The Government has pledged an extra £100m to fund new nursery places and launched a new online childcare calculator following parents’ concerns over dwindling availability across the country.
The Department for Education (DfE) announced on Friday it would roll out additional capital funding to ensure childcare settings “have enough physical space” to accommodate an expected surge in demand.
It will come on top of the £289m wraparound childcare fund announced in July, which the Government said would “make sure families of primary school children can access childcare between 8am and 6pm”.
Gillian Keegan, the Education Secretary, said the latest top-up meant the Government has rolled out “the largest investment in childcare in our history” which would ensure people would “not have to choose between having a career and having a family”.
The DfE said the extra £100m would be offered to local areas to deliver “thousands of new [childcare] places across the country”, with the money expected to go towards nursery expansions.
The Government also unveiled a new childcare calculator giving parents tailored information about their eligibility for the new childcare support.
However, unions insisted the extra money would do little to tackle the “dramatic fall” in childcare places, with thousands of providers closing over the past year.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “Early years education is vital to children’s progress and attainment, and an expansion of childcare is desperately needed.
“Unfortunately, the money behind this expansion is a fraction of what is required. Our members are also questioning where they will find the additional staff. There is a real danger that the Government’s promises could fall short in reality if they don’t urgently look again at the funding and resources.”
Helen Hayes, Labour’s shadow children and early years minister, claimed the additional cash “isn’t worth the paper it’s written on” without more specific details about how many places it would fund.
“The Conservatives have overseen a dramatic fall in the number of childcare providers and places – they simply cannot be trusted to deliver the change in childcare that families need and deserve,” she said.
“Labour will develop a modern childcare system that better supports parents from the end of parental leave to the end of primary school, starting with breakfast clubs for all primary school children and allowing councils to open their own childcare places.”
Recent figures published by the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) found that the number of childcare places has dropped by 24,500 in the past financial year.
The NDNA also found that the number of childcare and early years providers registered with Ofsted dropped by 4,800 over the past year – a slump of around 7 per cent compared to March 2022.
The lack of places has sparked a squeeze in demand, with 42 per cent of childcare providers surveyed by the Early Years Alliance in July reporting that they currently have a waiting list of parents trying to access their services.
A further 27 per cent of childcare providers said they had very few places available, while just 7 per cent said they welcomed large volumes of sign-ups.
The Government unveiled an expansion of the current free childcare offering earlier this year following calls for further support for the sector. Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, announced that by September 2025 all children under five will be entitled to 30 free hours care a week.
It followed a study by the Coram Family and Childcare charity, which found the average price of a childcare place for 25 hours a week is now £150.89 per week in England, with the high costs “freezing parents out of work”.
However, the announcement was met with criticism, with many providers suggesting that a lack of professionals to meet the growing demand could exacerbate the current situation.
A study by UK innovation agency Nesta found that Mr Hunt’s expansion would lead to the number of hours spent in early-years education and childcare rising by a third for two-year-olds, with a 46 per cent rise for one-year-olds.
It said a total of 27,500 early years professionals would be needed to meet that demand – an 8 per cent expansion of the current workforce.
