Two-year-olds' free places extended in White Paper to boost social mobility

The proposals also include a drive to improve the skills of the early years workforce and raise the minimum qualification requirement for childcare practitioners to level 3 or A-level equivalent.
Prime minister Gordon Brown put policies to improve the lives of children and families at the heart of the New Opportunities White Paper.
Places for two-year-olds will be extended from the pilot areas to 15 per cent of the most disadvantaged families in every local authority area, which the Government said would reach around 23,000 children a year.
It said evidence showed that increasing free childcare for two-year-olds would be of greater benefit than extending the number of hours for three- and-four-year-olds beyond the current commitment to 15-hours by 2010. 'By extending provision to more of the most deprived two-year-olds we can generate significant benefits in terms of child development,' the White Paper said.
More places for two-year-olds will start in some local authorities from April, with the aim of all local authorities offering the extra entitlement by September 2009. Families of two-year-olds will be able to access ten hours a week over 38 weeks a year.
The paper also sets out plans to improve the qualification levels of the early years workforce, with the Government considering making level 3 a minimum requirement for all childcare and early years workers from 2015.
More details will be in the Early Learning and Childcare Strategy due in the next few weeks.
Children's secretary Ed Balls said, 'We will now go further to offer more support from the earliest years, with an additional £57m to expand the number of free early learning and childcare places for families on low incomes. This will help more children get a good start in life, and help more families break out of the poverty trap.
'In these difficult economic times we have to do all we can to make it easier for parents to return to work or take up training opportunities.'
Daycare Trust joint chief executive Alison Garnham welcomed plans to improve staff qualifications.
She said, 'The next frontier for childcare is to drive up quality by developing a highly trained and motivated workforce. However, to achieve this, action is needed to tackle the poor pay and conditions suffered by the majority of childcare workers.'
Read the New Opportunities White Paper at www.hmg.gov.uk/newopportunities.