Alliance comments on Labour's plans to introduce breakfast clubs for every primary schools in England

Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said: 

“Labour’s plans to introduce breakfast clubs for every primary school in England will make a real difference to parents with school-aged children trying to balance their careers and their childcare needs, as well as ensuring that no children start the school day hungry, and so we warmly welcome this proposal.  

“That said, if Labour is truly committed to transforming the childcare landscape in this country, plans to address the severe challenges that nurseries, pre-schools and childminders are facing must also be central to this drive.  

“Years of underfunding and poor policymaking has left the early years facing a severe recruitment and retention crisis, and mass setting closures – with around 4,000 providers shutting in the last year alone – leaving children unable to access vital early education and parents struggling to find the affordable, reliable childcare they need.  

“As such, any plan to solve the ‘childcare crisis’ must start with the early years and must include a long-term plan for the sector based on realistic, sustainable funding.”