According to the Department for Education's projections, around 70,000 new places and 35,000 additional practitioners will be needed to meet demand after the expansion of funded entitlements.
The early years sector is having to negotiate these latest policies amid a backdrop of increasing costs and staffng pressures.
In addition, nursery providers of all sizes are responding to the urgent challenges around SEND provision. Recent data showed that the number of young people with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan for SEND in England has soared to the highest rate in six years.
As the sector struggles to bring new people into early years – and retain them – can apprenticeships deliver the recruitment and skills it so desperately needs? And will they increase in popularity following the Government's overhaul, which includes changes to duration of study and functional skills.
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