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Our policy goals
We need to make childcare work for all of us.
Many parents in the UK are frozen out of work by the high cost and low availability of childcare and many children miss out on high quality childcare that can boost their outcomes in childhood and beyond. The brunt of childcares costs and shortages are borne by disadvantaged families.
When one family misses out, we all miss out.
Good quality childcare and early years services help children narrow the gap between themselves and their better off peers and helps parents move into work, improving social mobility today and in the future.
Getting the early years right gives parents genuine choices about working and caring, provides the economy with a reliable workforce and sets children up with the skills they need for life.
How we bring about change
Bringing together what we learn from our on the ground programmes with families and our authoritative research, we make change happen by campaigning for solutions that parents want and need.
Listening to parents
Building a solid picture
Campaigning for solutions
What we are campaigning for
We are making four key calls on central, national and local governments.
01 - Make sure every parent is better off working after childcare costs
No parent should be frozen out of work because of high childcare costs. Families face the highest costs when their children are young and there is no free childcare. Parents can find it impossible to return to work, which affects their earnings capacity throughout their career.
£1.96
£6300
In order to prevent childcare costs from acting as a barrier to work, Government should:
Introduce a simple, progressive funding system that helps parents move out of poverty and into work.
Extend 15 hours of free childcare per week to all two year olds, rather than just the most deprived to support working parents
Extend childcare support to parents undertaking training, education and volunteer roles
Read the research behind this:
Creating an anti-poverty childcare system
This paper focuses on the impact of high-quality early education and early intervention which can protect children against negative effects of poverty.
What is the role of childcare in solving poverty in the UK?
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation recently published an ambitious long-term strategy to solve poverty in the UK.
The business case for making childcare work for families
The costs of under-utilising women’s skills is estimated to be between £15 billion and £23 billion every year.
02 - Make sure there is enough high quality childcare for all children, including school age children
There are currently significant shortages of childcare in different parts of the country, and sometimes the quality is not high enough to boost children’s outcomes. Early education matters – it boosts children’s outcomes in childhood and beyond. We need funding levels to reflect the value of early education and support high quality provision.
65% less funding
50% of councils
In order to make sure there is enough childcare, Government should:
Introduce a right to early education, to bring it in line with a school place
Regularly review funding for early education to make sure that it is sufficient to pay for high quality provision
Offer start up grants to childcare providers to set up in areas where there is currently not enough childcare
Read the research behind this:
Childcare Survey and Holiday Childcare Survey
Our annual Childcare Survey and Holiday Childcare Survey are the definitive reports on childcare costs and availability in the UK.
The price and value of early education: as much learning for half the money
Small increases in childcare investment will be spread thin across increases in hours.
Our analysis and response to the DfE’s early years funding consultation
We looked at how funding will change for local authorities and providers after the transitional period to understand the long term impact of the proposals.
03 - Make sure all children with special educational needs or disabilities can attend good quality childcare of their choice
Currently families can struggle to find a childcare place that works for their children’s or families’ needs, and childcare providers can struggle to make adjustments to meet additional specialist needs.
92% of parents
41% of parents
In order to make sure that no disabled child is turned away from childcare, Government should:
Extend the admissions code to all early education providers so that children with SEND can be prioritised
Provide adequate and responsive funding to childcare providers to improve accessibility
Double the Early Years Pupil Premium to bring it closer to the rate paid for school age children
Read the research behind this:
Parliamentary inquiry into childcare for disabled children
The inquiry looked into the problems faced by disabled children and their families in accessing high quality, affordable childcare.
Childcare for all: the role of the Local Offer
This report looks at the quality of information about childcare for children with special educational needs and disability.
Legal advice and a campaign to help end childcare inequality for disabled children
Leveling the Playing Field is a new campaign which aims to tackle the inequality faced by parents of disabled children struggling to access childcare.
04 - Recognise the value of childcare professionals through pay, professional development and representation
The quality of childcare and early education is dependent on the staff that are looking after and educating our children. The quality of childcare is higher in settings with higher pay and retention. We want to see a fully qualified, graduate-led workforce, equalising wages across private, voluntary and maintained settings.
£0.93
£2.58
In order to support the childcare workforce, Government should:
Introduce a Chief Early Years Officer to represent the sector to government and drive improvements
Use funding for free childcare to drive up wages in the sector through setting minimum wage levels and clamping down on providers not paying the minimum wage
Read the research behind this:
In for a pound: The relationship between staff wages and Ofsted grades in group-based childcare provision
Early years settings graded ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted paid non-supervisory staff an average of £1.45 per hour more than those deemed ‘inadequate’ or ‘requiring improvement’.
Putting quality at the heart of the early years
This report identifies opportunities for families to access high quality early education and childcare.
To make childcare work, we must champion childcare professionals
Childcare professionals are helping the next generation to learn vital life skills while being underpaid and undervalued.
Creating an anti-poverty childcare system
This paper focuses on the impact of high-quality early education and early intervention which can protect children against negative effects of poverty.
If you have any questions about our policy goals or want to work with us towards achieving them, please contact Megan Jarvie, our Head of Policy and Communications, at megan@familyandchildcaretrust.org.
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