The £1.5bn early years week that wasn’t

It has taken a while, but I do need to offer an update to my October blog.

I feel it important to set the record straight. Back then, I outlined what appeared to be a £1.5bn deal for early years and childcare, including HAF.  And while there was much to celebrate, there was one disappointment that came later. 

Even though the children and families minister confirmed an additional funding boost of more than £300m for early years providers not previously set out in Rishi Sunak’s Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) we were then told a different story. 

The early years minister had confirmed (by Twitter) budgets would increase by £160m 2022-23, £180m the year after, and an additional £170m by 2024/2025.  That is a total of £510m.  With the stated aim of “paying providers more”. 

But the three years of funding increase were not in fact cumulative, by that I mean each year the total budget will increase by the millions stated. Instead, the three years were reported individually in that the amount given to local authorities in each of the next three years was the figure compared to previous budgets. Confused? I am not surprised. 

In basic terms, the budget in 2022/23 would be £160m higher than that in 2021/22, £180m higher in 2023/24 than that in 2021/22, and £170m more the year after by the same measure.

Why set this out now? Well, time has flown, and this problem has not been resolved.  In the meantime, the effects of the pandemic are being profoundly felt by families and settings alike. Demand is different in quantity, type and location.  

Take-up of funded entitlements is up in some areas, the same in some, and down in others.  The levels of paid for childcare are generally lower, whilst there are signs of the market bouncing back in some areas and in some parts of the sector, in others, particularly in disadvantaged areas, it is not.  

The sector is becoming more polarised than ever before, with disadvantaged and advantaged areas miles apart.  

Covid-19 cases are wreaking havoc in the deployment of an already stretched workforce, with settings struggling with recruitment and retention, and with higher than usual staff absences they are relying too much on expensive agency staff to maintain much needed services.  

Rising costs have not been amenable to these challenges. Fuel, national minimum wage, pension and other costs have not been abated. They have continued to rise regardless.  For the recovery in the months and years to come, we will all rely upon a vibrant early years and childcare sector, and we will need it to be there when we need it to be there.

Those years of lobbying by sector membership groups have not proven effective in realising the funding increases sector bodies believe were required. The collected evidence and provider polls have not offered a convincing argument. 

Back in October, not wanting to be impolite, I said “thanks, we will take that half a billion, and hope not to be thought rude when we make the case for more.  And that case must disconnect falsely perceived and unequal costs of delivery and be founded upon investment and desired outcomes instead”. I asked for more, and now we have less. Much less.  Around £340m. That is a problem that will need a better solution I think.   

Unfortunately, and tragically, that week in October turned out to be the £1.5bn early years week that wasn’t. 

James Hempsall is director of Hempsall’s Consultancy