The expansion of the government’s ‘funded’ early education and childcare scheme is at risk due to financial and staffing pressures, new statistics from the Department for Education (DfE) reveal.
In September 2025, the ‘working families’ early entitlement offer, which provides 30 hours a week of government-funded childcare and early education over 38 weeks of the year, was extended to families of children aged nine months to two years.
However, according to the Pulse surveys of childcare and early years providers, 2024-2025 Research report, published by the Department for Education, as of May 2025:
- More than four in 10 providers (42%) did not expect to be able to fully meet parental demand for the extended entitlement as September 2025.
- Only 15% of nurseries, pre-schools and childminders who already provided places for under-threes expected to offer more places, while just 2% of group-based providers and 9% of childminders not offering places for under-threes expected to start to offer places by September 2025.
- More than half (52%) of providers said that their income did not cover costs.
The Alliance has urged the Chancellor to take urgent action on early years underfunding at the upcoming Budget following the release of these statistics.
Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance said: “None of these findings will come of any surprise whatsoever to anyone working in the early years sector.
“While the early entitlement expansion has now come to an end, the significant challenges facing providers remain. The harsh reality is that despite all the positive rhetoric around the entitlement offers, the impact of ongoing underfunding – which has been hugely exacerbated by unfunded national insurance rises – has meant that many providers simply don’t have the staff or the finances to deliver the additional places that the government needs to successfully roll out this offer, as these statistics clearly demonstrate.
“If the government is to have any hope of ensuring that all eligible families are able to access the places they’ve been promised, it simply must invest what is needed to ensure that early years providers are able to deliver them. As such, we urge the Chancellor to ensure that the upcoming Budget includes a commitment to increase early years funding rates and crucially, that those increases cover the cost impact of national insurance changes. As the government’s own data shows, inaction is simply not an option.”
