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The Early Years Alliance has today written to Chancellor Rishi Sunak MP and Business Secretary Alok Sharma MP urging the government to take action to urgently address the gaps in support for the early years sector during the coronavirus outbreak. 

The move follows the release of the Alliance's survey of over 3000 childminders, nurseries and pre-schools on the impact of government support schemes on the sector during the coronavirus outbreak, which found that one in four childcare providers in England think that it is unlikely that they will still be operating in 12 months’ time. 

The letter urges the government to address the last-minute decision to place restrictions on providers access to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme and to honour the original guidance which the majority of early years settings based their business and financial planning on. 

It also asks for the government to address the unfair discrepancies in the availability of business support grants for providers and asks for additional financial safeguards for childminders such as using income to calculate entitlements in the Self-employed Income Support Scheme rather than profits, and allowing 2019/20 tax returns to be taken into account for the purposes of the scheme.

Commenting on the letter, Neil Leitch chief executive of the Alliance, said:

"The government urgently needs to start listening to what the providers are saying about the support they need to survive the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. 

Simply put, the current package of government measures to support the sector is wholly inadequate. Access to the Job Retention Scheme is far more limited than was originally promised, the ability to benefit from business support grants is wholly inconsistent with other sectors, and the support for childminders is too little, and too late, with those newly-employed in the sector left with no support whatsoever. 

If the purpose of government support for early years is to ensure that they are able to remain sustainable through the coronavirus crisis and beyond, the fact that one in four don’t expect to still be operating in a year’s time is a damning indictment on the steps taken so far. 

We are asking both the Treasury and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to engage in honest, constructive discussions with the Alliance and the wider sector. The government must now commit to doing what is needed to ensure that providers remain viable in the long term."