Nursery World - £5bn shortfall in funding for extended ‘childcare’ offer

There is a £5 billion per year gap between Government funding and the estimated cost of delivery to providers of the Government’s expanded childcare offer once fully rolled out, says think tank.

The Women's Budget Group estimates a £5bn funding shortfall to deliver the extended entitlements next year, PHOTO: Adobe Stock

The Women’s Budget Group has estimated the shortfall in the Government’s budget to cover the ‘real’ cost of delivering the expanded entitlement for children from nine months old from working households.

Concerns the expanded offer isn't 'workable in practice' due to limited space and providers capping places

How the figure was calculated

To achieve this, it compared the chancellor’s announced investment of £4.2bn in 2025/26, announced in March last year, to data provided by the Department for Education on estimated delivery costs.

The estimated costs were in response to a Freedom of Information request submitted by the Early Years Alliance, which estimated that £7.48 per hour, on average, would cover the full cost of funded places by 2020/21 for three and four-year-olds.

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