Parents set to struggle to access ‘free childcare’ places
Parents set to struggle to access ‘free childcare’ places through the new government offer as providers warn of limited capacity, new Alliance survey finds
Nurseries, pre-schools and childminders in England will be unable to provide enough early years places to match the increased demand caused by the upcoming expansion of the early entitlement offer, research from leading membership organisation the Early Years Alliance has revealed.
In the March Budget, the government announced plans to extend the 30-hours so-called ‘free childcare’ offer to children aged between nine months and two years old in 2024 and 2025.
However, the results of two parallel surveys aimed at parents/carers and early years providers, carried out online by the Alliance between 10 and 21 July 2023, highlight a significant disconnect between parent/carer expectations of the new offers and provider capacity to deliver places in line with demand.
Overall, around nine in ten (89%) eligible families said they are expecting to use the expanded offer, while 61% said they optimistic that they will be able to access all the hours and sessions they want, on the days they need.
However, many providers warned that, despite anticipating surges in demand, they will not have the capacity to increase places to meet parent and carer expectations.
Of those providers who are planning to offer places as part of the new two-year-old offer, more than eight in ten (83%) providers said they expect this to result in an increase in demand for places. However, of these, three in five (60%) are not planning to increase the number of places offered to meet demand.
Similarly, while 77% of providers planning to offer one-year-old places said they anticipate a rise in demand, 72% of these have said they are not planning to increase the number of places to match.
Across both offers, providers highlighted a lack of space or sufficient staff as key reasons for them being unable to offer an increased number of ‘funded’ places. More than four in ten (42%) of all providers surveyed said their setting is already full with a waiting list.
The Alliance survey also found that a significant proportion of providers may choose to continue delivering places for one- and two-year-olds, but charge for them privately rather than delivering them via the government’s ‘free childcare’ scheme.
Of the 96% of respondents who currently offer places to non-funded two-year-olds, a third (33%) said they are unsure as to whether they will deliver them via the government’s early entitlement scheme once extended, while one in five (20%) plan to offer a limited number of places under the expanded entitlement offer and charge privately for the rest.
In addition, of the 54% of providers who currently offer places to non-funded one-year-olds, two in five (40%) are undecided as to whether they will deliver the new funded offer to eligible two-year-olds from working families, while one in five (20%) plan to offer a limited number of places via the government’s early entitlement scheme and charge privately for the rest.
What’s more, despite the phased roll-out of the offer, most settings do not feel that the sector has been given enough time to prepare for the expansion, with 59% of respondents disagreeing with the statement: “The government’s phased introduction of the early entitlement expansion gives enough time for early years settings to prepare for increased demand for places’.
Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said:
“As our survey clearly demonstrates, once again, the government has blindly made a promise to families that many providers simply will not be able to deliver on.
“A combination of poor funding, a lack of capacity and insufficient time to prepare means that many pre-schools, nurseries and childminders may – quite understandably – choose to limit the number of funded places available under the expanded offer, or in some cases, opt out entirely. As a result, many of the parents and carers who are pinning their hopes on benefitting from the new offers when they roll out next year are likely to be left sorely disappointed.
“If the government had actually engaged with the sector before ploughing ahead these plans, it would have known that there was no way that we would be able to provide the places that have been promised to families on anywhere near the scale proposed in the time given. Instead, it once again chose to announce first and ask questions later, leaving us with a policy that, given the state of the sector at the moment, is simply unworkable.
“With settings closing at record levels and educators leaving in their droves, the early years is at crisis point. As such, before we can even consider expanding the early entitlement offers, we need to fix the huge problems that years of underfunding has created. We therefore urge the government to work with the sector to ensure that the necessary infrastructure is in place to support providers to deliver the places that families need. Otherwise this policy risks becoming a complete and utter waste of time and money.”
Survey comments
Early years providers
“There is a staffing crisis in the sector so there is no way that we will be able to increase spaces. It is doubtful we can honour the spaces we have already offered.”
“We are in a community centre and it would cost too much to make alterations to the building in order to accommodate [the extended funded offer]. Also, even now we cannot recruit to meet our current needs.”
“We don't have the capacity or resources either from a setting or staffing point to provide care for the under twos – as we can't provide a separate area for sleeping and we have difficulty recruiting staff and under twos need more staffing.”
“Unless the government looks into the cost of providing funded places, raises the level of respect for early years professionals, especially childminders, and provides enough money to provide a place for every child that wants one, there won't be enough providers, therefore places, to make the scheme work.
“If the government wants to follow through with its promises to parents, it needs to put its hand in its pocket and fund it properly. Telling parents they can have all this to win votes and then not having any providers because their businesses have all gone under is not going to work.”
Parent/carers
“I am so excited for the new free hours to begin and my children to be old enough to qualify, but the scheme is massively flawed. It will never work if the government does not help nurseries financially in the meantime. You can't offer all children aged nine months onwards funded hours without increasing the availability of childcare places. Nurseries are closing left right and centre. If this continues, the new scheme will become pointless”.
“My childminder said they will not be able to offer this as they are not paid enough so there is a shortfall and they are not even able to charge the difference.”
“Our nursery has struggled with staffing in the last year. If there’s an influx of children because of the free hours I can’t see how they’ll be able to staff it, so I’m not sure if they’ll offer the free hours at all.”
“The nurseries around here are over-subscribed and under-resourced so extra hours are difficult to access.”
“There is a shortage of nursery spaces already so I feel this will get worse. There is also shortage of nursery staff, so I am not sure where you can to recruit and train staff by next year?”
