Treasury documents released after the speech provided clarification as to what this means in practice, with the Government confirming it would provide an extra £500m over two years to support the sector to deliver the expanded childcare offer.
However, it is not yet clear what measures the Government will use to ensure that rates for the funded hours rise in line with costs.
‘To support the sector to deliver the expansion of childcare support, the government is confirming that the hourly rate providers are paid to deliver the free hours offers will increase in line with the metric used at Spring Budget 2023 for the next two years,’ it states. ‘This reflects that workforce costs are the most significant costs for childcare providers and represents an estimated additional £500 million of investment over two years.’
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