responded to concerns over a lack of early years places by arguing that “local authorities report that they are fulfilling their duty to ensure sufficient childcare”. Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act, local authorities in England have a duty to secure sufficient childcare for working parents.  

However, a new investigation by the Alliance, which saw FoI requests submitted to all upper-tier local authorities in England, found that while almost all (96%) of council said they had sufficient early years places in their area overall, less than one in six collect data on the proportion of local parents who are able to access the number of days/sessions they need, when they need it and where they need it. 

Specifically, of the 117 councils who responded: 

• only 15% currently collect information on what proportion of parents and carers in the area are able to access the quantity of early years provision that they would like to (e.g. if they need three full days a week of early years provision, whether or not they are able to access three full days or can only access, for example, two).  
• only 14% currently collect data on what proportion of parents and carers in the area are able to access early years provision on the specific times and dates that they want (e.g. if they want Mondays and Tuesdays, are they able to access Monday and Tuesdays or have they had to settle for, for example, Mondays and Wednesdays).  
• Only 9% currently collect data on what proportion of parents and carers in the area are able to access early education and childcare at their first choice early years setting 

Worse still, despite the government recently-renewed commitment to supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) across the country, less than one in 10 local authorities collect the same information specifically from parents of children with SEND. 

The FoI investigation is the latest in a series of research findings revealing the abysmal state of the childcare and early education system in England. Earlier this month, a survey of 24,000 parents conducted by campaign group Pregnant then Screwed found that three-quarters of mothers who pay for childcare and early education say it no longer makes financial sense for them to work, while a recent Coram report revealed that the average cost of a part-time early years place for under-twos rose 5.6% in 2022. 

Commenting, Alliance CEO Neil Leitch said: 

“While there has been a lot of talk of lowering the cost of early years provision, much less has been said of the need to make sure that families are actually able to access places. Our sector is in midst of the worst staffing crisis for decades, forcing more and more providers to restrict hours and limit sessions, all of which has a direct impact on both children and their parents. 

“Ministers argue that local authorities are saying they have enough early years places – but if hardly anyone is asking whether or not parents are able to get places for as many days as they need, at the times they need and where they need them, then clearly any government claims of ‘sufficient places’ are utterly meaningless in practical terms. 

“If you’re a parent who, say, needs a nursery, pre-school or childminding place for four days a week, but can only secure one day a week, and it's at a setting 25 minutes away, then constant assurances from government that all is fine are understandably going to ring completely hollow – and this is exactly the sort of situation that families up and down the country are currently facing. 

“We know that local authorities work hard to support families to access the care and education that they need, but with more and more settings being forced to limit spaces, restrict opening hours, or close all together as a result of sustained underfunding and severe staffing shortages, this is becoming an increasingly impossible task. 

“As the calls for early years reform grow ever louder, it’s critical that alongside building an affordable childcare system, we look to build one that is accessible, as well as sustainable and high-quality. 

“This means a long-term comprehensive government strategy, underpinned by adequate investment, that ensures that all early years settings are able to offer the care and education families need, when they need it. It also means steering well clear of ill-thought-out policies like relaxing ratios that will only worsen the current severe recruitment and retention crisis and risk permanently damaging our already-fragile sector." 

Provider comments 

Jan Green, manager at Collingwood Pre-school in Essex, said: 

"We do whatever we can to accommodate families' needs and session requirements, for both new and existing families, but staffing shortages can make this extremely challenging. 

“We regularly have enquiries for breakfast club hours, and after school hours but, unfortunately, we just don't have the staff numbers to be able to offer this. 

"We have also had to recently take two children off our waiting list because we could not accommodate the hours their families were looking for. We also don't have the flexibility to offer changing hours to meet parent's shift patterns." 

Andrew Howarth, director at Paint Pots Nurseries, based in north-west England, said: 

“At two of our three settings, we have had to restrict session times to a pattern we can staff for. For example, if a parent often wants an extra hour or two if it falls outside this strict pattern, we usually have to refuse. 

“We have lost children to other settings for not being able to offer the flexibility that they require, however, we have to be strict to remain sustainable." 

Parent comments 

Robin, a parent in south-west London, said: 

"We're really lucky to have a range of early years settings in our local area and the nursery our son attends is a really great setting. However, sometimes the setting's opening hours and availability often makes it tricky to juggle work.  

“He currently attends three mornings a week and we were hoping this would be on consecutive days, but unfortunately the nursery didn't have spaces on consecutive days, so we have had to move our schedules to work around what was available.”    

Ben Kennedy, a parent based in Shifnal, Shropshire: 

“As it stands, current provision doesn't fit in with what we need. The main issue for me and my wife is our oldest son’s nursery has stopped offering term-time only places to new children. My wife is a teacher, and we can only enrol our younger son at the same nursery if we pay for him to attend the nursery full-time, when, during the school holidays, both his mum and older brother will be at home. It would also end up costing us £1,000 more each year compared to what we are currently paying for our older son on a term-time basis. 

“As a result, we are considering enrolling our younger son at a different nursery that is able to offer term-time. As a result, we will have to travel to the next town and do two nursery drop-offs and pick-ups on the same day, which is frustrating and inconvenient.”