Commenting on an Early Years Alliance survey on the ability of providers to deliver the Government’s childcare offer, Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“The Early Years Alliance’s survey shows the consequences of long-term underfunding.
“Everyone, except the government, saw the pitfalls in plans to expand funded hours. Systemic and significant underfunding of the early years has meant providers have struggled to provide existing funded hour agreements. The EYA’s survey reveals that plans for expansions are also unworkable.
“It is truly staggering that a quarter of respondents expect their setting will close over the next 12 months. Funded hours cannot be delivered if settings are not open to deliver them. Without investment, the government will have engineered the very opposite of its declared intentions, by actually lowering access to early education.
“Maintained Nursery schools, which provide the highest quality of early education, especially for disadvantaged families and children with SEND, face additional funding pressures. The government must do more to support their long-term future alongside any plans for funded hours.”