Government ‘failing children’ in early years, Labour says
Fiona Simpson
Wednesday, April 13, 2022
The government’s lack of investment in the early years is “failing parents and children alike”, Labour’s shadow education secretary has said.
Bridget Phillipson reiterated pledges made in the opposition’s Children’s Recovery Plan, published last year, to invest £112m in childcare provision.
Speaking at the National Education Union’s annual conference, Phillipson highlighted Labour’s proposals to increase the early years pupil premium in line with the pupil premium for primary school children.
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This would see funding for each eligible child increase from £302 to £1,345.
The conference was told that if Labour was in power, the party would have a “real focus” on early years.
“We’d have pumped in investment, increasing the early years pupil premium more than fourfold, to drive up the quality, affordability, and availability of provision.
“Early years childcare and education in this country is too often unaffordable, unavailable, inaccessible. The government is failing parents and failing children alike. Because it’s in those first few years that the attainment gap opens up for our children,” Phillipson said.
She went on to criticise the government’s “complete failure” to publish a childcare recovery plan more than two years after settings closed during the first Covid-19 lockdown.
Responding to Phillipson’s comments, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said: “We welcome the fact that Labour has recognised the huge impact the pandemic has had on the early learning and development of many young children, and there’s no doubt that a pledge to increase the early years pupil premium is a step in the right direction.
"That said, it is vital that this forms part of a wider package of much-needed early years investment, as increasing pupil premium alone, without taking any further action to ensure that our vital sector remains financially sustainable, is not enough to alleviate the significant challenges facing the sector.
“We hope that this commitment is part of a much wider package of measures that Labour plans to roll out that ensure that our sector is given adequate financial support to ensure that providers can continue to deliver the high-quality care and education that children and families need and deserve.
Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, also welcomed the pledge but said “much more needs to be done to support our early years sector and its children.
“We need to fix the workforce crisis with effective strategic plans put in place to attract more workers into the sector and support them with training and quality. There must be meaningful investment in early years, which includes a review of the funding system and hourly rates for the early years entitlement which allow childcare providers to pay competitive wages, offer high-quality early education and remain sustainable.”