Current policy and Government initiatives
Legislation
Childcare Act 2006
The first ever Childcare Act was given royal assent on 13 July 2006. This establishes new quality standards for childcare through the Early Years Foundation Stage and gives local authorities legal duties to ensure sufficient childcare for working parents in their area.
Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning (ASCL) Bill
The ASCL Bill includes provisions to establish children's centres on a statutory footing and ensure that they are a consistent element of early years provision rather than just a series of initiatives.
Read the comments that Daycare Trust has submitted on the Bill.
Policy
The Government has a 10-Year Strategy for Childcare, which was published in 2004. This set out the Government's plans to develop childcare and early years education. This was updated in 2009. Details of both the original Strategy and the updated document, ‘Next Steps for Early Learning and Childcare', are below.
In 2007, Daycare Trust and the National Centre for Social Research wrote a progress report on the childcare strategy, Childcare nation?. As well as charting progress to date on delivering the strategy, the report spells out what still needs to be done to ensure access to childcare for all who need it.
Read a summary of the report.
Next Steps for Early Learning and Childcare, Building on the 10-Year Strategy
This document, published by Government in January 2009, gives an update on progress on the 10-Year Strategy for Childcare and sets out new steps that the Government will take to improve early years and childcare provision in the years ahead.
Key points include:
Supporting families to support children
- Right to request flexible working will be extended to all mothers and fathers of children aged 16 and under from April 2009.
- Plan to establish Sure Start Centre's on a legal footing in current parliamentary session.
- The Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) will be increased by an extra 20 sites. The service provides a structured, intensive home visiting programme for disadvantaged families from early pregnancy until the child is two.
- £44 million of funding, to provide information and advice to allow parents, and other carers, such as grandparents, to be more confident in bringing up their children.
What's on offer for 0-14s?
- The 12.5 hours per week free early learning and childcare for 3 and 4 year olds, has been increased from 32 weeks to 38 weeks, and had a 95 per cent uptake in 2008. This will be extended to 15 hours by 2015, delivered more flexibly, both over the week and over the year (that is, stretching the entitlement over more than 38 weeks).
- The free entitlement will also be extended to provide 10 hours per week, over 38 weeks of the year to 2 year olds from disadvantaged families. This will be extended to all 2 year olds over time.
- To ensure sufficiency of childcare, local authorities will be expected to publish a sufficiency action plan at the same time as their second sufficiency assessment, by April 2011.
Quality of early years provision
- By 2015 all existing staff and new recruits to the sector will be supported to achieve a minimum of a full and relevant level three qualification. The Government is considering making this a minimum requirement from 2015.
- There will be continued priority on working with providers to have a graduate in every childcare setting by 2015, and 2 in the most disadvantaged areas.
- DCSF will explore further how to encourage settings to continuously improve the standard of their provision, such as challenging through local authorities.
Information for families, providers and government
- Many parents still find that information about quality, price, financial support and flexibility is not easily accessible - 39 per cent of parents wanted more information on costs of childcare, whilst 24 per cent wanted more information on quality.
- A new single price comparison website for childcare will be developed in 2010.
Financial support and managing the market/ Affordability
- £75 million for 2008-2011 to fund free childcare for out-of-work parents, to allow them to access training and work.
- There will be a number of tax credit pilots to test out ways of supporting parents financially:
- In the South East region the most vulnerable parents will be provided with financial support at the time when childcare costs are incurred, up to 80 per cent of the total cost, as opposed to an average amount based on costs over the year.
- 500 families in 5 London Boroughs will have access to intensive guidance to navigate the benefit system.
- 500 families in 5 London Boroughs will have 100 per cent of their childcare costs paid through tax credits, up to £215 per week for 1child and £350 for 2 children.
- For families with disabled children 80 per cent of childcare costs will be paid, through tax credits, up to a total of £215 for a disabled child and £350 for a severely disabled child.
Read the full document.
Ten-year strategy for childcare
The Government's Ten-Year Strategy for Childcare, ‘Choice for parents, the best start for children', was published in December 2004.
Key points include:
Parental leave
- Maternity leave to increase from 6 to 9 months by 2007, with the goal of 12 months' paid maternity leave by the end of the next Parliament.
- Introducing Additional Paternity Leave, giving families the right to transfer up to 26 weeks of maternity leave and pay to the father/partner, by the end of the next Parliament.
Childcare and early education services
- 3,500 children's centres by 2010, providing access for all families. Most children's centres will provide early education and childcare, although some will just provide signposting to childcare services.
- Free part-time early education places for 3- and 4-year olds extended from 12.5 hours a week 33 weeks a year to 38 weeks a year by 2006 and to 15 hours a week by 2010, with the goal of 20 hours a week, 38 weeks a year.
- By 2010 all 5-11 year olds to access affordable school-based childcare all year round. All secondary schools will be open from 8.00am to 6.00pm during the week by 2010.
- A new duty on local authorities to ensure that quality affordable childcare is available where families live.
- A Transformation Fund of £125m a year from April 2006 to support investment by local authorities in quality affordable and sustainable childcare.
- A new legal framework for the regulation and inspection of early education and childcare by 2008, creating a single system for all services.
- A single quality framework for children from birth to five, taking an integrated approach to care and education.
Childcare workforce
- A long-term vision that all full daycare settings are led by graduate qualified early years professionals.
- A single qualifications framework and the raising of the qualifications of the workforce and the development of training opportunities for childminders and other home-based carers to achieve level 3 qualifications.
Affordability
- An increase in the maximum eligible costs in the childcare element of the Working Tax Credit from £135 to £175 a week for one child, and from £200 to £300 a week for two or more children from April 2005.
- From April 2006 an increase in the proportion of childcare costs covered by the tax credit from 7 per cent to 80 per cent .
- Consultation on extending entitlement to the childcare element to those working less than 16 hours a week.
- A series of pilots aimed at improving accessibility and affordability of childcare for parents on lower incomes living in London.
Read the full strategy.
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