Nursery World - Sector accuses Government of misleading it over early years funding

Early years sector organisations have reacted with alarm to more details of funding for the next three financial years, which confirms that the extra money announced for early years entitlements in the autumn budget is £320m less than was stated at the time.

Early years funding announced in October's spending review is a fraction of what was initially announced PHOTO Adobe Stock

As we reported in October, children and families minister Will Quince had confirmed that the Government was providing an additional £510m for early years funding over the next three years.

However, it has now been revealed that the yearly funding increases will not be cumulative funding increases – with each rise in funding added to the previous year’s funding levels, as the original announcement suggested – but that instead, the yearly funding amounts represent how funding levels each year will compare to 2021-22 funding levels.

Sector organisations said they were told the details of the funding in a meeting with the newly-appointed children and families minister Quince on 27 October, the day after Chancellor Rishi Sunak's Budget, which he then posted on Twitter.

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