In the run-up to Chancellor Hunt’s first Budget there has been media speculation about possible reforms to help parents with the cost of childcare, amid a wider review ongoing within government of workforce participation. Here we bring together a very brief summary of the key evidence on this issue. We draw significantly on a recent IFS submission to the Education Select Committee’s inquiry into childcare and the early years, as well as a number of other pieces of work.
Support for childcare in England is complicated, with at least eight different programmes to help families with the cost of care, and with many families eligible for more than one form of support simultaneously. This complexity makes it difficult for parents to work out what support they’re entitled to and how to get it. Having multiple programmes for different (but overlapping) groups, operating in different ways, also makes it harder for policymakers to introduce coherent reforms.
One pillar of the early years landscape in England is the ‘free entitlement’ to funded early education and childcare. All 3- and 4-year-olds are entitled to 15 funded hours per week during term-time, while those in working families1 can get up to 30 hours a week. The 40% most disadvantaged 2-year-olds are also entitled to a funded part-time place.
Since 2009-10, spending on the free entitlement has more than doubled as the government increased the number of funded universal hours and brought in new entitlements for 2-year-olds and for 3- and 4-year-olds in working families. This has created a large shift in the landscape of early years support, prioritising slightly older children while spending on programmes available to younger children has fallen.
