On Tuesday (2 July) the Early Education and Childcare Coalition (EECC) published new polling from More in Common on parents’ views about childcare after the election.
The polling of parents of children under five years old found:
- Only 37% are confident that childcare will improve after the election
- Almost two-thirds (64%) of parents of under-fives are unconvinced that political parties are doing enough to support families of young children under five,
- 64% are unconvinced that the cost of childcare will be reduced and 60% said the main political parties are not doing enough to increase the availability of places.
Expansion of funded entitlements
The polling asked about the Conservative party pledge to expand the funded entitlement offer to parents of children aged 9 months and up, providing 15 hours of childcare and early education from September 2024, increasing to 30 hours in 2025. Only 50% of parents feel confident that this upcoming expansion will improve childcare for them.
This comes after Coram Family and Childcare research released last week showing local authorities are unconfident about the expansion of funded entitlements, with only 11% confident there will be sufficient places for September 2025 phase of the expansion.
Early years policies
Of the main parties’ policies around childcare provision, the respondents said a pledge to ensure that providers receive enough funding to cover the cost of childcare delivery would make the biggest difference (29%), followed by a workforce strategy (12%).
