More than half a million children will benefit from 30 hours a week of funded childcare from today – but campaigners have warned many families still face high costs
More than half a million children will benefit from 30 hours a week of funded childcare from today – but campaigners have warned many families still face high costs.
Parents can save up to £7,500 each year under the offer – which is the single biggest expansion of childcare in England’s history. But campaigners have warned that linking childcare provision to income means many parents face spiralling costs if they miss out.
Families who are not in work or do not earn enough to be eligible for free childcare face paying £205 more per week to give a child under two years old the same nursery education as their peers, research by Coram Family and Childcare shows.
The study found a child with working parents eligible for the entitlements will receive three times as much government-funded early education than a disadvantaged child by the time they start school.
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From Monday, all eligible families with children aged nine months to four years will be able to access 30 hours of free childcare a week. To access the offer, parents must earn over the national minimum wage and their combined salary must be below £100,000.
If parents are not eligible for the working parent offer, they will still receive the 15 hour entitlement for all three and four year olds – but will have to fork out cash if they need extra hours.
Families of two-year-olds who are eligible for 15 funded hours, depending on criteria such as receiving benefits, will pay an average of £100 per week to bring their weekly hours to 30 and those who are not eligible for any funded hours will pay an average of £193 per week for 30 hours, Coram said.
Parents of three- and four-year-olds, who all receive 15 funded hours, will pay £96 per week for the additional 15 hours needed to give their children the same amount of early education as children of working parents, according to the study.
A separate study by Bath University also warns that pressure on the system could mean prices are driven up further for the hours parents still pay for. It said in “childcare deserts”, where three or more children compete for every available place, the surge in demand may mean parents hoping for relief from sky-high childcare bills may instead face higher costs.
Meanwhile, concerns have been raised about capacity in the early years sector. Nurseries may not have enough staff to deliver the Government’s expansion of free childcare, researchers at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) have warned.
The study warned workforce challenges must be addressed to ensure the early years sector can recruit and retain staff to meet the demands of the full rollout of the childcare expansion.
While growth in staff numbers is currently “on track” to meet the Government’s estimated targets for the childcare expansion, the NFER report has warned that this “may not necessarily continue”.
The Government estimated last year that the early years workforce would need to grow by 35,000 staff from December 2023 to September 2025 to deliver the full rollout of the expanded childcare funding entitlement. But the NFER said early years providers have reported challenges with achieving growth so far and further growth “may be even more challenging”.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said the Government must put “significant effort” into improving the status and pay of early years roles. “For more childcare places to exist, more staff are needed, and, while recruitment efforts have been successful in the short term, more is urgently needed,” he said.
Lydia Hodges, Head of Coram Family and Childcare, said: “Whilst the expansion of funded childcare hours is very welcome support for many working families, the focus on parental income risks excluding disadvantaged children who stand to benefit the most from early education, and further widening the disadvantage gap.”
In July, the Government announced early years teachers would be offered a tax-free payment of £4,500 to work in nurseries in disadvantaged areas.
A Department for Education spokesman said: “From today, hundreds of thousands of families will start accessing 30 hours government-funded childcare, marking a significant milestone in this government’s Plan for Change, saving parents up to £7,500 a year, per child.
“No child should miss out on early education, which is why our Best Start in Life Strategy commits to a simpler system that’s easier for families to navigate, and sets out a clear plan to grow the workforce including through financial incentives for early years teachers in disadvantaged areas.
“Access to childcare must be fair and affordable, and we will continue to take action to make clear that mandatory charges should never be a condition of accessing a funded place.”
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