Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has reportedly put childcare reforms on the back burner that were aimed to support more parents getting back to work.

According to The Telegraph, reforms that had been considered by Liz Truss, including increasing free childcare support by 20 hours a week, will be ‘postponed indefinitely’.

Further initiatives such as ending mandated staff-child ratios have also been shelved. Proposed changes to the rules around childcare provision are not expected now for months and the result of those changes are yet to be confirmed.

Continued lack of funding for the sector and spiralling childcare costs is bringing the early years sector in the UK to a breaking point.

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

“We know that extending the so-called ‘free entitlement’ offers without significant additional investment into the early years would have placed unsustainable pressure on an already-fragile sector, and that relaxing ratios would have hugely exacerbated the current early years crisis and risked lowering quality in settings, all without saving parents a penny. As such, if reports that these proposals have been scrapped are accurate, this can only be a positive thing.

“That said, the fact that these particular policies were non-starters doesn’t mean that early years reform isn’t urgently needed. As such, it is deeply concerning to hear suggestions that the sector is set to become a lower government priority. The fact is that we currently have a system in this country where parents pay some of the highest prices in the world, while early years professionals remain undervalued and underpaid and are leaving the sector in their droves, and thousands of settings are closing each year. This simply cannot continue.

“Investment into the early years is absolutely vital to ensuring both that parents – and primarily mothers – can remain in the workforce and contribute to the economy, and that all children, regardless of background, can get the best possible start in life. If that isn’t a priority, what is?”