Parties set out their stalls on the early years

• Sector fears that ‘free’ childcare is being used as a political football
• We detail parties’ policies

As the general election nears, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens have all made manifesto promises to expand free childcare, to the dismay of the early years sector, which is urging for these pledges to be fully costed.

Labour has pledged to expand the 30 hours to all two-, three- and four-year-olds within five years, and to subsidise any extra hours, based on income.

The Liberal Democrats have pledged 35 hours a week of free childcare for working parents of children from the age of nine months to 24 months, and for all two- to four-year-olds. The offer, which would stand for 48 weeks of the year, would rise to an estimated £12.3 billion in 2024/25, the party said.

The Liberal Democrat education adviser confirmed to Nursery World that the party would keep the Early Years Funding Formula, so the hourly rates, which would increase with inflation, would vary by local authority. The national average hourly rates would assume a 2019/20 baseline of £5.35 for four-year-olds; £7.22 for two-year-olds; and £7.86 for under-twos.

Labour has promised to reverse cuts to Sure Start, and create a new service called Sure Start Plus, which would provide ‘a genuinely universal service, available in all communities, focused on the under-twos’.

The Liberal Democrats have said they will invest £1 billion in Children’s Centres.

When Nursery World went to press, the Conservatives had yet to publish their manifesto. However, The Times has reported that the party is considering offering free childcare for all two-year-olds, at an estimated cost of £700 million, and extending the number of weeks a year the 30 hours would apply.

The Prime Minister has also promised a business rates review.

While both Labour and the Lib Dems say they would ensure funding rates meet the cost of delivery, early years organisations have reacted with caution.

According to early years research company Ceeda, the sector in England currently faces a funding deficit of £662 million.

The Early Years Alliance said its fear of the election turning into a game of ‘one-upmanship’ was coming to pass, and warned that even with fully funded places, extending free childcare to very young children would take away providers’ ability to cross-subsidise.

The NDNA warned politicians not to leave providers ‘high and dry’, or parents without childcare because their nursery could be forced to close.

Providers and practitioners have also spoken out. Writing on Facebook, Rowena Simpson said, ‘Great – put early years settings into even more difficulty by increasing 30 hours. They may as well make school age [sic] compulsory from two as many nurseries cannot cope already with 30 hours.’

Others said Labour’s promise to increase the living wage would counteract the rise in funding, or were in disbelief that the parties would keep their promises.

Here we provide a snapshot of what Labour, the Lib Dems and the Green Party have proposed in their manifestos.

Labour

Early years and childcare

• Expand the 30 hours to all two-, three-, and four-year-olds within five years, with access to extra hours at ‘affordable’, subsidised rates staggered with incomes.
• Increase funding, starting at £5 per hour for three- and four-year-olds and rising to over £9 for two-year-olds by end of first term in office. The full hourly rate would go directly to providers.
• Extra hours (up to 60) on top of the 1,140 funded hours would be charged at subsidised rates, staggered with incomes.
• Aim to extend provision to one-year-olds.
• Transition to a graduate-led workforce.
• Recruit an extra 150,000 early years staff, including SEND co-ordinators.
• Introduce a national pay scale. Hourly rates would factor in a 10 per cent pension contribution for staff.
• Provide sustainable funding for nursery schools.
• Reverse cuts to Sure Start, investing £1 billion, opening 1,000 new Children’s Centres.
• Extend paid maternity leave to 12 months.

Schools

• Extend free school meals to all primary pupils, encourage breakfast clubs and tackle the cost of school uniforms.
• Make sure schools are properly resourced with increased long-term funding and a fairer funding formula.
• Ensure maximum class sizes of 30 pupils.
• Scrap Reception baseline assessment and Key Stage 1 and 2 SATs.
• Bring academies and free schools ‘back under the control of the people’, with budgets and day-to-day decisions overseen by an accountable governing body with elected representatives.
• Scrap Ofsted and transfer responsibility for inspections to a new body.

Training and business

• Give everyone a free lifelong entitlement to training up to Level 3, six years training at Levels 4-6, with maintenance grants for disadvantaged learners.
• Review the option of a land value tax on commercial landlords as an alternative to business rates.
• Introduce a ‘real living wage’ of at least £10 an hour for those aged 16 and over.

Liberal Democrats

Early years and childcare

• Introduce 35 hours a week of free childcare for working parents of children from the age of nine months to 24 months, and for all two- to four-year-olds. The offer would be for 48 weeks of the year, rising to an estimated £12.3 billion in 2024/25.
• Increase funding for childcare providers to deliver free places. These would be funded by ‘fair tax changes’, ensuring big businesses pay their share, and by aligning taxes on income from wealth and work.
• Childcare would be partly funded by an increase in corporation tax and the abolishment of the separate capital gains tax-free allowance (would instead tax capital gains and salaries through a single allowance).
• Require all early years settings to have a training programme for staff, with the majority of staff working with children to have a relevant early years qualification or be working towards one.
• In the long run, every early years setting should have at least one graduate.
• Invest £1 billion in Children’s Centres.
• Triple the Early Years Pupil Premium to £1,000.
• Increase paternity leave from two to six weeks.

Schools

• Invest £10 billion more a year on schools (funded out of the £50 million Remain Bonus – the boost to public finances that the party says would result from stopping Brexit).
• Hire 20,000 more teachers by end of the next Parliament.
• Reverse frontline school cuts with an emergency cash injection of £4.6 billion.
• Increase teacher starting salaries to £30,000.
• Extend free school meals to all primary pupils (partly funded by an increase in corporation tax).
• End the SEND crisis by allocating extra cash to local authorities to halve the amount schools pay toward the cost of an Education, Health and Care plan.
• Establish an independent body of education experts to oversee any future curriculum changes.

• Replace Ofsted with a new HM Inspector of Schools. Inspections to be held every three years.

Training and business

• Replace business rates in England with a commercial landowner levy based on the land value of commercial sites.
• Require all early years settings to have a training programme for staff, with the majority of staff working with children to have a relevant early years qualification or be working towards one.
• In the long run, every early years setting should have at least one graduate.

Green Party

• Provide 35 hours a week of free childcare for all, from the age of nine months.
• Increase funding for schools by at least £4 billion per year to relieve the ‘financial squeeze’.
• Start formal education at age six. Children under the age of six will remain in early years education with a focus on play-based learning and access to nature.
• Replace Ofsted with a collaborative system of assessing and supporting schools locally.
• Abolish business rates which, along with council tax, would be replaced with a land value tax.

Institute for Fiscal Studies analysis

The IFS has analysed the early years packages promised by Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

In its report, produced with funding from the Nuffield Foundation, the IFS estimates:

• Labour’s free childcare policies would cost £2.6 billion in 2024 (in today’s prices) once savings through the tax and benefit system are taken into account – an 80 per cent increase on current plans.
• The Liberal Democrats’ plans would increase spending by around £7 billion, or more than three times current plans.

The IFS warns such big increases in a short time would be ‘immensely difficult’. While both parties have vowed to increase per-hour funding, it says the childcare market would be asked to make very big changes very quickly.