On 25 June 2020, the Early Years Alliance published a new report, The Forgotten Sector, which details the financial impact of the Covid-19 outbreak – and a subsequent lack of adequate government support – on the early years sector in England.
The report analyses the responses to the Alliance’s surveys on the impact of Covid-19 on the early years sector, which found that 69% of nurseries, pre-schools and childminders expected to operate at a loss over the next six months, while 25% said that it is “likely” that they would be forced to close within the year.
It also provides a comprehensive overview of the key government early years policy failures during the pandemic – such as the U-turn on Job Retention Scheme support for early years providers, the watering-down of guarantees of ‘free entitlement’ funding for closed settings, and the removal of the ability of some providers to access business support grants – and highlights discrepancies in the support given to other sectors – such as schools, and retail, hospitality and leisure businesses – compared to the support being made available to the early years.
The Forgotten Sector also includes modelling data from independent early years analyst Ceeda, which outlines the impact of reduced occupancy levels as a result of the pandemic on early years providers.
