A manifesto calling for an overhaul of childcare provision in England, including making early education accessible to all children regardless of whether their parents work or not, has been backed by dozens of leading employers and unions.
Thirty-five national organisations have joined forces to call for the reform of the current childcare model, including the Federation of Small Businesses, the Early Years Alliance, the Fawcett Society, the Joseph Rowntree Trust, and National Children’s Bureau.
The suggestion is contrary to the government’s long-held position that childcare support is dependent on parents’ employment status.
Sarah Ronan, director of the Early Education and Childcare Coalition (EECC), which is launching its Rescue and Reform manifesto on Friday, said: “To say that the point of early years education is not just about increasing the number of mums’ bums on office seats is radical in England, but in other countries it’s already happening and not controversial at all.”
The coalition is also calling for a commitment to reduce childcare costs to 5% of household income within 10 years. Early years education currently costs English households 25% of their total income compared with Sweden where it is 2%, Germany, which holds it at 6%, and France and Spain at 13%.
Ronan said: “There is unequivocal evidence of the positive impact that early years education has on the attainment gap, lessening challenges in later life and improving academic achievement as well as health and social outcomes. This is why we feel so strongly that it’s time to equalise access for all children.”
Under current plans, only children whose parents work a minimum of 16 hours a week are entitled to the new 15 and 30 hours of childcare support being phased in.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies previously found that the poorest third of children would get no direct benefit from the current planned expansion. Last month, the National Audit Office (NAO) raised concerns about the potential for the current expansion to widen the educational attainment gap between the poorest children and their peers.
The coalition’s goal is backed by the public, with research revealing 71% of voters saying children should have a right to access early education and childcare regardless of whether their parents work or not.
The EECC research also found 67% of voters agreed that investing in early education and childcare was good for the whole country, not just parents. That was up from 59% last year.
Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Unicef UK, said: “High-quality early education and childcare helps level the playing field for children, ensuring every child has the best start in life, no matter who they are or where they are from.
“Yet government policies are still falling short – availability and quality of childcare can be a postcode lottery and often unaffordable and unavailable for many families, particularly those on the lowest incomes.”
Plans to expand the existing 30-hour offer means more children are eligible for government-funded places in early education. Experts, however, say that low funding for those places means many providers are unable to offer the new entitlements or recruit the staff required to meet demand.
Jemima Olchawski, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said: “Our childcare system is broken and needs fundamental reform. High-quality childcare genuinely transforms the life chances of children, and in doing so gives parents real choice about how they want to raise their family and manage their working lives.”
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The chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, Neil Leitch, said: “Years of neglect have pushed the early years workforce to breaking point. Despite the huge value of the work they do, many early educators still earn little – if anything – above minimum wage.
“On top of this, significant day-to-day pressures are leaving educators overworked and exhausted, and settings with little to no capacity to support further training and career development. Is it any wonder that so many educators are leaving in their droves and providers are finding it close to impossible to recruit?”
The EECC manifesto’s other priorities include a call for sustainable and fair funding for all types of providers, and a new early-years workforce strategy. Its research shows the public is aware of the staffing challenges facing the sector with more than half of voters feeling the number of early education and childcare professionals is too low.
The NAO’s recent report also highlighted the shortage of staff in the sector, as did recent research by the EECC and the University of Leeds, which found that 57% of nursery staff and 38% of childminders were considering quitting the sector this year.
When this turnover is modelled against increased demand, as many as 100,000 more staff could be required to meet the additional demand and counter the high turnover.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We are focused on delivering the largest ever expansion in free childcare for working parents, set to save those using the full 30 hours an average of £6,900 per year.
“This comes on top of significantly increased amounts that parents on universal credit can claim back for their childcare – over £1,000 per month for a single child – available to working parents with no minimum number of hours they need to work per week. Our existing 15 free hours of free childcare for three- and four-year olds is available regardless of whether their parents are working.”
