Government’s childcare scheme may widen ‘inequalities’ among preschool children

The Government’s childcare reforms could widen the attainment gap between poorer children and their well-off peers before they even start school, a social mobility charity has warned.

The quality of education for all young children could worsen and inequalities may be exacerbated under the expanded childcare offer for working parents which will start being phased in from April, the Sutton Trust has said.

The next Government will “bake in disadvantage” for children before they even start at school if they fail to take action, the charity has warned.

The Sutton Trust is calling on politicians to commit to a core education entitlement of at least 20 hours per week for all children aged two to four irrespective of their family’s working status or income.

Where further provision is necessary for childcare purposes, additional hours should be affordable for all families through a “sliding scale of fees by income level”, the charity has said.

It comes after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in March last year that some working families of children as young as nine months will be able claim 30 hours of free childcare a week.

Under the plans, working parents of two-year-olds in England will be able to access 15 hours of free childcare from April. This will be extended to working parents of all children older than nine months from September.

From September 2025, working parents of children under five will be entitled to 30 hours’ free childcare per week.

A new policy briefing by the charity – which has been published as the country prepares for a general election – warns that the current Government’s plans treat the early years sector primarily as childcare rather than education.

It said: “This has put quality at risk, and will considerably widen gaps in access. This not only risks exacerbating inequalities, but also worsening the quality of education for all young children.”

A report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) last year estimated that only a fifth of families earning less than £20,000 a year would have access to the Government’s planned expansion of funded places, compared to four-fifths of those with household incomes over £45,000.

The Sutton Trust report also highlights concerns about the sector’s ability to deliver the expanded offer “with no workforce strategy” in place.

In October, Labour announced that Sir David Bell, former permanent secretary at the Department for Education, would lead a review into early years.

But the Sutton Trust report said Labour had not yet made “any commitments” to addressing the inequality in early years provision for poorer children.

“Nor has it announced a long-term strategy for the early years workforce,” the report said.

The charity warned: “By not taking action, the next Government will bake in disadvantage for children before they even start at school, and risks widening, when it should be narrowing, the attainment gap.”

Sir Peter Lampl, founder of the Sutton Trust, said: “Politicians are failing disadvantaged children. The early years are a crucial stage that can create opportunity or lock in disadvantage.

“As things stand, Government policy treats early years provision as childcare rather than education, and there is no indication as yet that this would change under a Labour government.

“It’s disgraceful that the very children who would benefit most from early years education are being increasingly excluded from it. We need to rebalance Government funding or we will continue to see poorer children falling further behind.”

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance (EYE), said: “For years, we have warned that the political focus on ‘childcare’ as a means to get parents back to work over and above ‘early education’ would lead to the development of poor policy that does not have the needs of the child at its centre – and the new funded offers, which completely exclude many families on the lowest-incomes, is a perfect example of just that.

“In no other part of the education system would we accept that a child’s access to learning opportunities could be defined by their parents’ income and yet, for some reason, we have decided that this is absolutely fine when it comes to the early years.

“The Government constantly talks about the need to close the attainment gap, and yet their approach to the early years is likely to achieve the exact opposite.

“It’s clear that the whole approach to childcare and early education needs a complete rethink – otherwise it is those children who need the most support who will lose out.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We know the pandemic impacted children’s development, which is why we are investing up to £180 million into early years recovery programmes and have reformed our early curriculum to improve children’s outcomes in critical areas such as language development and literacy.

“The rollout of the largest ever investment in childcare in England’s history will provide high-quality early education to children of eligible working parents from nine months until they start school. Working parents on universal credit are eligible for support with childcare costs no matter how many hours they work, up to £950 per month for a single child and £1,629 for two children.”

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