Plans to expand free childcare will proceed as planned despite ‘issues’ – Sunak

Rishi Sunak said the Government’s massive expansion of free childcare will proceed as planned despite “practical issues” affecting some families.

The Prime Minister insisted all eligible families in England will be able to benefit from the changes, which will be phased in from the spring.

Parents who have been unable to apply for 15 hours of funded childcare despite being eligible will now be automatically sent a code in the post to access the scheme, the Department for Education (DfE) has announced.

It comes after charity Pregnant Then Screwed (PTS) warned last week that parents in England have been “in complete chaos” trying to access the scheme.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced the reforms in the Budget last March to allow some families of children as young as nine months to claim 30 hours of free childcare a week.

But setbacks in allocation of funding, staff shortages and IT problems are threatening the timeline of the scheme, the Times reported.

Under the plans, working parents of two-year-olds will be able to access 15 hours of free childcare from April. This will be extended to working parents of all children older than nine months from September.

From September 2025, working parents of children under five will be entitled to 30 hours’ free childcare per week.

Eligible working parents have been able to apply for a code to access the scheme for two-year-olds since the start of January.

But some parents have been told they cannot apply for a code online until their “reconfirmation window” in their government childcare account opens – and for some this will not happen until March, which prompted fears that they could miss out on the new scheme when it begins on April 1.

Now the DfE has said parents who cannot re-confirm online until the second half of February or March will be posted a code by HMRC before the middle of February “without needing to take any action”.

But some nurseries have been unable to tell parents whether they will be able to accept the codes and offer funded places in April as they have not yet been given the funding rates by their local authority.

There are also doubts about the extension due in September because of a lack of nursery staff, according to the Times.

Mr Sunak told reporters: “We are excited about our plans to expand childcare in a way that has never been done in our country before.”

He added: “Now, many families have been able to sign up and it’s all working fine, but there are some practical issues that certain families are facing.”

He said the Government will “deliver the plans exactly as we said we would”.

“I know there are some practical issues but this is the biggest expansion in childcare that our country has seen.”

He said the Government will “work through these issues to make sure everybody gets the support that they need”.

PTS founder and chief executive Joeli Brearley said: “The rollout of the new childcare benefit was causing a number of big issues for parents and providers. We are pleased to say that the DfE has now fixed some of these problems after parents organised and provided proof that there were a number of issues that needed their attention.

“However, there are still a number of challenges ahead with the rollout of this new scheme. Many providers still don’t have the information they need from the local authority to plan effectively, leaving parents and providers in the dark.

“We are also hearing from a number of parents that their childcare bill has increased to account for the gap in funding from the Government. There’s still a long way to go before we will have an affordable, accessible, high-quality childcare system that parents can rely on.”

The Times said thousands of families will have to re-enter details into the HMRC IT system in March or risk delays in receiving payments.

The DfE also initially miscalculated the cost of the scheme, resulting in delays in childcare providers finding out from councils how much funding they will get, according to the paper.

The Times quoted unnamed Whitehall sources as saying “the strategy is flashing red all over the board” and “September is going to be an absolute shit show”.

Labour accused the Tories of having no plans to deliver on the offer.

Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “First the chaos of crumbling concrete buildings, then the botched budgets for our schools, now the disastrous failure on delivering childcare commitments, with families paying the price.

“Funded hours are no good if families can’t access them – the Conservatives’ promise to parents now lies in tatters because there was no plan behind the pledge in last year’s Budget statement.

“Only Labour has a plan to transform our early years system and deliver the modern childcare system that gives parents choices and children the best start in life.”

A DfE spokesman said it is the single largest expansion in childcare in England’s history, providing working parents with 30 hours of free childcare a week, “starting at nine months old all the way up to their child starting school”.

“We are pleased that thousands of parents have already applied for the expansion starting in April. However, a pre-existing feature in the system, where parents re-confirm their eligibility every three months, is impacting a minority of parents when combined with a small number of providers who are asking for codes much earlier than April.

“Parents who can’t re-confirm online until the second half of February or March will therefore automatically receive a letter with a code from HMRC before the middle of February, without needing to take any action.”