More than twice as many children as childcare places in Derbyshire

Childcare has been thrown into the spotlight after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt made it a central subject of his spring Budget.

The Government plans to significantly expand free childcare over the next few years – but charities have warned they may be hampered by a lack of capacity in the sector and difficulties with recruitment.

Figures from the Department for Education show there were 15,809 places for early years childcare in Derbyshire as of December 2022, while separate data from the 2021 census shows there were around 38,300 children aged four and under in the area.

This suggests there was one childcare place for every 2.4 children in Derbyshire. This is the same ratio as across England as a whole.

The Chancellor announced 30 hours of free childcare for all under-fives from the moment maternity care ends, where eligible, and he said the policy would be introduced in stages to ensure there is "enough supply in the market".

The offer of free childcare for working parents will be available to those with two-year-olds from April 2024, covering around half a million parents, but it will initially be limited to 15 hours.

From September 2024, the 15-hour offer will be extended to children from nine months, helping a total of nearly a million parents, and the full 30-hour offer to all under-fives will come in from September 2025.

Jeremy Hunt told Sky News that it was the "biggest transformation in childcare" in his lifetime. He continued: “It is a huge change and we are going to need thousands more nurseries, thousands more schools offering provision they don’t currently offer, thousands more childminders. We are going as fast as we can to get the supply in the market to expand,” he added.

Ofsted figures further show there were five childcare establishments in Derbyshire judged as requiring improvement, while four were rated as 'inadequate' at their last inspection as of December 2022.

These providers were responsible for 242 places – meaning 2% of childcare places in the area were at substandard providers, when excluding those not rated by Ofsted.