Evidence that children are arriving hungry at nurseries and other day care has been provided by a survey from the Early Years Alliance and the London Early Years Foundation. The survey found that just under half – 49% – of early years providers said families are showing signs of food insecurity with more children turning up hungry.

The pressure on parents and providers is increasing as food inflation continues to rise, reaching 16% this week. Almost one in ten providers said they were using charities such as Fareshare or local food banks to feed children in their settings.

These findings add to the problems in the early years sector with parents facing increased costs pushed up by inflation, providers closing and childcare places reducing while increasing numbers of parents (usually mothers) are giving up work as child care is unaffordable.

Labour’s Councillor Leanne Munroe who leads on Early Years for Oldham Council said ‘The Government must step up to the plate and extend free lunches to children attending early years provision. It is simply wrong that once a child gets to a Reception class they are entitled to a free lunch but just the week before they are not. This research is the latest to highlight the developing crisis across early years. The Government has no idea what faces too many parents and carers in Oldham. Good early years education is the foundation of a child’s education and affordable local child care is essential.’

The annual Coram and Family Childcare (CFC) survey of local authorities confirms the pressure facing providers and parents reports the BBC 1.

Three quarters of councils said many providers were charging more than last year and were finding it “very difficult” to recruit staff. Around half of authorities reported that many local childcare providers had reduced staff numbers, opening hours and the number of funded places they offered. A similar proportion raised concerns about the impact of rising energy and food prices.

Councillor Munroe added ‘On top of all this, the eligibility criteria for the 2-year-old entitlement has not changed since 2014. Many families who would have been eligible are now unjustly above the threshold. In Oldham this means 550 fewer children are eligible now than in 2016. At 1391, the November 2022 list of eligible parents was the lowest ever. The Government is dragging its feet while providers close and parents struggle to pay rising costs. Raising the number of children staff can look after isn’t a sensible solution and doesn’t begin to address these issues. We need a complete overhaul of childcare to give every child the best chance of succeeding.’ CFC also found that the average weekly cost of a full-time nursery place for a two-year-old in England was £265.38 last year. This confirms the recent figure of £263 a week from the Natural Childbirth Trust.

Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary said “Despite the fact we spend an awful lot of money as a country on childcare, it is fragmented. Providers are closing and childcare is becoming less and less accessible, which is why I believe we need to completely rethink how we deliver childcare. [We need to] move towards a modern system that runs from the end of parental leave right through to the end of primary school.”

She added that she wants to “make a change in education . . . like the change that we saw post-1945 with the creation of the NHS. That’s the scale and ambition that we have.”