Budget: Government ‘failing a generation’ over early years

Organisations including the Early Years Alliance (EYA), National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) and Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (Pacey) highlighted “the lack of any reference to the early years” in Rishi Sunak’s first Budget.

They criticised the Chancellor’s decision to “favour pubs and hotels above essential nursery businesses” after Sunak announced a freeze on beer duty and changes to business rates for the hospitality sector during his speech.

He also heavily focused on a government spend of at least £30bn to tackle coronavirus.

The sole reference to early years education and childcare in the Budget says that the government will announce “a service improvement that will make tax-free childcare (TFC) compatible with school payment agents”.

“This will allow parents of up to 500,000 school-aged children across the UK to access TFC and use it towards the cost of their wraparound childcare,” the Budget states.

Childcare organisations said the Chancellor had “missed an opportunity to commit to tackling the childcare funding crisis once and for all”, adding that “parents and providers will pay the price”.

Recent figures show the average cost of a nursery place for 25 hours per week for a child under the age of two is £6,800 a year while staff numbers are dropping due to high stress and low pay.

No mention of early years in #Budget2020 at a time when childcare costs are soaring and many providers face closure. This Government is failing the next generation.

— Tulip Siddiq (@TulipSiddiq) March 11, 2020

Shadow early years minister Tulip Siddiq said: "No mention of early years at a time when childcare costs are soaring and many providers face closure. This government is failing the next generation."

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of NDNA, said: “The Chancellor has chosen to ignore the fact that nurseries are really struggling financially, largely because the government will not pay the going rate for funded places.

“Nurseries are fearful that any temporary closure as a result of coronavirus outbreak may push them out of business altogether. This risk appears to be uninsurable and they need support now.”

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the EYA, added: "The government knows that the early years sector is woefully underfunded and yet still it chooses to ignore this problem. 

"The current situation simply isn’t sustainable, and with the national living wage projected to increase to £10.50 an hour by 2024, things are only going to get worse.”

1/ The government is taking action that is coordinated, coherent and comprehensive on COVID-19. This thread outlines some of the support in #Budget2020. pic.twitter.com/73GazU49tu

— HM Treasury (@hmtreasury) March 11, 2020

Liz Bayram, chief executive at the Pacey said: “We, like our sector partners, have repeatedly highlighted the continued underfunding childminders, nurseries and pre-schools are suffering from because government’s early education funding levels are inadequate. The new Chancellor had the perfect opportunity to address these long-standing issues as part of his plans to increase public spending. The fact he has not will mean more early years settings facing sustainability problems, less support for families as settings close.

“The immediate support for small businesses to overcome the challenges of coronavirus are welcome. We are now seeking clarification on how these proposed measures will be implemented, including how they will apply to the 1,000s of self-employed registered childminders.”

Elsewhere in education, Sunak reiterated previously announced plans to increase school spending by £71.bn by 2023, including an extra £780m in 2020/21 for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Not a single mention of social care in the #Budget2020 despite the coronavirus epidemic... yet again, the Tories punishing our most vulnerable😠

— Angela Rayner 🌈 (@AngelaRayner) March 11, 2020

Minimum funding per pupil amount will increase to £3,750 for primary schools and £5,000 for secondary schools in 2020/21.

This will rise to £4,000 in primary school by 2022, the Chancellor said.

The Chancellor also announced an extra £29m per year for primary school PE lessons by 2024 and a three-year £90m arts premium beginning in September 2021.

Sunak also announced a boost of £1.5bn over five years for further education colleges.

We are fully prepared to do whatever is necessary to support public services, vulnerable people and businesses. #COVID19 #Budget2020 pic.twitter.com/esKxiIT9Bt

— HM Treasury (@hmtreasury) March 8, 2020

Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said the Budget did not go far enough to fix England’s “chronically underfunded” system.

“Class sizes are rising, subjects are being dropped, SEND support is disappearing and inadequate pay is making the staffing crisis worse. All of this is happening just to balance the books.

“The £7.1bn already promised for schools over the next three years should have been increased. It is welcome but it falls well short of the £12.6bn needed to replace the cuts since 2015.

“The additional capital funding for further education colleges is welcome but, with almost 4,000 schools in need of immediate repair, we greatly regret the government’s neglect of schools capital funding.”