Ministers have been criticized for asking parents to secure nursery places as early as possible to avoid long waiting lists

Ministers have been criticized for encouraging parents to find a place for their children at their preferred nursery by September to avoid long waiting lists.

The Department for Education (DfE) said applications will open on May 12 for the second wave of reforms aimed at expanding the amount of funding childcare families can apply for.

In England, eligible working parents with children as young as nine months old can apply for 15 hours a week of subsidized childcare from September, but after months of warnings that providers are struggling to meet growing demand After the demand, they are encouraged to plan ahead.

Labor said the announcement recognized the chancellor’s “poor childcare commitments without a plan could result in families missing out on where they deserve to be”.

Jeremy Hunt’s announcement last autumn unveiled a new childcare scheme which will allow eligible families in England with children aged nine months to apply for weekly care until September 2025 30 hours of free childcare.

Latest politics: Rishi Sunak dismisses speculation about election date

As part of a phased rollout of the policy, working parents of children aged two will be able to access 15 hours of free childcare from April, before the policy will be extended to all working parents of children over nine months from September parents. It was fully launched the following year.

However, many child care providers Working hard to provide funding places Households were sent notices ahead of the first wave of the rollout starting next month and complained they were left in the dark about funding arrangements.

Industry leaders in the early years also warned that staffing shortages would make it difficult to expand child care services.

All 153 local authorities in England have now shared funding rates for the new benefit, which starts in two weeks, the Department for Education said.

The department said places would be available across the country in September but warned that a small number of nurseries had waiting lists of more than six months.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said: “With more than 150,000 children set to start attending government-funded nurseries in just over two weeks, it’s clear our plans are working.

“This government has a strong record of childcare reform, providing 30 hours of childcare for 3- and 4-year-olds to eligible working parents in 2017.

“We’re now going one step further by giving hard-working parents of under three the certainty they deserve to balance raising a family with a successful and rewarding career, in a full 30 hours, on average, every year as a parent Save up to £6,900.”

But Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said: “These are yet more warnings that the chancellor’s botched childcare commitments without a plan could lead to families missing out on where they deserve to be .

“Fourteen years of Tory rule have destroyed our early years education system, driven up prices and led to childcare deserts where vital places are scarce.”

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nursery Association, said she was “delighted” that the government had started communicating about the September rollout early.

“Despite the challenges of underfunding and an exacerbating workforce crisis, childcare providers have been working extremely hard to make this policy a success,” she said.

“We know from recent research into nurseries that 75 per cent said they had a waiting list for children under three and 56 per cent said there was unmet local need.

“While it is important for parents to ask about future places available locally, we urge them to be aware that childcare providers will be prioritizing support for the delivery of places when they are launched in April, so they may not receive an immediate response.”

read more:
New childcare providers willing to pay £1,000 amid fears over free time rollout
Report says having children feels ‘like financial suicide’

Joeli Brearley, founder of the charity Pregnant then Screwed, said: “The industry is in decline. Demand is increasing and supply is decreasing, which inevitably means many families will miss out on the rights they were promised.

“At the moment, there are no plans to increase supply. Without a plan, there will be a flood of angry parents in September who are forced to make decisions that will have a negative impact on their incomes and careers.”