This afternoon (7 July) the Government published its early years strategy, ‘Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life’ backed by £1.5 billion in funding over the next three years to improve children’s education and health outcomes in England. This “landmark strategy” brings together initiatives across early education and childcare, improved family support services, SEND support and more.

Early education and childcare

On early education and childcare, the government has set out ambitions to improve affordability, accessibility, choice and quality for families, including:

• Raising the status of the workforce and introduce a £4,500 tax-free payment for “early years teachers” to work in 20 targeted areas of deprivation
• Funding for improved partnerships between early years settings and schools to support transitions
• Review of how early years funding is allocated and distributed and a consultation with the sector by Summer 2026

Childminders

Throughout the document, childminders are featured as an important part of the early years and childcare system. The strategy also acknowledges the ongoing decline in Ofsted-registered childminder numbers and the need to reverse this trend. It mentions specific initiatives for childminders:

• A push toward monthly funding payments: “We will work with local authorities and others to ensure that, where they want to, childminders and other early years providers are paid monthly for the funded hours they provide, making their income more stable.”
• The DfE will continue to work with Job Centre Plus to “encourage more people to become childminders”
• References to the recently introduced flexibilities for childminders to work from non-domestic premises

Best Start Family Hubs

The Government announced up to 1,000 Best Start Family Hubs to be rolled out to every local authority. These will be a “single point of entry to join-up universal services and children’s social care” with stakeholders across the early years system working together to deliver a range of family services. Other parenting support initiatives include a new Best Start digital service for accessible advice and guidance.

SEND

The government will improve access to support for children with SEND in the early years and improve the way funding is distributed to providers. (More detail to come in a Schools White Paper this autumn). Families will be able to access SEND support through the Best Start Family Hubs with links to other children and family services.

Ofsted

Ofsted will increase the frequency of inspections with all newly registered providers having an inspection within 18 months of opening, and other early years providers being inspected at least every four years (instead of the current 6-year cycle). Ofsted is expecting to publish details of its “new style” inspection in September 2025 following the consultation earlier this year and subsequent engagement with Coram PACEY and others.

Helen Donohoe, Head of Coram PACEY comments:

 “We have long called for a long-term strategic vision for early education and childcare and so we fully welcome the Best Start in Life strategy, with its strategic overview of the government’s ambition to improve the lives of all children and families. We particularly welcome the focus on inclusion in early education and childcare and recognition of the positive impact that this, alongside wider family services, can have on the outcomes and life chances of children.  

The publication rightly acknowledges the need to reform the funding system and the significant pressures facing the entire early years workforce, including the concerning decline in the number of Ofsted-registered childminders. We welcome the recognition of these challenges and the government’s commitment to addressing them and importantly, to work with the sector in framing the right solutions. While the strategy includes some positive steps for childminders – including our call to make funding payments work better for childminders with a push towards monthly payments – we believe there is still much more to do.

We will continue to work closely with the DfE to build on this and ensure more meaningful support for both newly registering and existing childminders and to ensure that they are fully integrated into the ambitions for initiatives such as the Best Start Family Hubs. Childminders are vital for providing the high-quality, flexible and affordable early education and childcare that can make a real difference for all children and their families, especially those facing disadvantage.”