Lords call for childcare spending to be focused on disadvantaged

Report from the Lords Committee on Affordable Childcare calls for £6.4bn childcare budget to be reallocated towards disadvantaged children

The Lords Committee on Affordable Childcare has today released its report, calling for the early education and childcare budget to be allocated to ensure better value for money by focusing on the most disadvantaged children.

The report puts forward three main actions the new Government must take in order to get the best value for its investment:

1. reprioritise spending in early education and childcare to focus on disadvantaged children – better value for money will be achieved by targeting those most likely to benefit;
2. ensure that disadvantaged two year-olds access their free early education in settings rated good or outstanding by Ofsted no later than 2020; and
3. address the under-funding of free early education places in the Public, Voluntary and Independent (PVI) sector.

Chairman of the Committee, Lord Sutherland of Houndwood said: “The evidence clearly shows that high quality early education has a crucial role to play in helping disadvantaged children to reach their full potential. For this group in particular the impact can be substantial. They are also less likely to access early education in the absence of the government's policy. Therefore greater value for money in terms of child outcomes is obtained by investing in early education for this group, than for all children. We are not talking about increasing budgets –we are talking about a re-prioritisation of current spending to ensure that it targets those children who are likely to benefit the most.”

Debbie Smith, Campaign Manager for EDCM said: “We welcome the Committee’s findings that the Government must do more to ensure disadvantaged children can access high quality childcare. In particular, we are pleased that the Committee’s report recognises the additional barriers families with disabled children face due to higher costs and a significant lack of appropriate and high quality provision that can meet disabled children’s needs. Access to early education and childcare is particularly valuable for many disabled children as it affords them opportunities for social interaction and development that can have valuable long term effects on their outcomes. Yet the Parliamentary Inquiry into childcare for disabled children supported by EDCM last summer found less than half of families with disabled children were accessing their full entitlement to the early education offer. We will continue to call on the Government to provide a comprehensive response to the Parliamentary Inquiry and how it will meet its recommendations.”

Notes:

Read the report from the Lords Committee on Affordable Childcare

EDCM, Contact A Family, Family and Childcare Trust and Working Families supported the Parliamentary Inquiry into disabled children, co-chaired by Robert Buckland MP and Pat Glass MP, in summer 2014. Read the report here