Disadvantaged and rural families unlikely to benefit from early entitlement expansion without reforms, research shows
by Jess Gibson
The expansion of government-funded early years places currently underway across England is at risk of not delivering for poorer families, according to a new report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and Save the Children.
The report analyses the quality and quantity of early years provision in England 鈥 including private and voluntary settings, as well as childminders 鈥 identifying that there are vast differences in levels of access according to region and social class.
The new research analysis reveals that rural areas have 31% fewer places, and 29% fewer 新澳门六合彩官网开奖-rated 鈥榞ood鈥 places, compared to inner cities and town centres. Meanwhile, the most deprived areas have 32% fewer places per child, and 25% fewer 新澳门六合彩官网开奖-rated 鈥榞ood鈥 places, compared to the most affluent areas. It also shows that, at the current rate of childminder decline, there will be no childminders left by 2033.
In light of these findings, the IPPR and Save the Children have made the following suggestions to reform early education in England amid the early entitlement expansion:
- Establish new not-for-profit nursery trusts, with the aim of helping smaller providers with business support and best practice guidance.
- Reinvigorate the role of local authorities, including by pooling funding.
- Grow and support the supply of childminders by developing a new, long-term national strategy.
- Increase funding for deprived areas and children.
- Reform the SEND funding system, giving greater recognition to emerging needs in early years within mainstream funding.
Ruth Talbot, policy and advocacy adviser at Save the Children UK, said: 鈥Childcare that is accessible and affordable is critical for families and while we welcome the recent expansion in provision, major reforms are still needed to fix the system. The innovative proposals presented in this report attempt to deal with childcare deserts, a lack of funding and the patchwork of commissioning services.
鈥淎 new focus on children with SEND is essential and we support making better use of the standard two-year-old health checks to unlock funding. Local leadership and the development of not-for-profit childcare trusts is also something the UK Government should consider, ensuring the poorest children are targeted.
鈥淚n all, the childcare policies proposed in this report would improve support for families and help ministers reach their ambitious target of half a million more children meeting their early learning goals in six years.鈥
Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said: 鈥淲e know that access to early education has a proven impact on a child鈥檚 development and life chances, particularly for children from more deprived backgrounds 鈥 and yet, as today鈥檚 findings show, these families are even more likely to struggle to access places.
鈥淎dd to this the fact that availability of early years provision hugely varies across the country, and it鈥檚 clear the sector is in need of urgent support. After all, while the sector may be in the midst of a significant expansion, early entitlement places being solely aimed at working families means that those likely to gain the most from early education simply fall through the gap.
"On top of this, the fact that today鈥檚 research warns that there will be no childminders left by 2033 should set alarm bells ringing throughout government. Childminder professionals are not only an incredibly important source of quality, flexible home-based care and education, but for far too long they have been sidelined when it comes to government support. As such, not only has it never been important to value and support this part of the sector but it鈥檚 clear that time to address plummeting childminder numbers to quickly running out.
"Now, just days after the government鈥檚 commitment to the sector and to prioritising child development, these findings are a clear example of the scale of the task at hand. At the Alliance, we look forward to working with ministers to ensure that the sector receives meaningful funding and support before provider numbers plummet even further and more families lose out."