In its manifesto, the Liberal Democrats pledged that everyone will be able to access childcare that is flexible, affordable and fair. It aims to achieve this by reviewing the current rates paid to providers for free hours to ensure that they can actually cover the costs of delivering high-quality childcare.

To address the staffing crisis, it has pledged to create a career strategy for nursery staff, including a training programme with the majority of those working with children aged two to four to have a relevant early years qualification or be working towards one. Furthermore, there will be a specific emphasis on supporting children with SEND in the new training programme.

In its manifesto, which Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey described as “fully costed”, the party has pledged to close the attainment gap by giving disadvantaged children aged three and four an extra five funded hours early education entitlement a week, as well as tripling the Early Years Pupil Premium to £1,000 a year.

This extra five funded hours policy would then be extended to disadvantaged two-year-olds when public finances allow, to start building towards a universal, full-time entitlement for all two- to four-year-olds.

In its manifesto, the party announced it will also:

• Making all parental pay and leave day-one rights, including for adoptive
  parents and kinship carers, and extending them to self-employed parents.
• Doubling Statutory Maternity and Shared Parental Pay to £350 a week.
• Increasing pay for paternity leave to 90% of earnings, with a cap for high earners.

Purnima Tanuku OBE, chief executive of National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) said: “It’s good to see this manifesto incorporates the UNCRC and is putting children first.

“We are particularly encouraged that some of the Liberal Democrat policy pledges reiterate the messages we have been giving out to all political parties. This includes the importance of high quality early education and care and a clear long-term workforce strategy to support the profession and raise its status.”

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said: “At the Alliance, we have long called for an early years strategy which recognises the vital need for every child to access high-quality early years while ensuring that the sector itself can sustainably deliver this. As such, it is positive to see that the Liberal Democrats’ manifesto includes several policies that look to address this – particularly the pledges to treble Early Years Pupil Premium, review funding rates and implement a career strategy for the workforce.  

“Ultimately, however, the devil is in the detail. While we welcome the party’s commitment to the sector and the big promises it has put forward today, so far, detail on how these would be implemented remains scant. 

“Let’s not forget, the general election comes as a pivotal time for the sector as it grapples with the expanded early entitlement rollout against a backdrop of a staffing crisis and consistently low levels of underfunding. It is therefore crucial that whichever party forms the next government is not only willing to commit to addressing longstanding sector challenges on paper, but is also clear on how exactly they will do so in practice. “