Early education entitlements and funding update: March 2023
Updated 19 April 2024
Applies to England
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In the government’s spring budget, the Chancellor announced transformative reforms to childcare for parents, children, the economy and women. By 2027 to 2028, this government will expect to be spending in excess of £8bn every year on free hours and early education, helping working families with their childcare costs. This represents the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever.
This new offer will empower parents, allowing them to progress their careers and support their families. The new entitlements will be introduced in phases:
- from April 2024, all working parents of 2-year-olds can access 15 hours per week
- from September 2024, all working parents of children aged 9 months up to 3-years-old can access 15 hours per week
- from September 2025, all working parents of children aged 9 months up to 3-years-old can access 30 hours free childcare per week
Our reforms mean the government expects to spend an additional £4.1 billion by 2027 to 2028 to fund 30 hours of free childcare per week (38 weeks per year) for children over the age of nine months. At the introduction of the new entitlements from 2024 to 2025, the average funding rate for local authorities for under 2-year-olds will be around £11 per hour.
Funding uplifts for existing entitlements
The budget also announced additional funding of £204 million from this September rising to £288 million next year (financial year 2024 to 2025) to increase the funding paid to nurseries for the existing free hours offers. This investment will allow the national average rate for local authorities for 2-year olds to increase by 30% from the current national average rate of £6 per hour to around £8 per hour from September 2023. The national average 3 to 4 year old rate for local authorities will rise in line with inflation from the current national average rate of £5.29 per hour to over £5.50 per hour from September 2023.
We will provide further details on the distribution of additional funding to local authorities as well as local authority level funding rates for 2023 to 2024 in due course and for 2024 to 2025 in the autumn in line with the usual funding cycle.