Recommendation 16

The Government’s announcement of continued supplementary funding for maintained nursery schools is welcome, but the underlying issues of short-termism and insufficiency remain and are more acute as a result of the pandemic. It is not enough for the Government to continually push a decision on the long-term future of maintained nursery schools back to the next spending review - the Government must decide how to guarantee their long-term future as soon as possible. The Government must also acknowledge the “threadbare” state of the early years system previous to the pandemic, and outline a long-term plan for the early years accompanied by a funding settlement for at least the next three years.

Paragraph Reference: 80