Chancellor reveals plans to extend 30 hours offer
By Rachel Lawler
The government plans to extend the 30-hours offer to children of working parents from age nine-months in England as part of a plan to encourage parents back into work.
The scheme will be extended in phases, with 15 hours a week offered to all twoyear- old children from April 2024, 15 hours a week offered to all children from nine months old from September 2024 and an additional 15 hours for working parents of all children from nine months from September 2025.
Funding increase
The Chancellor also announced plans to increase funding for existing early years entitlement. The government will spend an extra 拢204 million on entitlements for three- and four-year-olds this financial year and an additional 拢288 million in 2024/2025.
This funding is in addition to the 拢4.1 billion that the government will provide by 2027-28 to facilitate the expansion of the new funded hours for younger children.
"Far from convinced"
Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said: "While the Chancellor claims to be building a 'childcare system comparable to the best', the news that early years settings will only receive an initial increase in funding of 拢204m for the three- and four-year-olds completely flies in the face of this rhetoric.
"With the shortfall for current two-, three- and four-year-old offer estimated at around 拢1.8bn based on government's own figures, the additional funding announced today is highly unlikely to match what's needed to put providers on a steady footing, and raises serious questions about the government's entire approach to costing this policy.
"We know from bitter experience that expansions of so-called 'free childcare' without adequate investment are a recipe from utter disaster 鈥 and given that many providers rely on fees from younger children to make up for current funding shortfalls, the impact on the sector if the government gets this wrong cannot be underestimated.
"And while today's announcement will no doubt be effective at driving up the demand for early years places, it's far less clear how ministers intend to ensure adequate supply. At a time when settings are closing at record levels and early educators are leaving the sector in their droves, unless the proper infrastructure is put in place by the time the extended offers are rolled out, many parents of younger children expecting funded places to be readily available to them are likely to be left sorely disappointed 鈥 and the token offer to new childminders announced today is likely to do little to change this.
"What's more, while much has been said about the role of this policy in supporting parents back to work, we've yet to hear anything about the need to ensure any places being provided to children are of high quality. Early years settings don't just deliver 'childcare'; they provide vital early education, and yet this seems to have been completely overlooked in discussions - as demonstrated by the government's shameful decision to relax ratios despite almost universal opposition from both parents and providers.
"Ultimately what matters how what was promised to parents today is implemented in practice. From what has been announced so far, we are far from convinced."
Ratio changes
Also confirmed were rumoured plans to increase maximum staff: child ratios in early years settings for two-year-old children. The government will increase the maximum ratio from 1:4 staff to children to 1:5.
However, the Chancellor said that the new upper limit ratios would be 鈥渙ptional鈥 and that there would be no obligation to accept them.
"A shameful decision"
Commenting on the decision to push ahead with relaxing ratios, Neil said: "It is utterly appalling that the government has pushed ahead with this decision, and the fact that it has done so without even bothering to respond to the official consultation launched several months ago is an insult to the sector and an insult to families.
"Yes, parents want affordable care and education, but they also want to ensure that their children are in safe environments receiving quality care and education - something this policy completely flies in the face of.
"We have a cohort of children still recovering from the effects of the pandemic. We have an overwhelmed and overburden workforce already leaving in their droves. How can anyone in government have possibly looked at this policy and thought: 'Yes, this is the way forward'?
"In their focus on growth and boosting the economy, ministers have forgotten that we have a responsibility to our youngest children: to ensure that they all, without exception, get the best possible start in life. It is a shameful decision, and one we will continue to fight to oppose."
Encouraging childminders
The government also revealed plans to encourage more childminders into the sector. It said that it would be rolling out a pilot scheme offering a 拢600 incentive for new joiners and a 拢1,200 incentive for those who joined via a childminding agency.
Universal credit payments
The Chancellor also announces plans to pay to pay for childcare via Universal Credit upfront instead on in arrears. Parents will now receive up to 拢951 for one child and 拢1,630 for two children per month