Nursery World - Open plan

Nursery education remains out of reach for families who most need it, while quality staff are still in short supply. Julian Astle analyses what could be done to change it The Government needs to decide whether its childcare strategy is designed to increase parental employment rates or to boost children's educational prospects. In an ideal world, it would do both. In the real world of tight resource constraints and conflicting priorities, choices need to be made between the sometimes competing claims of adults and children.

The Government needs to decide whether its childcare strategy is designed to increase parental employment rates or to boost children's educational prospects. In an ideal world, it would do both. In the real world of tight resource constraints and conflicting priorities, choices need to be made between the sometimes competing claims of adults and children.

An analysis of who currently wins, and who loses out, in the competition for state support illustrates the point: the Government provides the most help with childcare costs to working families in the middle of the income distribution scale and the least to non-working families at the bottom.

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