Writing on Twitter, the minister provided more detail of the uplift in funding for providers to deliver 15- and 30-hour places.
It comes after Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced £170m for the sector by 2024-25 in his Autumn Spending review yesterday, but failed to reveal the full extent of the investment. It is unclear why this extra money was not announced by the Chancellor nor included in any subsequent Government documents.
It is now understood that local authorities will receive £160m in 2022-23, £180m in 2023-24 and £170m in 2024-25 to increase the hourly rate paid to childcare providers.
Following a meeting with early years organisations yesterday afternoon and to provide clarification over the amount of funding being made available, Will Quince tweeted, ‘This afternoon I met with @EYalliance, @NDNAtalk, @PACEYchildcare where I was delighted to confirm that we are investing additional funding for the early years entitlements worth £160m in 2022-23, £180m in 2023-24 and £170m in 2024-25.
In a second tweet he said, ‘This is for local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers for the Government’s free childcare entitlement offers and reflects the cost of inflation and national living wage increases.’
It is currently unclear how the additional investment will be allocated to local authorities.
PACEY (the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years) welcomed the increase in funding.
Chief executive Liz Bayram said, 'If Government also develops a long term strategy for early education and childcare (including a review of how families access this and other funding) we will ensure children and families get the support they need.'