Cross-party MPs call for greater post-Covid support for early years

In its manifesto, published today, the Commission, whose members include cross-party MPS, argue that the Government’s catch-up for children in primary and secondary schools could have been widened to include early years providers – ‘safeguarding the burgeoning development of young children and improving childcare and working opportunities for their parents’.

It claims that ‘significant’ gaps in early years provision have been further exposed by the pandemic, and if they are not addressed, the Government’s plan to ‘build back better’ will be put at risk.

The Commission, which is chaired by Labour MP Sharon Hodgson, was jointly set-up by the Centre for Social Justice and the Fabian Society last year, to explore how to improve services for children from conception to age five.

Within its manifesto, it puts forward a number of recommendations to Government, including ‘radically overhauling’ early years funding and investing in continuing professional development (CPD) for childcare practitioners, to ensure children have the best start in life.

The recommendations are based upon a review of current policy with written evidence from 64 organisations, oral evidence from 15 witnesses, a YouGov poll, three roundtables, and numerous discussions with stakeholders across the early years sector.

The YouGov poll of 3,023 adults across England, carried out on behalf of the Commission in December, found the majority believe children under five have not been prioritised by the Government during the  pandemic.

A total 43 per cent of respondents said they would actively support an increase in spending on the early years if it were paid for by raising taxes or by redirecting funds from other services.

Recommendations

To tackle educational inequalities, the manifesto calls for a new settlement that ‘prioritises the child more effectively’ to replace the current early years funding system. It says that the settlement should focus on the quality of care and access for the most disadvantaged. It also says that when and how funding rates will increase, to take into account rising costs of provision, should also be set out.

To improve children’s life chances, it also recommends raising the skills of early years practitioners through greater investment in training. The Commission acknowledges within its manifesto that once employed, practitioners have ‘limited opportunities’ for CPD as providers have limited funding to support this. It argues that this creates ‘barriers to career progression, which contributes to high turnover of staff'. The manifesto goes on to suggest that training courses have become more expensive.

The Commission also calls for:

• A cross-departmental strategy on early years from conception to age five, led by a cabinet minister, which would draw together the work of different Government departments.
• The roll-out of ‘high-quality’ children’s centres and family hubs across the country, focusing on areas of high deprivation.
• New health visit checks at 18 months old and between age three-and-three-and-a-half. The Commission says that current checks at 9-12 months and at age two, are too sparse during a child’s ‘crucial years of development’ and result in too many children failing to develop in a healthy way.

For families specifically, the manifesto recommends:

• Maternity, paternity and shared parental leave to be extended to all employees and available from day one of employment. It also mentioned the challenges self-employed parents face when seeking leave to spend time with their young child.
• Extending parents’ statutory day-one employment right to paid leave for antenatal appointments and for care or medical appointments.

Co-chair of the Early Years Commission, Labour MP Sharon Hodgson, said, ‘Every single child across the UK deserves the best start in life, which is why I have campaigned for over a decade on the importance of a child’s early years, from conception to 1001 days and valuable early years provision.

‘The Government must take these recommendations on board to make the UK the best place to grow up in and the best place to grow old in.’

Commission co-chair, Edward Timpson MP, added, ‘By coming together across the political divide, we want to demonstrate what is possible if the nation acts as one in ensuring every child has a great start in life.’

Sector reaction

Early years organisations and charities have welcomed the Commission’s recommendations.

Imran Hussain, director of policy and campaigns Action for Children and one of the commissioners, said, ‘The best investment the Government can make is to properly fund the crucial early years.

‘Lifeline services such as children’s centres and family hubs have been hollowed out by funding cuts and deprioritised by successive governments.  The failure to support these services is a false economy. Investing in high-quality centres and hubs which step in early to support families in every community should be a core part of the “levelling-up” agenda.’

The Early Years Alliance urged the Government to take the ‘opportunity to completely re-think its approach to the early years.’

Chief executive Neil Leitch said, ‘The Commission is absolutely right to advocate for greater parity of spending between the early years and primary education, and for far greater pre- and post-natal support for new parents.

‘We urge the Government to take this opportunity to completely rethink its approach to the early years, and to ensure that those caring for and educating children in their most important years are given the support they need and deserve.’

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, commented, ‘The public backs better investment in our young children so the Government should be focusing its education recovery efforts in early years where we know it can have the greatest impact. We back the Commission’s recommendations to address underfunding in early years to make sure providers are sustainable and children are truly at the heart of the policy.’

A Government spokesperson said, 'We know the early years are the most crucial point of a child’s development, which is why we have prioritised them throughout the pandemic by keeping nurseries open and investing £18 million this academic year to support language development in the early years.

'We have also made an unprecedented investment in childcare over the past decade, spending more than £3.5 billion in each of the past three years on our free childcare offers and increasing the hourly rate paid to councils above inflation for the past two years. This is alongside assessing options for reforming parental leave and pay and investing over £14m to champion family hubs to help local early years professionals provide joined up planning and support for families.'

• The manifesto is available to download here