Early years funding rates for next term confirmed
By Rachel Lawler
The Department for Education (DfE) has confirmed the new funding rates for the spring term 2021.
The - which are the rates paid to local authorities, not providers - include the 1.2% increase in funding promised in the last Spending Review.
The new rates equare to just 6p more per hour of funded education for three- and four-year-olds for most providers and 8p more per hour of funded education for two-year-olds for all providers.
Local authorities who have previously been protected from large drops to their funding rate as a result of the 鈥榣oss cap鈥 will have their 2020 to 2021 hourly funding rates maintained in 2021 to 2022 and will not see an increase to their funding rates for three- and four-year-olds.
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Alliance, commented:鈥淭oday鈥檚 Department for Education figures confirm that the 1.2% increase in early years funding will equate, at best, to just 6p or 8p per hour per child in practice for childcare providers across England.
鈥淎t a time when the government is pledging at extra 拢2.2bn for the core schools budget, it is incredibly disheartening to see just how little early years education and childcare is valued in this country. This is despite a wealth of research showing that the first five years of a child鈥檚 life are absolutely pivotal to their long-term learning and development, and the fact that there are more than a million families with children aged under five where both parent - or the lone parent in lone parent families - work.
鈥淎fter years of inadequate funding, and at a time when the continued impact of the pandemic is putting so much financial pressure on providers, the miniscule funding uplifts confirmed today will do nothing to deliver the support that nurseries, pre-schools and childminders need to survive in the long term.
鈥淚f the government values both quality early education and accessible, affordable childcare, it needs to give the sector that delivers both the investment it needs and deserves.鈥
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