In the 2023 Spring Budget, the Chancellor announced the single biggest investment in childcare in England’s history, expanding 30 free hours of childcare for working parents from nine months old up to when they start school, and, as of 1st April, the first fifteen hours for working parents of two-year olds is now live. Alongside tax-cuts in National Insurance Contributions and changes to Child Benefit, these measures will help support working families.
The policy is designed to support eligible working parents with childcare costs, allowing them to juggle work commitments more easily with their family life, and will put more money in their pockets every month. The Government’s free childcare offer is rolling out in stages starting this April with fifteen hours per week for two-year-olds. From September there will be fifteen hours per week for children aged nine months up to three years, and from September 2025 this will be extended to allow all eligible working parents of children aged nine months up to three years to access 30 hours of free childcare per week.
For parents on Universal Credit, the Government has increased the maximum amount they can claim back in childcare costs by nearly fifty per cent. One of the issues raised with me by our local Job Centre was the cost of childcare for people, especially women - a barrier to getting into work or increasing their hours. I reported back and am pleased that positive changes have been made, including childcare costs paid upfront when parents need it, rather than in arrears.
Over 150,000 children are on track to benefit from the launch of the offer from 1st April, and by 2027-28, the Government expects to be spending over £8 billion every year on the early years – doubling the existing levels of investment. Concerns have been raised about how the sector is going to cope and the low pay of childcare practitioners. To help overcome this, the Government is investing more than £400 million this year to increase hourly funding rates, and in the Spring Budget, the Chancellor committed to further increases to the national hourly rate in 2025-26 and 2026-27, resulting in around an additional £500 million over the next couple of years. This funding is in response to the number one ask of the sector and will help provide business certainty so that they can grow and increase their capacity.
To meet the increase in demand, the Government has also launched a nationwide recruitment campaign, with £1,000 tax-free cash incentives for new joiners in certain areas (not Hastings or Rye unfortunately) and start-up grants up to £1,200 for new childminders. The Government is keeping the progress of the roll-out of new places and staff under close review, ready to step in and offer more support if required, as well as working closely with local authorities or providers who report concerns, including allocating them dedicated technical support (backed by funding).
I was chatting recently to a young woman who told me she was ‘just’ in childcare. I suggested that it was absolutely not ‘just’ and that looking after young children, bringing up, putting their interests first and nurturing the next generation, is the most important job anyone can do. East Sussex College offers a range of Early Years and childcare courses, including a T-level in Education and Childcare, and I enjoyed meeting the students when I visited the College last year to learn more about the courses offered. The Government has also launched an accelerated childcare apprenticeship and degree apprenticeship to make sure that the roll-out of childcare is a success. This will enable people to earn while they learn. There are a broad range of other apprenticeships available across the sector from early years educator to nursery practitioner from levels one to five, right up to degree level.
As an early years practitioner, educator or childminder you have a real opportunity to impact the lives of children and their families and play a life-long role in a child’s development and well-being. The field of early years and childcare offers diverse career paths and with the right training, you can help children overcome obstacles and improve their outcomes for life – an incredibly fulfilling career indeed for many.