At the time of writing, the main parties have yet to publish their manifestos for the upcoming general election. It is almost inevitable, however, that each will have something to say about affordable childcare, because it affects such a large number of families, not least the ‘ordinary working families’ who were the subject of a Government consultation last month.
But early years and childcare policies need to do more than appeal to a populist vote. By age five, disadvantaged children are already, on average, 4.3 months behind their peers. That gap, at age five, accounts for 40 per cent of the gap by the age of 16. We have one chance to give a child the right foundations to enable them to flourish emotionally and academically later on, and so government policies need to override politics.
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