According to new analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and Save the Children, the expanded offer is at risk of not delivering for poorer families as among the poorest fifth of parents with young children, just a third (36 per cent) use formal childcare. This compares to 73 per cent of the highest earning households using formal childcare.
Availability of places
It finds that the more deprived or more rural a local area is, the fewer and lower-quality childcare options families tend to have.
The most deprived areas in England have 32 per cent fewer places per child and 25 per cent fewer Ofsted ‘good’ places compared to the most affluent areas, it says.
Rural areas have 31 per cent fewer places and 29 per cent fewer good places compared to inner cities and town centres.
Part of this problem is driven by the falling numbers of childminders. The report warns that at the current rate – a drop of around 3,000 childminders per year – there may be none left by 2033.
The analysis says the differences in levels of access cannot be fully explained by the number of households who are in-work with children.
It finds there are ‘huge’ regional and local variations. For example, parts of the North-East have five times the average ratio of childcare places to children. However, other parts of the same combined authority are among the least well served in the country.
Part of this problem is driven by the falling numbers of childminders, it says. At the current rate – a drop of around 3,000 childminders per year – there may be none left by 2033, warn the researchers.
Another issue is a reduction in the number of children taking up funded places in school-based nurseries.
It says this decline has been most ‘stark’ in the more economically disadvantaged local authorities and may reflect schools offering full-time entitlement places to children from working families at the expense of part-time universal places for those who don’t qualify.
IPPR and Save the Children are proposing a series of policies to boost the number of childcare providers in England, they include:
- Establishing new not-for-profit nursery trusts to rival private equity backed for-profit chains, with the aim of helping smaller childcare providers with business support, best practice and achieve the same economies of scale as larger groups.
- Reinvigorating the role of local authorities by pooling funding to secure new childcare in the areas of greatest need and more actively brokering the new school-based nursery expansion.
- Growing and supporting the supply of childminders by developing a new long-term national strategy which sees them paid monthly to deliver funded entitlements and explores a new childminder friendly national digital platform.
- Increasing funding for deprived areas and children through raising the Early Years Pupil Premium and increasing weighting for additional need in the national formula.
- Reforming the SEND funding system, giving greater recognition to emerging needs in early years within mainstream funding.
'Our analysis shows that if the Government doesn’t think differently about the delivery [of the expanded entitlement], it could leave the poorest children and families far behind.'
Jodie Reed, associate fellow at IPPR, said, ‘The extension of funded childcare entitlements currently under way is unprecedented. But our analysis shows that if the Government doesn’t think differently about the delivery, it could leave the poorest children and families far behind – without access to decent quality provision which matches their needs – and the Government far from reaching its Opportunity Mission goals to reduce poverty and narrow gaps in early childhood outcomes.
‘Yet as the first UK government in history to be the biggest buyer of hours in England’s childcare market, there is an opportunity to re-imagine childcare as a public-led service – more akin to schools. National and local governments should play a much more proactive role in addressing problems in the market, supporting the system to deliver quality and delivering a real childcare guarantee for every child.’
PACEY’s chief executive Helen Donohoe said the report should ‘raise alarm’.
‘She added, ‘Our sector and its dedicated professionals, including childminders, have been neglected for too long. As this report demonstrates, that can no longer be ignored. If we don’t act now so save the childminder workforce, they will soon be gone.
‘PACEY continues to call for a childminder strategy to address the drastic decline in numbers. Not only do we need to preserve their current, brilliant work, we know that in areas of disadvantage and huge need, childminders can and want to do so much more.’
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, commented, ‘Just days after the Government’s commitment to the sector and to prioritising child development, these findings are a clear example of the scale of the task at hand. 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.’
