In the Rascals Day Nursery in Leigh-on-Sea the man tasked with delivering England’s biggest childcare expansion to date crouches down to speak to a group of preschoolers intent on their crafting. “What are we doing here?” he asks.
Conducting a charm offensive, may be the most accurate answer. With a little more than four months to go until the first part of the government’s new flagship childcare offering kicks in, David Johnston, minister for children, families and wellbeing, is now in charge of making sure it actually happens.
It will not be easy. In recent months, an influential coalition of early years educators warned that a staff recruitment and retention crisis risks undermining the scheme, which will provide 15 “free” hours of childcare during term time for eligible working parents of two-year-olds from April, and 30 free hours to all eligible children from nine months to five years by September 2025.
In a tightly-packed meeting room away from the happy noises of the nursery, Johnston did not guarantee that all parents will get the hours they want, but says he is confident. “I think it’s always risky for a politician to guarantee anything,” he says carefully. “What I can guarantee, absolutely, is that this department is doing absolutely everything to ensure that we do meet that commitment for all parents.”
On Wednesday the government announced a £400m funding package for the sector, which will cover the increase in the minimum wage, but providers argue that the funding rate given to local authorities – who then pay providers – falls a “long way short” for three- and four-year-olds.
And they say that providers are still in the dark about the final amount they will be paid by local authorities – even as they are being inundated with inquiries from eager parents.
A recent Early Education and Childcare Coalition report found that more than half of staff they surveyed were considering leaving the sector. Does he think there will be enough places? “I do. Yes, I do.” Everywhere? “I do. I do.”
Johnston says government research shows the workforce is stable. Recent changes to the early years foundation stage (EYFS) framework (described by Early Years Alliance CEO, Neil Leitch, as an “incredibly concerning direction of travel for early years policy”), coupled with grants for childminders and a “big national recruitment campaign” in the new year will make it easier for them to be able to operate and recruit, he says.
One thing the minister and the sector agree on is the need to elevate the status of the – mainly women – working in it. Exactly how to do that may be a point of differentiation.
“We are talking all the time about what we can do to raise the status and the way people look at this sector,” Johnston says. The notion that it is “babysitting” has to be replaced with a message about the “great impact you’re having on children in their first five years,” he adds.
Wouldn’t that be best achieved by higher rates of pay and better career progression? Johnston says the increase in the minimum wage will help. But providers say without better wages further up the chain workers with long experience can sometimes be paid little more than new workers. Without committing, Johnston says introducing a career framework similar to that in schools is being “talked about” but has to be balanced with flexibility.
Other critics of the scheme argue that, because the hours are only available to working parents, the poorest children – who research suggests benefit most from early years education – are being “locked out”.
The minister – who was chief executive of the Social Mobility Foundation for a decade – says he doesn’t accept this, pointing to the 15 hours available for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, a 50% increase in the amount of universal credit parents can claim, and the fact these parents can now claim 85% of their childcare payments upfront. “On the very first day I arrived in a department I said, ‘Whatever you bring me, I want to know what the impact is for disadvantaged children’,” he says.
The OBR has estimated that the expansion will see 60,000 people enter the workforce by 2027-28, does he expect that to happen? “I certainly hope so,” he says. “When I knock on the door locally [people] really welcome this offer. They want it because it will make their working lives easier or enable them to go back out to work.”
