LGA responds to IFS report on childcare provider pressures

Responding to the report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies on the financial pressures facing childcare providers as a result of the pandemic, Cllr Judith Blake, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, said:

“Childcare providers have been a vital part of the nation’s response to COVID-19 and councils worked closely with them to ensure that vulnerable children and critical workers had the childcare they needed during lockdown.

“As we enter the next phases of the pandemic, it is vital that all parents have access to the good quality childcare they need to enable them to return to work, while ensuring that children have the support, they need to develop school readiness.

“However, early years and childcare providers have not had access to the same funding as schools to stay open. As this report highlights, this along with a slow return to early education is putting settings at risk.

“It is essential that we have enough childcare places to support families to ensure the country can recover from COVID-19, both economically and socially. We are calling on the Government to provide an urgent injection of funding to protect childcare providers at risk of closure as a result of the pandemic.”