The longstanding battle for more funding between the early years sector and the Government has ramped up in the wake of revelations from an Early Years Alliance investigation.
Private official documents obtained by the alliance, after a two-year Freedom of Information dispute, reveal that ministers at the Department for Education were aware in 2015 that it was severely underfunding providers of funded childcare places for three- and four-year-olds.
Documents obtained by the alliance show that early years funding rates for 2020/21 were less than two-thirds of what officials estimated to be the true cost of ‘fully funding’ the scheme.
On the same day (15 June), data published by Ofsted showed that more than 2,500 childcare providers have closed this year.
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