As this year comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on what we’ve achieved as a campaign and more importantly, ‘why’ we’re here in the first place.
Free Childcare UK was created out of necessity. Not as a political slogan or a headline-grabbing movement, but as a response to the lived reality of families, childcare providers, and professionals across the UK who were being told one thing and experiencing another.
This year, that shared frustration has grown into something powerful.
Why we started – and why we aren’t going anywhere!
The promise of ‘free childcare’ has been widely celebrated, but for many families and providers, the reality looks very different.
Behind the headlines are
- Parents struggling to afford hidden costs
- Providers forced to operate at a loss
- Staff leaving the sector due to unsustainable workloads
- Children missing out on consistent, high-quality care
We’re here because the system isn’t working as it should and because families deserve honesty, transparency, and real solutions.
This campaign exists to highlight the gap between policy and reality
- Give a voice to parents and childcare professionals
- Push for sustainable, fair funding
- Advocate for children’s wellbeing at the heart of every decision
- Explained the *true cost* of so-called ‘free’ childcare
- Highlighted the pressure placed on private nurseries and childminders
- Shared the real experiences of families navigating the system
- Opened conversations many felt unable to have before
- Break down complex issues in an accessible way
- Start honest conversations without blame or judgement
- Humanise the campaign and make it relatable
- Reach audiences who may never read policy documents or reports
- Short, impactful videos explaining key issues
- Honest discussions around funding, fairness, and childcare realities
- Sharing lived experiences from across the sector
- Encouraging engagement, conversation, and awareness
- Why childcare providers are struggling
- Why ‘free hours’ aren’t actually free
- How underfunding impacts quality and availability
- What this means for children, families, and staff
- A recognisable voice
- A growing community
- A clear message
- A platform that people trust
- Amplify real voices
- Challenge misleading narratives
- Support families and providers
- Push for meaningful, lasting change
Why Itemised Invoices Risk Breaking Early Years Provision
The government’s push for early years providers to itemise invoices is presented as a move towards transparency and parental choice. In practice, it risks undermining how nurseries actually function. Nursery fees are not a collection of optional extras. They are the...
Underfunding childcare is not just a policy choice; it is a decision that directly harms the workforce delivering it.
I have been following someone called ‘The Nursery Survivor’ on Instagram. The account is run by an ex-nursery worker who clearly had some terrible experiences working in nurseries. The short videos are funny and sometimes excruciatingly accurate. She portrays life in...
Britain Is Getting Childcare Wrong – And Our Children Will Pay the Price
Across the world, governments are scrambling to solve a childcare crisis. Costs are soaring, parents are struggling, women are being pushed out of work, and birth rates are falling. In response, politicians are promising ‘free childcare’ at an unprecedented scale. On...
An open letter to parents about “Free” Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC)
Dear parents, We are writing to explain what is happening behind the scenes in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) right now, and why many nurseries are deeply worried about the future of ECEC places and whether early years education and childcare will still...
Failing at work to win at motherhood
Recently, a GP in England was suspended for five months after falsifying patient appointments so she could leave on time to pick up her children. Dr Helen Eisenhauer, a mother of two working in Nottingham, had already seen the patients by phone earlier in the day but...
The Hidden Costs of Childcare: What Government Funding Doesn’t Cover
The UK government funds early years childcare through the Early Years National Funding Formula (EYNFF), which sets hourly funding rates paid to local authorities and then passed to nurseries. These rates vary by age group and area, and they are often presented as the...
When Safeguarding Fails: What the Nursery Most Recent Abuse Scandal Reveals About Our Early Years System
The recent revelations about a sexual predator operating within English nurseries have shaken the early years sector and the wider public. Cases like this are shocking not only because of the profound harm caused to vulnerable children, but because they expose a...
Thinking of Reporting a Childcare Setting to Ofsted? What Parents Should Know First
In early years, everyone - parents, practitioners, managers, and Ofsted - share the same priority: children’s safety, happiness, and wellbeing. When something worries you about your child’s nursery, preschool or childminder, you absolutely have the right to raise it....
The Christmas Crunch: How ‘Free’ Childcare Leaves Parents Struggling During the Most Expensive Time of Year
For many families, Christmas is meant to be a season of joy - twinkling lights, excited children, and time together. But for parents relying on so-called ‘free childcare’, December often brings a very different reality: rising costs, stretched finances, and the hard...
Autumn Budget 2025: What is the Next Government Must Fix in Childcare
As the UK heads toward another major election cycle and the next round of budget decisions, one issue keeps rising to the top of national conversations. Childcare. It is often framed as a family issue, yet the reality is far more serious.It is an economic emergency, a...