Nursery World - New PM Liz Truss urged to take action to save childcare settings

On the day of her appointment as new Prime Minister (Monday 5 September), early years organisations have called on Liz Truss to make the sector a priority and put in place a plan to tackle the early years funding and recruitment crises to ‘avoid a catastrophe’.

Early years organisations have warned that urgent action is required to save the sector, PHOTO: Adobe Stock

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said, ‘Rising energy bills, an acute recruitment and retention crisis and the lasting impact of the pandemic – all against a backdrop of years of Government underfunding – have left our sector in crisis.

‘If we are to have any chance of avoiding an early years catastrophe, it is vital that the new Prime Minister puts forward an ambitious plan for the early years: one that commits to adequate long-term funding, focuses on the needs of the child and recognises the early years workforce as the high-quality and hard-working educators they are.'

Leitch also said he hoped Truss had changed her mind about relaxing staff: child ratios in nurseries and gained a 'greater understanding of the value of quality early education' and the need to invest, not deregulate it.

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