Proposals put forward by the Department for Education to the Treasury to “improve the cost, flexibility, and availability of childcare” for working parents include an extension of the free 30-hours-a-week entitlement to include children aged nine months to three years, according to a report in The Guardian.
But offering parents more funded hours under current levels of government investment will not only lead to “lower quality” early education and “more closures” of childcare settings but will ultimately lead to a complete “collapse” of sector, leaders have warned.
Beatrice Merrick, chief executive of charity Early Education, said that any plan for change to the funding of early childhood education and care needs to “balance the need for affordability, accessibility and quality”.
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