Daycare Trust calls for dramatic increase in childcare spend

Its report Quality Costs: Paying for High Quality Early Childhood Education and Care, says that childcare spending needs to increase from the current level of £4.4bn to £9.4bn, roughly one per cent of the UK's GDP.

This significant boost in funding is needed to radically improve staff pay and training and ensure childcare is more affordable for parents, claims the charity.

The report, which is the culmination of a year's research and involves input from the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Social Market Foundation, says that free childcare entitlement needs to be increased to 20 hours a week for three- and four-year-olds and 15 hours for two-year-olds.

The extra money would also be used to improve staff training. The Daycare Trust wants to see over half of staff working with children aged two and over to be graduates. It wants to see a third of those working with children under the age of two to be graduates.

Also being called for is reform of tax credits so that the poorest parents can claim all of their childcare costs, rather than the current rate of 80 per cent.

Daycare Trust joint chief executive Emma Knights said: "Of course it's difficult to argue for increased public spending on early years during a recession, but when you consider that this country spends £23.4bn per year on higher education and £30.1bn on secondary schools, is it not right that we should invest an additional £4.2bn in early years, where research shows that high quality education and care can make the most difference in a child's life?"