Early YearsNews

Councils divert £63.5m of childcare funding to plug gaps elsewhere

Figures published by the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) reveal that councils are “shortchanging children and leaving providers out of pocket” by moving early years funding to tackle overspending in...

January 15, 2020
Early Years

General election: Tory early years pledge ‘would push childcare funding deficit to £800m’

The Conservative Party’s childcare manifesto could increase the early years funding deficit to £824m, a new report has warned. A cost analysis of early years pledges from all main political parties by...

December 10, 2019
Early YearsSafeguarding

Charity’s early support in children’s centres halves in two years

The number of families accessing early help from the charity Barnardo’s in children’s centres has halved over the last two years. The charity has revealed in its 2018/19 annual report that 92,000...

November 14, 2019

Category - Early Years

Early Years

DfE ordered to publish early years funding calculations

The Department for Education has been told to disclose details of how it calculates early years funding levels by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) following a lengthy freedom of information dispute. Current national funding rates...

October 29, 2019
Early YearsNews

Early years inequality gap grows

Early years development has continued to improve, but the gap between the lowest achievers and their peers is still growing, government figures show. The attainment gap has increased in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Picture: Lucie Carlier The...

October 18, 2019
Early Years

Level 3 qualified nursery workers down by a third

The number of nursery workers qualified to Level 3 has hit crisis point after dropping 37 per cent in the last four years, according to a new report by the National Day Nurseries Association. The latest early years workforce survey carried out by...

June 27, 2019