Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help (a) improve the quality of and (b) increase the affordability of childcare in (i) Wandsworth and (ii) the UK.

The department is determined to support as many families as possible with access to high-quality, affordable childcare, which is why the 2023 Spring Budget announced significant new investments to expand the free early education entitlements from April 2024.

The department is providing over £4.1 billion by 2027/28 to fund 30 hours of free childcare per week (38 weeks per year) for working parents with children aged nine months to three years in England. This will remove one of the biggest barriers to parents working by vastly increasing the amount of free childcare that working families can access. This is set to save working families using the fully-funded 30 hours up to £6,900 per year from when the child is nine months old until they are five years old by September next year.

Already, over 200,000 two year olds are now confirmed to have places for 15 hours a week of free childcare, as part of the largest ever expansion of childcare in England. The take up nationwide for the validation codes already stands at 87.8%.

Funding will be key to delivering the existing and expanded childcare entitlements, so the department has substantially uplifted the hourly rate paid to local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers. In 2024/25 alone, the department expects to provide over £1.7 billion to support local authorities and providers deliver the expansion to the early years entitlements. This is on top of over £400 million additional funding to deliver a significant uplift to the hourly rate paid to local authorities for the entitlements. The rates for the new entitlements have been independently confirmed by the Institute for Fiscal Studies to be well above market rates. For 2024/25, the department’s hourly funding rates for Wandsworth are: £15.21 for under twos, £11.17 for two year olds and £7.72 for three to four year olds.

Furthermore, to ensure local authorities are fully supported in delivering the new entitlements, the department is funding local authorities an additional four weeks in 2024/25, at an estimated cost of £120 million, for the under twos working parent entitlement starting in September 2024.

The quality of early years provision is a priority for the department. Evidence shows that high-quality early childhood education and care has a positive impact on children’s outcomes in the short and long term, particularly for the most disadvantaged children. Additionally, the department has invested up to £180 million in providing an early years education recovery package of workforce training, qualifications and support and guidance for the early years sector. This includes:

• Additional places for early years initial teacher training.
• New level 3 qualifications criteria for early years educators to ensure higher-quality training and better care for children, which will come into effect from September 2024.

In addition to the expanded entitlements, the government has also taken action to support parents on Universal Credit with childcare costs upfront when they need it, rather than in arrears. The department has increased support for these parents by increasing the childcare cost maximum amounts to £950 for one child and £1629 for two children.

Tax-Free Childcare remains available for working parents of children aged 0 to 11, or up to 17 for eligible disabled children. This can save parents up to £2,000 per year, or up to £4,000 for eligible children with disabilities and has the same income criteria as 30 hours free childcare.