LEYF is now calling for 'urgent reform' of the 30 hours, to open it up to children who are currently locked out of the policy because their families do not meet the earning threshold.
The research, commissioned by the nursery group, assessed the impact of offering vulnerable three- and four-year-olds, who are not entitled to the Government’s extended entitlement, up to 30 hours of childcare per week in 12 of its 39 nurseries.
It found that children who received 30 hours of learning demonstrated an average 8 per cent improvement in seven key areas within the EYFS.
LEYF is now calling on the Government and global investors to provide £165m of ‘urgent’ funding to ‘bridge’ the initial shortfall and widen access to the current 30 hours offer. Without this, it says that progress in closing attainment gaps will diminish, with potentially ‘devastating’ consequences for the 1.3 million children (aged under five) who live in poverty in the UK.
Doubling Down programme
The nursery group began offering vulnerable children at its settings an additional 15 hours of free care in October 2020 after seeing the impact poverty was having on them and national lockdowns. LEYF says that children were arriving at settings hungry, anxious and developmentally delayed as a result.
Between October 2020 and July 2021, 97 children were offered an additional 15 hours at nursery each week under the group’s Doubling Down programme.
Analysis into the effectiveness of the programme was carried out by Rocket Science – a research and grant management consultancy – and funded by donations from the Permira Foundation –the charitable arm of a global investment firm - and Barclays 100 x 100 COVID-19 UK Community Relief Fund.
It found vulnerable children who took up the 30 hours showed an improvement across all seven areas of the EYFS. The largest improvement was a 12 per cent increase in Communication, followed by a 9 per cent rise in Mathematics and Expressive Arts & Design
The research also found:
- Over 70 per cent of parents and staff saw a positive impact on their child’s communication skills, social development and behaviour.
- The programme had a ‘profound’ positive impact on the mood, sleep, empathy, school readiness and nutritious eating among children.
- Children who received the additional hours spent less time on a screen.
According to the research, the programme also ‘significantly’ benefited parents, many of whom were caring for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Over three-quarters said their own health and wellbeing had improved as a result, with a further 85 per cent more engaged in at-home learning with their children.
Staff morale improved too as practitioners felt they had more time to support vulnerable children’s learning and development effectively.
‘Doing nothing is simply not an option’
June O’Sullivan, chief executive of LEYF, said, ‘We clearly need to reverse the alarming decline in the health, wellbeing and education among our young children. Access to these crucial extra Government funded hours is benefitting children now and can actually help them level up and reduce the attainment gap that emerges from 22 months in children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Doing nothing is simply not an option.’
James Turner, chief executive of the Sutton Trust, added, ‘This research adds yet more weight to the case for expanding access to the 30 hours. It’s a national scandal that the poorest three- and four-year olds are locked out of these crucial opportunities, simply because their parents don’t earn enough.’
A Department for Education spokesperson said, 'We’ve made an unprecedented investment in childcare over the past decade, spending more than £3.5 billion in each of the past three years on our free childcare offers. We are also making millions more available through our early years recovery work to level up children’s outcomes.
'At the spending review we announced additional funding for the early years entitlements, as well as £60 million supplementary funding for maintained nursery schools – which provide valuable services to some of our most disadvantaged children.'
