For the past decade there has been a political race to pledge more hours of free childcare to more families and to younger children. What are the intended outcomes of free childcare, have these have been realised, and what are the barriers that can make these promises difficult to deliver?
Free childcare for young children is a tangible and easy to understand pledge relating to one of the main costs families face. During the Sixth Senedd there was significant scrutiny of childcare provision including questions asked by petitioners about how the current offer in Wales compares to what is seen as a more generous offer in England.
But it’s a costly commitment to implement long-term and it’s unclear the current approach is delivering desired outcomes. Expanding provision is also proving difficult because of barriers like funding and staff capacity. The previous Welsh Government’s commitment to roll-out part-time free Flying Start childcare hours to all two year olds during the Sixth Senedd was not delivered, with only an estimated 66% of eligible children being made this offer by April 2026.
The current picture
Depending on eligibility, there is a range of free childcare provided by local authorities and funded by Welsh Government:
- Part-time Flying Start childcare for all two and three year-olds: In its Co-Operation Agreement with Plaid Cymru, the then Welsh Government announced its intention to extend the 12.5 hours a week 39 weeks a year Flying Start childcare to “expand free childcare to all two- year-olds with a particular focus on providing and strengthening Welsh-medium childcare”.
- The Childcare Offer for Wales for eligible three and four year-olds: This gives eligible working parents and those in education or training an entitlement of 30 hours a week childcare for 48 weeks a year. This is made up of two elements: a minimum of 10 hours a week early years education to which all children are entitled in the first term after their third birthday, supplemented with up to 20 hours of childcare.
The UK Government also provides some financial support for childcare that parents in Wales can access, mainly for working parents, depending on eligibility.
What’s the purpose of free childcare?
There can be a range of policy aims behind free childcare - including economic, education, child development and poverty reduction objectives.
Economic drivers
The Childcare Offer aims to remove barriers to participation in employment or education. Yet the Year 3 evaluation found that only 2% of parents taking up the Offer had not been in work before getting free provision. By the Year 5 evaluation, only 10% of parents getting the Offer said they would not be in work without it. That said, the evaluation found that “a further nine per cent thought they would be working in a job with lower pay” and that 37% of respondents “noted that without the Offer they would be working fewer hours”. Based on all the evaluation data the report suggests:
that the Offer does continue to support many parents to maintain or improve their employment situation. This is particularly true amongst lower income parents.
Equality
As a proportion of income, childcare costs for lower income parents are 10 times higher than for the wealthiest 20% of earners. Research from 2023 suggests that childcare needs and caring responsibilities are the biggest barriers to equality in areas of life, including employment for women. Women are more likely to be economically inactive, work part-time and in insecure and lower paid sectors such as health and social care, retail and hospitality. This has resulted in a gender pay gap increased by unequal caring responsibilities and the disproportionate impact unaffordable childcare has on women.
The Gender Network (a policy forum of 80 third sector representatives, activists and academics) say the lack of affordable childcare remains a major barrier to gender equality. They called on the next Welsh Government to simplify support and the transition between different programmes and ultimately provide 30 hours of funded childcare for all children from the end of parental leave.
Education, child development, and equality of opportunity
Wales’ Early Childhood Play, Learning and Care Plan says ”that high quality, accessible childcare can be transformational for children”, setting out the impact on cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical development. Yet it’s unclear what role the free childcare in Wales is intended to play to support the development of all children, given many are not eligible for the Childcare Offer and that there is no comparison of developmental outcomes between those who receive it and those who do not.
Research suggests that high quality Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) can have a positive long-term impact on outcomes for children, countering the impacts of socio-economic disadvantage, though many low income families are not eligible for the current free 30 hour Childcare Offer. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) argue that “early inequalities can put children on divergent paths, but ECEC policies can level opportunities from the start, with lasting economic and social benefits”. They say “policies should reach everyone but focus more on the most disadvantaged”.
Children with additional needs and/or disabilities also face long-standing challenges in accessing childcare. Evidence suggests just 5% of Welsh local authorities have sufficient childcare provision for disabled children.
Barriers to delivering more childcare
In addition to funding, expanding free childcare inevitably requires more childcare places and physical space, an increased bilingual workforce and more inspection capacity.
Care inspectorate Wales (CIW) inspects childcare, doing so jointly with Estyn where there is an element of funded education. CIW’s latest Annual Report shows decreases in childminder and sessional day care provision for the previous year but a 2.7% rise in full day care places, continuing the upward trend of the past ten years.
Figure 1: Number of Full Day Care Places by Year
Source: Care Inspectorate Wales
Whether the sector has capacity to continue increasing places year on year remains to be seen. A Sixth Senedd Committee emphasised recruiting and retaining the childcare workforce was a persistent and significant challenge, citing low pay, poor working conditions and the low status of the role.
In turn, providers have consistently said the hourly rate paid by Welsh Government does not cover their costs, although rates have most recently risen to £6.67 from £5.00 per hour two years ago. However the National Day Nurseries Association is “concerned that the uplift will not be enough to cover the above-inflation rises” for food and energy. Providers have said sustaining their provision is a “major concern”, pointing to financial pressures from rising energy, food and staffing costs.
Similar challenges have occurred rolling out free childcare in England, following the 2023 commitment by the then UK Government to children of eligible working parents from the age of 9 months by 2025. The National Audit Office found “significant uncertainties around whether the sector can implement the changes and be financially sustainable”, concluding:
In extending entitlements, the government’s primary aim is to encourage more parents into work. Even if DfE successfully navigates the significant uncertainties, it remains unclear whether the extension will achieve its primary aim, represent value for money and not negatively impact DfE’s wider priorities relating to quality and closing the disadvantaged attainment gap.
The challenge ahead
There are differing eligibility criteria, application processes, funding mechanisms and inspection bodies for free childcare in Wales, which can make it hard for parents to understand what they are entitled to, and can impact take-up. A Sixth Senedd Committee described the Welsh Government’s approach to early childhood education and care as “confused, fragmented, and [lacking] a clear vision”. It called for the then Welsh Government to consolidate the different childcare support schemes and streamline application processes. Who gets free childcare and what difference it makes to their lives is likely to remain the subject of scrutiny from families and the Seventh Senedd alike.
Article by Claire Thomas, Gareth Thomas and Siân Thomas, Senedd Research, Welsh Parliament
