Providing the 85,000 new places that the NAO estimates are required by 2025 will be incredibly challenging for a sector already struggling to recruit and retain skilled staff, an issue highlighted in today’s NAO report and in our annual childcare survey. We call on the Government to work with the sector to ensure funding rates meet the real cost of provision for all children, and create a workforce strategy to address the pressing issue of staff recruitment. We are particularly concerned about the potential impact on children with SEND and children from disadvantaged backgrounds, who have historically seen provision drop as universal funded childcare increases and who are most at risk of missing out in a system that focuses support on children with working parents in higher income families.

For the investment in childcare to truly improve the lives of children, and be the game changer it has the potential to be for many parents and carers, the concerns raised in this report must be heeded, and our childcare system reformed. We call on the Government to ensure the upcoming expansions do not result in greater inequalities, and instead facilitate a sufficient, high-quality childcare system that values staff, enables all parents and carers to work, and is available to all children, no matter their needs or where they live.