Speaking at the National Education Union conference today (Tuesday) she said that if Labour was in charge early years would be a key priority, with a recovery investment in childcare and early learning of £112 million this year.
She referenced a proposal set out in Labour’s Children’s Recovery Plan, published last year, which stated that Labour would increase the Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) to match that of the Pupil Premium in primary school.
A Labour Government would increase the EYPP from £302 to £1,345, which according to Labour is equivalent to more than 400,000 weeks of fulltime childcare for 107,000 eligible children.
The shadow education secretary condemned the Government’s complete failure to deliver a comprehensive pandemic recovery plan for children two years after schools and childcare providers first closed, despite acknowledging the damaging impacts on young people’s learning, social development and wellbeing.
Phillipson told delegates that if Labour were in power there would be ‘a real focus on the early years.
‘We’d have pumped in investment, increasing the early years pupil premium more than fourfold, to drive up the quality, affordability, and availability of provision. Early years childcare and education in this country is too often unaffordable, unavailable, inaccessible. The Government is failing parents and failing children alike. Because it’s in those first few years that the attainment gap opens up for our children.’
Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, said, 'We agree with the shadow education secretary that recovery in education must start with our youngest children.
'Nurseries in areas of deprivation have been hardest hit by the pandemic and children from less advantaged backgrounds have suffered the greatest impact on their lives. We would support any proposals to increase the Early Years Pupil Premium which we have said repeatedly should be at least as much as the School Pupil Premium.
'But much more needs to be done to support our early years sector and its children. We need to fix the workforce crisis with effective strategic plans put in place to attract more workers into the sector and support them with training and quality. There must be meaningful investment in early years which includes a review of the funding system and hourly rates for the early years entitlement which allow childcare providers to pay competitive wages, offer high quality early education and remain sustainable.'
Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, welcomed the fact that Labour recognised the huge impact the pandemic has had on the early learning and development of many young children, but added that he hoped that it would be part of a wider package of measures for the sector.
‘There’s no doubt that a pledge to increase the early years pupil premium is a step in the right direction,’ he said. ‘That said, it is vital that this forms part of a wider package of much-needed early years investment, as increasing pupil premium alone, without taking any further action to ensure that our vital sector remains financially sustainable, is not enough to alleviate the significant challenges facing the sector.
‘Early years providers have been a vital lifeline for parents during an extremely challenging period, and we know how important quality early education and care is to children’s long-term development. But unless funding rates for the early entitlement offers increase substantially, we will see more and more settings forced to closed and the sector will continue to lose qualified professionals as a result of low pay, making it extremely unlikely that there will enough places available for the young children who need them.’
