Developing good communication and language, and social and emotional skills are core to a child’s learning journey, alongside physical development, in the vital period before starting school.
Yet, the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent cost-of-living crisis have coincided with a downturn in the proportion of children who are achieving a good level of development by the time they reach five-years-old – with potentially damaging repercussions for their educational achievement, ability to build relationships and long-term economic prospects.
For several years, policymakers have focused on boosting the amount of government-funded childcare available. But the emergence of “childcare deserts” in some of the most disadvantaged areas threatens to undermine these efforts making it harder to access places for poorer families.
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