Nursery World - Turning a mixed childcare market into a 'responsive service'

Local authorities are absolutely key when it comes to transforming childcare into a public service. Jodie Reed at Isos explains why and how.

A cross-section of providers believe that local authorities should have a more proactive connecting role.

Tony Blair first declared childcare as ‘a new frontier of the welfare state’ in 2004. Twenty years later, poised for office, Labour are set to inherit an expanding free offer and a childcare market which is becoming publicly controlled – the proportion of places which are publicly funded are projected to rise to 80 per cent.

Local authorities will be responsible for distributing more funds to more providers, supporting more parents to take up the offer and ensuring there are more of the right places to meet new demand.

But is this expansion of government funding and responsibility enough to make our often-disparate childcare services feel genuinely like a public service, equipped to serve the needs of every child and family? And are local authorities the right midwives to deliver the baby?

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