This past week has seen a flurry of government announcements about early years: Prime  Minister Keir Starmer’s open letter to parents, full of promises under the Best Start in Life  banner, and the appointment of Olivia Bailey as the new Early Education Minister. On paper,  these might look like positive steps forward. But for those of us on the ground — providers,  practitioners, and campaigners — the reality is very different.  

The “Free” Childcare Myth  

Let’s start with the big headline: 30 hours of free childcare. Parents are told they’ll be able to  access this as a right, and the government celebrates it as a flagship policy. But here’s the truth:  It can’t be free. And the truth is – it never has been. Providers aren’t given the full cost of  delivering these hours. In reality, parents have had to pay for nurseries to survive and continue  offering the type of services that parents actually want.  

That means higher fees for “non-funded” hours (making us sound eye-waveringly expensive),  rising charges for meals and extras, nurseries having to find increasingly creative ways of making  ends meet and increasing pressure on already overstretched staff. The government’s sudden  crackdown on charging fees comes after a court case where an LA was found responsible for  misleading parents. Rather than change the narrative and call it a subsidy, the government has,  instead, told settings that they cannot make charges ‘mandatory’. Does anyone know any other  business that runs on ‘voluntary’ payment of bills? Or any other service offering such a huge  variety of options, yet having the price fixed? Think of the ice-cream freezer in the supermarket.  Would you pick a cheap one with reconstituted skimmed milk powder, vegetable fats or oils,  artificial flavourings or colourings? Sometimes that’s just what you want! But sometimes you want  to go for the Duchy organic ice cream, made with organic crème anglaise. When you buy that, you  know it’s going to be more expensive. So parents need to understand that if their nursery is more  Duchy Organic, it’s going to cost more than a setting in a village hall that has lower overheads.  The government pays the same amount to both types of settings.  

It isn’t sustainable. When the government underfunds places by as much as £3 per child per  hour (sometimes more), someone has to pay the price. And too often, that price is paid by  providers, children and families. 5000 settings have closed over the past year. New settings are  replacing them; many appear to be being set up by individuals with no experience or knowledge of  early years education, who will offer cheap care with cheap staff. Or there are school nurseries.  Enrolling a child in school at the age of three or even younger should be something that parents  think twice about. Children are institutionalised from a very young age already. Is this what we  want? And then there’s the cost to the taxpayer for creating all of these nurseries, when  historically, state-run nurseries have always closed down because they go bust. Every single time.  

The settings we are losing are the small, boutique alternative settings which offer something a bit  different, such as beautiful settings with special gardens, different education methods to encourage  free thinking and holistic education, proper forest schools (not a tree in the corner of the  playground), and creative settings which work with artists of all kinds. For the sake of our  children’s futures, we need to keep these educational settings, and if possible, build on them.  Around the world, developing nations are importing British and European education systems – yet  England is firmly turning its back on this incredible asset. It is being replaced with homogenised,  over-stretched classrooms and standardised education, which values box-ticking over imagination.  The future will demand thinkers, changers, challengers and those who lead. This is why the home education movement is growing at the fastest pace seen for years. Britain’s state education is  under severe strain. Is this the right environment for toddlers? 

A New Minister, Old Problems  

The government has proudly announced Olivia Bailey as the new Early Education Minister.  While fresh leadership is always welcome, the reality is this: ministers change, but the funding  crisis stays the same. The responses from the ministers are cut and pasted stock phrases (a little  bit like our education system). The questions we ask are not answered – instead, we are simply  inconvenient or difficult, so articles appear calling nursery owners greedy or immoral in some way.  Endless social media about our expensive childcare system (more about this in the next blog).  Nothing about pedagogy or child development.  

We’ve seen constant reshuffles. This is the eleventh since the funding was rolled out in 2017. For  most, the position is merely a stepping stone to a more senior ministerial role. What we need is a  minister who understands what children actually need. Each seems to embrace the role and begin  with the cut and pasted phrases, which they seem to genuinely believe. Then, it would appear the  penny drops, but by then they’re off to more ‘important’ roles. Who, after all, wants to work on  behalf of young children? Even the ministers don’t appear to value young children; what hope  does the rest of society have?  

What Starmer’s Letter Leaves Out  

The Prime Minister’s letter spoke warmly about supporting families and creating fairness from  the very start. But here’s what it didn’t say:  

• There’s no clear plan to fix the workforce crisis. Practitioners are leaving in record numbers,  citing low pay, long hours, and lack of respect.  
• There’s no acknowledgment of closures. Thousands of nurseries and childminders have shut  their doors over the past decade, leaving “childcare deserts” across the country.  • There’s no commitment to funding reform. Until government funding matches the true cost of  delivery, every policy announcement is just smoke and mirrors.  

Why This Matters  

When the public hears about “free childcare”, it sounds like a gift. But the truth is parents and  children are paying through hidden fees, reduced quality, and fewer places. Meanwhile, providers  are expected to do more with less, risking their livelihoods and the well-being of the children in their  care.  

This isn’t just about numbers. It’s about whether children truly get the best start, whether parents  can actually access support, and whether the people caring for our youngest children are valued  and fairly paid. In a recent article in The Big Issue, The Women’s Budget Group phrased it  perfectly: “this vital social infrastructure is still treated as an expense by the Treasury rather than an  investment”. Childcare is seen as a service for parents to go back to work. We need to  understand that while it enables the former, it has to be a service for the child first.  

What We’re Calling For  

If the government is serious about early years, it needs to:  

Fund ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care) properly — pay providers the actual cost of  delivering high-quality service.  

Value the workforce — raise pay, improve conditions, and recognise the vital role that early  childhood staff play.  

Stop misleading language — 

“Free Childcare” is a myth unless it’s genuinely funded. The terminology itself describes  something that has no intrinsic value and leads to low expectations from society at large.  

Final Word  

Parents deserve honesty. Providers deserve respect. Children deserve investment. Until the  government puts real money where its promises are, “Best Start in Life” will remain nothing  more than a catchy headline and not the lived reality of families and early years settings across  the UK.