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Commenting, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said:

“While we recognise that the onset of the pandemic has had an impact on Ofsted’s ability to inspect early years providers, we welcome the fact that the latest figures show that the number of ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ nurseries, pre-schools and childminders remains at record levels. 

“That said, we are incredibly concerned that the number of childminders operating in the sector continues to decline, having fallen by a quarter since 2015. Childminders are a vital source of quality care and education and yet little, if any, action has been taken by government to tackle the shocking trends that we have seen over recent years.  

“At a time when parents’ working patterns are changing, the provision of flexible childcare and early education will be more important than ever. As such, we urge the government to stop turning a blind eye to this issue - as these latest figures have again made clear, ignoring this problem is not going to make it go away.”