12th November 2024: EECC Director Sarah Ronan spoke to The Times about the impact of the recently announced national insurance rises on the early years sector here.

Sarah Ronan, director of the EECC comments on the impact of the Budget on the early years sector and highlights a need to increase funding otherwise early years settings will be forced to pass on costs to parents. Read more here.

Childcare is as an essential part of economic infrastructure as roads and public transport and extensive work is required to transform current provision into a universal system. Read more here.

New research shows that almost half of nursery-age children in England have poor access to childcare, making it the second worst out of nine nations surveyed globally and falling just behind France. Read more here.

Recruitment and retention issues in the early education sector is due to cause major issues for accessibility to childcare places as the subsidised hours expansion rolls out. Read more here.

Children and Young People Now cover the EECC polling showing enough funding for providers is voters’ top childcare priority ahead of election. Read the piece here.

Working Mums published a piece on polling by the Early Education and Childcare Coalition finding many parents are unconvinced that childcare will improve after the election. Read more here.

In an exclusive survey by ITV News Anglia, more than 160 providers have revealed the daily struggles they face with funding and recruitment. Read the full article and watch the feature on ITV News here.

Sarah Ronan, director of EECC comments on Labour Party and Conservative childcare promises in the i. Read more here.

Sarah Ronan, director of EECC comments on the Labour party childcare plans in the Independent.

Sarah Ronan, director of EECC comments on the need for a workforce strategy to boost staff numbers if boosting places in the Guardian.

Sarah Ronan, director of the EECC, comments on Labour party announcement on BBC News.

The EECC’s head of research, Lucie Stephens, quoted in article on the take-up of the childminder grant in the Independent.

Sarah Ronan, director of the EECC, writes for Nursery World on our demands of the next government as set out in our new manifesto. Read the article here.

The Guardian covers release of the EECC’s joint manifesto. Read here.

Sarah Ronan, director of the EECC, comments in the Financial Times on new DfE figures. Read more here.

DATE: 5th March 2024; Critics say the surprise policy in last spring budget’s was ill-thought-out, prompting higher prices and fewer nurseries. Read more at the Guardian, here.

DATE: 18th February 2024; Campaign groups are demanding Jeremy Hunt extend the government’s free childcare scheme to all parents in training. Read more at the Independent, here.

The EECC comments on research by the REC which finds a huge spike in the number of early years jobs ahead of the rollout of the expansion. Read here.

EECC comments in the Independent

DATE: 23rd January 2024; Jo Callaghan, who co-owns six nurseries says parent are being misled by the description of the 15 hour childcare scheme as ‘free’. Read more at the i, here.

DATE: 21st January 2024; Early-years providers say plan will do little to address staffing crisis affecting number of available places. Read more at the Guardian, here.

DATE: 21st January 2024; Less than three months before scheme is due to start, nurseries have yet to be told how much they will be paid. Read more at the Times, here.

DATE: 15th January 2024; Thousands of concerned parents reportedly struggling to sign up for flagship offering that starts in April. Read more at the Guardian, here.

DATE: 6th January 2024; Parents face missing out on free support at eleventh hour due to funding disarray. Read more at the Independent, here.

DATE: 4th January 2024; fears raised that attempt to support parents will exacerbate 10 years of ‘chronic underfunding’. Read more at the FT, here.

Sarah Ronan, director of the EECC, writes for the New Statesman on why Labour needs to push forward with reform of childcare and early education. Read here.

DATE: 6th November 2023; More than half of nursery staff are thinking about leaving their jobs in the next year prompting concerns the government’s new free childcare policy will be impossible to deliver. Read more on The Independent, here.

DATE: 6th of November 2023; A mass exodus of childminders and nursery staff risks scuppering the government’s flagship new funding for parents of young children in England, according to a new coalition of early years providers and campaigners. More than half of all nursery workers surveyed by the Early Education and Childcare Coalition (EECC) said they were considering or planning on leaving the sector in the next 12 months. To read more on The Guardian, click here.

DATE: 6th November 2023; An expected mass exodus of early years workers could undermine government plans to expand funded childcare hours, new research warns. Read more at Children & Young People Now, here.

DATE: 6th October 2023; Sarah Ronan, Interim Director of the recently formed Early Education and Care Coalition (EECC) joined me to talk about the EECC. Listen or read more here.

DATE: 20th September 2023; The nursery fee for Hannah Fearn’s daughter to go three days a week has increased 25% in just five years. She looks at the system that is trapping new parents with astonishing bills. Read more on I News here.

DATE: 8th September 2023; Nearly half of UK voters believe that childcare and early education reform will be key in deciding who to vote for at the next general election, a report from the Early Education and Childcare Coalition has found. Read more here.

DATE: 7th September 2023; A new report from the Early Education and Childcare Coalition (EECC) has revealed that for 42% of British voters, childcare and early education reform will be key in their decision about who to vote for in the general election.

The new report ‘Pulse Check: Public attitudes towards early education and childcare’ contains new research conducted by Claremont and More in Common for the EECC. The findings are a snapshot of voter attitudes towards the early education and childcare sector.

Download the full release here.

DATE: 7th September 2023; Almost two-thirds (59%) of voters said they believe good early years education benefits the whole country, rather than just parents.

Read the article in full at The Independent here

DATE: 6th September 2023; Some 42 per cent of Britons say early-years reform will impact the way they vote.

Read the article in full at The New Statesman here

DATE: 30th August 2023; The newly formed Early Education and Childcare Coalition has the potential to make the sector heard with a united voice. Read more here.

DATE: 22nd August 2023; Dozens of organisations supporting children and young people have joined a new coalition planned to influence childcare policy. Read more on Children & Young People Now here.

DATE: 21st August 2023; A coalition of early years and childcare organisations and charities have come together to challenge the Government to invest in an early education system that works for all.

To read more on Nursery World, click here.