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It's day 4 of #ChildcareandEarlyEducationWeek and we wanted to take this opportunity to reiterate the APPG's key asks of the Government.
Firstly, in the short term, we would like to see early years workers (including childminders) offered the coronavirus vaccine as a priority in phase two of its rollout, along with other teachers and critical workers.
Long term, we are calling for an independent, meaningful review of early years policy and funding, to ensure that the gap between the costs of delivering early education and the rate paid per hour per child to providers is eliminated.
As part of this review, we would like to see:
1) underspends preventing funding designated for early years from reaching providers eliminated, to ensure investment in the sector is maximised.
1) underspends preventing funding designated for early years from reaching providers eliminated, to ensure investment in the sector is maximised.
2) a mechanism identified for automatically increasing the rate paid per hour to providers each financial year, in line with inflation rates and statutory wage rises.
We also want to ensure that early years professionals are recognised as educators, and that this principle is centred when considering how early education and childcare should be funded. High quality early education is vital for giving every child the best start in life.
