The Chancellor has been making friends in the childcare sector, promising a significant funding boost in expanding the Government's target for children's centres. Fay Schopen and Ruth Smith report on the Budget's hits and misses.

If the reaction of the children's sector is anything to go by, the Chancellor's Budget has yet again hit most of the right notes. Gordon Brown is a "childcare champion", according to the Daycare Trust, and there has been little dissent from other organisations.

The Budget made some major commitments to children: money for childcare, Sure Start and early years provision will increase by 17 per cent every year, meaning that an extra 669m will be available by 2008. The bulk of the cash will fund 1,700 children's centres in the country's 20 per cent most deprived wards by 2008, an increase on the Government's previously stated target of 1,000 centres.

The Chancellor also unveiled new targets on childcare places, and will support 100,000 new childcare places by 2008, an increase on current targets for 2006. There will also be an extra 8.5bn for UK education in 2007/08 compared to 2005/06.

But while childcare campaigners have welcomed the news that low-income families could be the Budget's big winners, they are also warning that spending must continue to rise.

Widening the age range

4Children chief executive Anne Longfield is calling on the Government to increase the age range of children's centres, which are targeted at families with pre-school children.

"In areas of disadvantage these measures will obviously make a difference, and children's centres will mean new ways of joining-up services will become the norm. But this will not make much difference for children at school. We need to roll services out to make sure that those early gains won't be lost," she says.

Stephen Burke, director of the Daycare Trust, says support for early years is vital. "There's a big shortage of childcare for the under fives, and we need to fill that gap," he explains. According to Burke, many children's centres already up and running are flexible, offering both pre-school and after-school care, and he points to extended schools as another way of providing services for school-age children.

Rosemary Murphy, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, takes issue with the news that a "light touch" voluntary accreditation scheme will be consulted on this summer. "We cannot go down a route that will give support to informal care, when the whole childcare strategy and tax credit system is based on national standards and regulation," she says.

Her comments are echoed by Gill Haynes, chief executive of the National Child Minding Association of England and Wales, who says that any such scheme must complement already existing professional childcare provision.

Teaching unions hope that the increased education spending announced in the Budget will enable vital school workforce reforms to be implemented.

"Genuine extra resources are most welcome. An average 4.4 per cent real-term increase in this spending round represents a positive commitment to continuing investment in education," says Eamonn O'Kane, general secretary of NASUWT.

"But there is no valid excuse for any delay on school workforce reforms, particularly the contractual changes for teachers. Spending priorities to deliver this objective must be carefully monitored and managed."

The NASUWT also warns that the Government should proceed with caution over references to extending the school day with extra classes and services.

"At a time when it is promoting the need for a reasonable work/life balance for teachers, and downward pressure on working hours, such statements are counterproductive," adds O'Kane.

Workforce reform

The National Union of Teachers says that education secretary Charles Clarke's statement, which built on the Budget announcements, raises questions about the impact of the Government's funding allocation and school workforce reform.

"He says that the Chancellor's settlement will enable the recruitment of more teachers and teaching assistants. But he fails to give any commitments on the balance between the numbers of teachers and support staff, or indeed the maintenance of the number of teaching posts," says Doug McAvoy, the NUT general secretary.

As McAvoy's comments highlight, the devil of the Budget could well be in its detail, so it's clear that the Chancellor isn't yet able to relax safe in the knowledge that he's done all that's been asked of him.

KEY POINTS

- Establishment of 1,700 children's centres by March 2008

- 4.4 per cent annual average increase in education spending in real terms

- The Government accepted the Low Pay Commission's recommendation that there should be a new 3-per-hour national minimum wage for 16- and 17-year-olds.