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by Jess Gibson

The Early Education and Childcare Coalition (EECC) has today launched its new manifesto, which sets out proposals to ‘rescue and reform’ England’s early education and childcare sector.

The Rescue and Reform manifesto highlights three key priorities for the next government, including guaranteeing that all children can access inclusive, high-quality provision that’s affordable for parents.

In addition, the Coalition has released new research undertaken by More in Common alongside the Rescue and Reform manifesto, which assesses the importance of childcare reform to voters in England.

The research data reveals that over half of voters (53%) are concerned about the availability of early education and childcare in England, with 40% saying it’s difficult to find provision and 49% saying it is unaffordable.  

The data also highlights that:

• 71% of voters say children should have a right to access early education and childcare regardless of their parents' employment status. 
• 67% of voters say investing in early education and childcare benefits the whole country.

However, under the current early entitlement expansion, only children whose parents earn at least the equivalent of 16 hours per week at national minimum or living wage are entitled to the new 15- and 30-hours offers being phased in.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has previously found that the poorest third of children would not directly benefit from this expansion, while the National Audit Office (NAO) raised concerns about the expansion’s potential to widen the educational attainment gap between the poorest children and their peers. 

Director of the Early Education and Childcare Coalition, Sarah Ronan said: 

“Our polling shows that voters are simply not convinced by recent policy changes. Whether they are parents or not, whether they work or not, they recognise that investing in early education and childcare is good for all of us, especially children, and they want to see progressive policies to support that. Our manifesto sets out what that reform needs to look like.  

“There is widespread agreement that this is the way forward – for children and parents, for providers and early years professionals, but also for the whole of society. It sends a strong and clear message to all political parties that continuing with the current flawed model is simply not an option, particularly if we want to improve outcomes for all children and the health of the sector.”