Early Years Funding Entitlements Phase 3

We Asked

In the Spring Budget 2023 the Chancellor announced major changes to childcare, increasing the financial support available to working parents to help with the cost of childcare where families meet the government set criteria.

We asked for people to tell us about how they use childcare and how they expect to use childcare with the new entitlements to help us determine demand for childcare.

You Said

Some of the key findings were:

• Most respondents stated they were currently using a form of childcare (61.8%).
• Nurseries were the most commonly selected form of formal childcare (93.8%).
• Most respondents stated the new funded entitlement would encourage them to use formal childcare (81.8%).
• Most respondents stated they expect to qualify for the 30 hours based on the eligibility criteria (98.2%).
• Most respondents stated they are very likely to take up the full 30 hours from September 2025 (78.2%).
• The most common factor to influence respondents’ decision to use the 30 hours was “availability of places” (59.3%).
• Almost half of respondents stated they were accessing the 15 hours of funding (47.3%) whilst over half stated they were not (52.7%).
• Most respondents stated they were currently paying for additional hours (92.3%).

We Did

The results of the survey helped us to understand how families use childcare and how they will likely use childcare with the new entitlements. This is has helped us to review our current childcare supply. The consultation page with the full report can be found here.