Towards a childcare guarantee

Article

Childcare and early education in England isn’t working – for children, parents, or providers.

Childcare costs hold parents – and particularly mothers – back from getting into or getting on in employment, and heap significant pressures on families navigating the challenges of parenthood. For children, access to high quality early years education can play a role in narrowing inequalities between disadvantaged children and their peers.

Despite these high stakes, England has no coherent early years’ infrastructure: there are currently seven different schemes on offer to parents in England

It’s time for a childcare guarantee to lower barriers for parents getting back into or getting on in work, to reduce costs for families with children, and to ensure every child has access to high quality early years education.

Related items

  1. The inside of a bus. Lots of people sit or stand on a bus during daylight

    A people-focussed future for transport in England

    Our findings from three roundtables on the impact of transport in people’s lives and the priorities for change.
  2. Many national flags against blue sky

    Progressive renewal: The Global Progress Action Summit

    A quarter of the way through this century, change is in the air. Everyone, everywhere, seemingly all at once, wants out of the status quo.

  3. Insurgent government: How mainstream parties can fight off populism and rebuild trust in politics

    Across the western world it feels like a sea change is occurring in our politics. At the heart of this is a simple fact: large numbers of people increasingly feel that mainstream politics is failing to deliver for them.