Over the past few months, the risk of deregulation in the childcare sector in England has been growing. The price for families is eye-watering. The sector is also at breaking point. Costs have soared, staff vacancies are at an all-time high, and the paltry funding for the 15- and 30-hour schemes is making high-quality provision increasingly hard to deliver. Meanwhile, I don’t suppose the Treasury is happy either. The complex patchwork of funding is, they say, costing £4 billion a year (a figure disputed by the Early Years Alliance). The funding has not delivered on reducing the attainment gap, nor making childcare affordable.
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