The 2023 Spring Budget included a new package of measures to expand the government’s childcare offering. Our Early Years Lead, Laura Barbour, discusses how the expansion will affect families and children across the country.
It is welcome news that substantial investment in the early years is a headline in the budget, given the early years sector has been notable in its absence in recent years. It is also pleasing to see the ground-breaking acknowledgement of the current gap in funded access to childcare for many parents with children aged from age 9 months to age three. But despite all this, it is hugely disappointing that the changes announced are likely to widen rather than reduce inequality in the early years.
The government’s planned expansion for one and two-year-olds is directly replicating many of the inequalities seen in access to existing provision at three and four. While all three-and-four-year-olds in England are entitled to 15 hours of early education and childcare per term time week, those in ‘working families’ (who meet certain criteria e.g., by working enough hours per week) are able to access a total of 30 hours.
