Early years providers will struggle to meet increased demand for funded places once the expanded offer comes in due to staffing and space shortages, suggest new findings.
According to a survey of 1,196 providers by the Early Years Alliance:
- 68 per cent of respondents’ settings are currently full.
- More than half are full with a waiting list.
- Of the 86 per cent planning to offer funded two-year-old places who predict an increase in demand, 71 per cent aren’t planning to increase the number of spaces they offer.
- Just over one in ten are planning to delay the rollout of the new funded two-year-old places to a later date, with the majority of those (63 per cent) opting for September 2024.
- Of the 95 per cent of providers (nurseries, pre-schools and childminders) currently offering non-funded two-year-old places, just over two-thirds (69 per cent) are planning to deliver the expanded offer for this age from April. A total of 15 per cent are undecided what to, while 13 per cent plan to offer a limited number of funded places and charge privately for the rest and 3 per cent are going to opt out of the funded offer completely.
