Analysing early years care and education across several countries, the Sutton Trust has published new research that highlights the risks of the government’s early years expansion plans in England

The report also suggests that the planned changes to staff:child ratios and qualifications could significantly worsen the quality of care. This especially, would impact children from disadvantaged areas.

 Sutton Trust compared the cost and affordability of early years education for low-income families in England and other countries. This took into account existing and planned government-funded provision.

The cost of 30 hours early years education for an English family of two parents earning a combined income of about £16,500 and with two young children aged two and three. This equates to 8% of their income if they do not meet eligibility criteria for additional funded provision.

There is a chance for the government to turn the system around. It will take a considerable amount of funding and focus on recruitment to support the operations of a nursery business.

Key findings include:

• Strong support to reform and improve the sector
• England has some equitable policies which support delivering high-quality early education. This includes the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile, funded 15 hour places for disadvantaged two-year-olds, and support with Universal Credit
• However, England has considerable improvements to make to ensure the sustainability of the sector
• Many disadvantaged two-year-olds are not enrolled in the existing offer, and many poorer families are locked out of the 30 hour entitlements to early education and care at ages three and four
• Concerns about the quality of provision on offer, with the amount of funding given to providers for the 15 and 30 hour entitlements lower than the cost to settings to provide those hours
• Further impacts on staff. Staff qualification levels in the sector are also falling

Early years expansion plan: Key recommendations

To ensure that high quality, accessible and affordable childcare can be delivered while supporting costs for providers, the report laid out several recommendations.

Staffing

• Highly-qualified staff are key. England should provide financial support and protected time for qualifications and training. It further adds that the Graduate Leader Fund should be reinstated
• Bringing ECEC staff wages more in line with teacher pay is likely to improve the quality of the workforce

Ratios

• Early years expansion plan must prioritise quality if they increase the number of staff per child
• However, England should not relax current staff to child ratios in early years settings.

Remove barriers for disadvantaged families

• England should provide equal access to early years provision for all children, particularly at ages two, three and four – where there is greater existing evidence of educational benefit
• England could consider offering universal, completely free part-time places to all children in disadvantaged areas
• A sliding fee scale based on parental income could. This could provide universal access at an affordable funding level for the state if universal funding is not possible.

International comparison

Comparing this to other nations, it’s clear that England is amongst the most expensive. For a similar family in Estonia it is (0%), Denmark (3%), Iceland (4%), Ireland (5%), and Sweden (5%) about the same as Australia (8%). England ranks less than Quebec (10%), Slovenia (21%) and the USA (a staggering 39%).

It’s clear that the future of the workforce is critical for the success of the sector and the early years expansion plans.
To ensure a sufficient supply of workforce that fulfils the qualification requirements, governments have explored a range of actions, including:

• Providing financial support in the forms of student grants and scholarships (Norway)
• Creating additional early childhood education university places (Australia, New York)
• Validating existing competencies to allow easier entry into the profession (Estonia, Australia, Germany, Norway).

Early years expansion plans: Sector response

Commenting, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said:

“Sutton Trust’s report further demonstrates that the government has underestimated the importance of the early years sector, further proving that the expansion of “free hours” have been created by viewing the early years solely as childcare rather than vital education.  

“We believe that every child should have the opportunity to access and benefit from early education and care. Years of underfunding, and the government pushing the sector to the bottom of their priority list made it more challenging. 

“While nurseries, pre-schools and childminders are doing whatever they can to provide high-quality provision for every child, most are left with no choice but to increase their fees to keep their doors open. Nearly 5,000 settings have had to permanently close in the last year alone. 

“This has left us with a sector which is not only teetering on the brink but has made it even more challenging for families from disadvantaged backgrounds to be able to easily access provision. Concerningly, this is only set to get even worse when the expanded “free hours” come into effect.  

“What’s more, as Sutton Trust’s report indicates ratio changes will only hamper quality at a time when high quality education and care has never been more vital. 

“Time and time again, the sector has warned that if the expansion plans are implemented without ensuring that realistic funding and infrastructure is in place it will lead to an implosion of the early years sector. Yet, as it stands the policies look likely to create even more problems for the sector rather solutions.”

More inclusive funding

Purnima Tanuku OBE, chief executive, NDNA said: “We agree with the Sutton Trust’s report that quality is key in supporting all children to reach their full potential, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. The first five years of a child’s life are the most important, when they learn the skills which are the foundations for lifelong learning.

“We know that early years education and care can give a real boost to children’s learning. By offering more funded hours to working families there is a risk that these places could increase the attainment gap between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers. One step to increase support to these children would be to bring the early years pupil premium rate in line with that paid to primary schools.

“Quality is key and this comes from the interactions between qualified staff and the children. Over the past few years, the numbers of level 3 qualified staff has plummeted. We need to see action now in supporting the sector with recruitment, retention, training and career progression in order to reverse this decline.

“Whatever early years system is put in place, it must support children, parents and providers. Any expansion or change must be thoroughly costed. Decision-makers must work closely with the early years sector to make sure policies are deliverable.”