Research from the Education Policy Institute found that 40 per cent of the gap in attainment outcomes between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged children is evident by age five, meaning that early years provision plays a pivotal role in each child’s chance of reaching their potential.
Why then is the sector responsible for such a significant stage of our children’s lives being forced into instability by operating on perilously low funding, especially in areas where it is needed most?
Last year, the average rate paid by local authorities where YMCA settings operate was £4.45 an hour per child, while the actual cost of delivery stood at an average of £5.52. This means that for every hour of early years education YMCA offered on the government-funded scheme, an average loss of £1.07 was incurred. This loss was echoed nationally by the APPG for Childcare and Early Education which found a 20 per cent shortfall in funding across England compared with the cost of provision.
This means that early years providers have the option of either relying on private fee-paying families to subsidise the cost of delivery, or operating at a loss. The latter is exactly what many are being forced to do in the most deprived settings. For commercial providers, the government policy penalises them and ensures they must place a cap on the number of funded places available or risk not returning a profit. Inevitably, this risks pushing them to operate in more affluent areas.
The knock-on effect not only leaves communities more vulnerable and places further strain on those predominantly government funded settings, it also means that the potential early years has for levelling up cannot be fulfilled. Nearly half of YMCA childcare provision operates in the 30 per cent most deprived areas, where it is working hard to mould young minds, support families in their employment and ensure whole communities aren’t left to fend for themselves.
YMCA remained open throughout the pandemic to support key worker families and those most vulnerable, while also welcoming new families where private providers had closed their doors. The fragility of the sector means that a number of providers have now closed permanently, which will have a much greater impact on those services willing to take government-funded places.
Early years provision holds the potential to shape our children’s development and to transform our communities, but to stand a chance of doing either, government must first support this strained sector by increasing the local authority funding rate to reflect the cost of delivery. In the communities where families need the most support lay the children for whom we can make the most difference. The government’s policy is failing them both but there is still time to turn this around.
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Denise Hatton is chief executive of YMCA England and Wales
