Families are being failed by lack of funding - YEP letters

The pandemic has highlighted the severe shortages in funding for the early years sector.

Settings are struggling to stay afloat and are having to make tough decisions around furlough, redundancies and closures.

Many of us in the sector have spent the best part of the last year calling for reform, and now, parents are joining us in support.

Parents witness first-hand the benefits that their children receive from attending nursery and are increasingly concerned at the thought of these services closing down.

New research from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Childcare and Early Years Education shows that only 11 per cent of parents believe that the current levels of funding are enough to enable nurseries, pre-school and home-based educators in England to remain financially sustainable.

Not only will closures harm children’s learning at the most important stage of their development, but they will limit parents’ access to consistent childcare and education provision and therefore affect their ability to engage more broadly with the economy and society.

Families are being failed, and we’re limiting what we, as a society, can all achieve.

The pandemic has unified and made vocal the voice of the parent, and we need to listen.

We have a once in a generation opportunity to make changes that transform our society for the better in the future. The Government must use this to provide a sustainable funding model for the early years that ensures the survival of settings.