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By Rachel Lawler

The Chancellor is set to reportedly reject early years reform proposals put forward by the Department for Education for the upcoming Spring Budget. 

Earlier this month, reported that officials were considering options to extend the current 30-hour “free” childcare offer to children of working parents from to the age of nine-months- to three-years. Officials are also said to have considered offering a lower number of hours to two-year-olds and 10-hours a week for disadvantaged one-year-olds. 

Currently, all children aged three- and four-years-old in England are entitled to 15-hour a week early education and care, while those with working parents can access 30-hours a week. Disadvantaged two-year-olds are entitled to access 15-hours a week of early education and care. 

However, according to the, the Chancellor is now set to reject these proposals and was understood to be “analysing other options from the DfE”, including more limited increases in the number of free hours. 

Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said:  

"We all know that extending the early entitlement offer to one and two-year-olds without additional investment or support would have placed unsustainable pressure on a sector that, thanks to years of underfunding, is already teetering on the brink.   

“But that doesn’t mean that urgent reform isn’t needed. England’s early years sector is facing its most difficult time in decades with settings closing in swathes, and experienced educators leaving in their droves.   

“It’s clear, therefore, that ministers continuing to ignore the needs of early years providers will cause irreparable damage to the sector.  

“As such, if the government has indeed scrapped this proposal, it must now take the opportunity to listen to what the sector needs, rather than continuing to put forward ridiculous and ill-thought-out policies that will only serve to inflict even more harm on an already fragile sector.”