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The Early Years Alliance has issued a comment following today's Budget which announced hourly early years funding rates will increase in line with delivery costs over the next two years, representing an additional investment of around £500m.

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

"We at the Alliance have long called for a mechanism to ensure that early years funding rises in line with provider delivery costs, and so welcome the fact that today's announcement should help prevent the current funding gap from widening even further over the coming years.

"That said, what this policy does not do is to close this gap in any way, or address the wholly inadequate funding baseline from which providers are forced to operate. With the early years funding shortfall estimated to stand at £5 billion, it is clear that there is still much more to do to build and sustain an affordable, accessible and high-quality care and education sector over the long term. 

“We know that the early years is facing its most challenging time in decades. Not only have years of underfunding wreaked havoc on the sector – prompting both a surge in setting closures and the worst staffing crisis in years – but the sector is just weeks away from the biggest expansion in early entitlement hours, with many settings warning that they do not have sufficient funding, capacity or space to meet the likely surge in demand. As such, while today is certainly a positive starting point, much more support – including significant long-term funding and a comprehensive workforce strategy – is crucial if nurseries, pre-schools and childminders are to be to able to sustainably deliver both existing and upcoming entitlement offers. With many settings already on the brink of closure, simply maintaining the status quo is not an option.

“Today's Budget hints at a renewed approach to how the early years is recognised – but rather than being viewed as a solution to the early years crisis, it must be seen as the first step of many that need to be taken to safeguard the future of our vital sector."