Child care deserts: The reality of access to early education

Additional measures introduced by the government in recent weeks have come under intense media scrutiny Number'Free childcare for working parents in England. Critics worry about whether the government is providing providers with enough funding to pay for these hours of care and whether there is an adequate workforce to provide these services. in turn, Many parents find they can’t find child care Take advantage of the extended benefits promised by the government.

None of this will come as a surprise to anyone who has been following the childcare debate since the government announced the expansion of childcare. Number'Free time plan from over a year ago. In its November report, the NEF advocated for improved funding solutions and a greater focus on workforce development A universal basic services approach to early education and care is needed.

We also highlighted the following issues Number'Child Care Desert – An area where there are three or more children for every available child care space. At the time, half of local authorities met this definition. This is indicative of the challenges many parents currently face in accessing information.But the location of these Number'The desert highlights more fundamental questions about how child care is designed, delivered and funded.

We divided all local governments into five groups based on their average ranking Number'multiple deprivation index' measure. This covers aspects such as income levels, employment, health and crime.We then looked at what proportion of local authorities in each fifth of deprived areas had Number'Child care desert definition. We found a clear and significant correlation between deprivation and access to early education, as shown in the graph below.

figure 1: The poorest local authorities are also most likely to be affected Number'“Parenting Desert”

At first glance, one interpretation of this graph might be that the market-based child care model fails to serve poorer areas of the country. But the reality is actually much worse. The allocation of access reflects how the funding model is designed by the government and the families it prioritizes.Full quote Number'“Free working hours” only apply to all households where the parent who is able to work works at least 16 hours per week. In poorer parts of the country, fewer families will experience this situation.

Within the government's child care framework – whose primary function is to enable parents (primarily mothers) to work – some may argue that this allocation of resources makes sense. But even if we accept this premise, many unemployed and underemployed parents of young children will find it much easier to find work if child care is free and easily available. It focuses on childcare not as a universal basis but as an incentive for parents who are able to transition to work.

However, the more fundamental problem with the government's approach is that it fails to support and encourage more low-income families to access early education and care. Sutton Trust Discovery Access to at least 20 hours of high-quality early education will help close the achievement and development gap between children from low- and high-income families. NEF last year analysis It has also been shown that increasing access to early education for children from low-income families will bring significant economic returns.

figure 2: Providing high-quality services to low-income people can bring significant benefits

NEF analysis shows achieving equal access to early education across the country, to levels enjoyed by the most distant local authorities Number'“Child care deserts” could create more than 120,000 new jobs, concentrated in poorer areas. The table below shows the huge gap between the local authorities with the highest number of children per available childcare place and those with the highest levels of childcare per available place. The accompanying chart lists all local authorities by their ratio of children to nurseries and their level of deprivation.