Childcares: Finance
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that it is financially viable for childcare settings to offer places to three and four year-old children.
Answered by Stephen Morgan
In 2025/26 alone, we plan to provide over £8 billion for the early years entitlements, a more than 30% increase compared to 2024/25. We have announced the largest ever increase to Early Years Pupil Premium since its introduction and will also deliver a significant tranche of supplementary funding of £75 million through the Early Years Expansion Grant.
We are increasing core funding rates. For 2025/26, the national average three and four-year-old hourly funding rate of local authorities is increasing by 4.1%, two-year-old hourly funding rate is increasing by 3.3%, and nine months to two-year-old hourly funding rate is increasing by 3.4%.
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