Pre-school Education: Reform
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress she has made in delivering the Early Years Childcare Reform Programme.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
From 1 September, hundreds of thousands of families are better able to balance work and family life, with parents who use their full entitlement saving an average of £7,500 a year, and more children getting the high quality early education that will give them the best start in life.
To support the expansion of childcare, the government has supported early years workforce recruitment through the ‘Do Something Big’ campaign, financial incentives and new routes into the profession. We have invested over £8 billion into early years entitlements in 2025/26 and created thousands more places through the school-based nurseries programme. Workforce has grown significantly, with 18,200 more staff delivering entitlements in private, voluntary and independent providers in 2025, a 7.2% rise from the previous year.
There are over 5,800 more providers delivering childcare entitlements this year, the first increase in five years, and the biggest increase since data became available in 2018.
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