From the start of April, parents in England will start to get access to the new entitlements to funded childcare announced just over a year ago. In this comment piece, we summarise what’s known about the deliverability, distributional consequences and likely impacts of the new entitlements.
England’s early years offer is increasingly centred on the ‘free entitlement’ to a funded childcare place. One goal of this policy is to support children’s development: all 3- and 4-year-olds and roughly a quarter of the most disadvantaged 2-year-olds are eligible for a part-time free entitlement place (up to 15 hours a week during term time, though families can spread these hours across more weeks).
Another aim is to support parents with the cost of childcare, and through that encourage more parents into paid work. 3- and 4-year-olds living in families where all parents are in paid work (and no parent earns more than £100,000 a year) are eligible for up to 30 hours a week of free childcare, doubling their entitlement.
In the March 2023 Budget, the government announced plans to expand this entitlement for working families to younger children. The first step is happening at the start of April: 2-year-olds in working families will be eligible for up to 15 hours a week. That offer will be extended to children 9 months and older from September this year, and by September 2025 all of these children will be eligible for up to 30 hours a week of free childcare.
