Early Years Childcare Reform Programme

Government Transformation and Service Delivery

Record date: 31 March 2026

Whole-life cost: £16.2bn
Published schedule: 16/03/2023 – Low: 16/03/2023, Mid: 01/12/2028, High: 01/12/2028
NISTA delivery confidence: GREEN
Senior responsible owner: Chris Armstrong-Stacey

What the project is for

The Early Years Childcare Reform Programme was launched to expand funded childcare for working parents and give children the best possible start in life, while supporting parents to enter or increase hours in work. The programme was introduced in response to rising childcare costs and the need to improve access to affordable, high‑quality early education across England. The programme significantly increased the number of funded childcare hours available, extending the 30‑hour entitlement to younger children from nine months old. This required close work with local authorities, childcare providers and the sector to ensure there were enough childcare places, a strong workforce, and reliable digital systems to support families to access their entitlements. The programme’s aim was to deliver this expansion safely and sustainably, ensuring childcare was available where families need it, that funding reached providers on time, and that the system continued to operate smoothly as demand increased. By the completion of the programme, uptake had exceeded expectations, national childcare capacity was sufficient, and the programme successfully transitioned into ongoing business‑as‑usual operations to support long‑term delivery of childcare entitlements

Departmental delivery commentary

Compared to financial year 2024/25 Q4, the Delivery Confidence Assessment (DCA) at 2025/26 Q4 increased to Green. This reflects strong and sustained progress across the year in delivering the expanded childcare entitlements. Early in the year, delivery confidence was cautious due to workforce and place capacity pressures in some areas. As the year progressed, uptake exceeded expectations, workforce numbers grew steadily, and local authority readiness improved significantly. By September, all local authorities were reporting sufficient childcare places, with no national shortfalls and high code‑validation rates showing demand was being met. Digital systems have operated reliably, parents have been able to access the hours they are entitled to, and no widespread complaints have been reported. The programme successfully met its final milestones and received a Green rating at its final independent assurance review, enabling a confident transition into business‑as‑usual operations

Schedule

Compared to financial year 2024/25 Q4, the project’s end‑date at 2025/26 Q4 remained the same. This is because the programme delivered all planned milestones to schedule across the year. While early delivery phases required careful management of workforce and childcare capacity in some areas, these risks were anticipated and addressed without impacting the overall timetable. The September 2025 expansion milestone was achieved on time, with strong uptake, sufficient childcare places nationally, and stable digital systems. The programme successfully completed its final delivery activities as planned, received a Green rating at its final independent assurance review, and is proceeding to formal closure and transition into business‑as‑usual operations in line with the original schedule. Alongside continued BAU delivery, management of the Programme's benefits and our Programme evaluation continue as planned, with the evaluation's final report due in late 2027.

Cost

Compared to financial year 24/25-Q4, the project's departmentally agreed Whole Life Cost at 25/26-Q4 (measured in £m) increased to £16,983 This reflects updated funding assumptions in relation to higher expected take‑up of funded hours, increased provider funding rates to reflect wage inflation, and refinements to delivery cost modelling as the programme moves to full rollout

Benefits

Compared to our return for Q4 of financial year 2024/25, the departmentally-agreed benefits at Q4 of 2025/26 reflect the most recently agreed range of benefits rather than a fixed or final estimate. The benefits figures reported at 2025/26 Q4 reflect the most recent programme level economic appraisal of the childcare reforms, covering impacts from spending over FY23/24 to FY27/28. These estimates are expressed on an economic basis, adjusted to reflect changes over time (including inflation and discounting), and are therefore not directly comparable with the financial (cash) costs of the programme, which are reported separately. The appraisal estimates monetised benefits using the best available evidence from research, administrative data and economic modelling. However, the assessment relies in part on proxy measures and therefore carries a high degree of uncertainty. The appraisal estimates £8bn of economic benefits from impacts on maternal labour market participation (employment rates, hours worked and reduced labour market detachment), maternal subjective wellbeing, and child development associated with formal childcare attendance. There is a further £8bn of economic transfer to households already using childcare that will boost their disposable income. The most recent assessment suggests that the programme delivers around £1 of monetised economic benefit for every £1 of economic cost. This reflects an updated appraisal baseline rather than a fixed or final estimate and should be interpreted as an indicative position rather than a precise measure of value for money. Small changes in underlying assumptions including uptake, labour supply responses and deadweight can have a material effect on the benefit–cost ratio, and the estimated ratio could increase or decrease as further evidence becomes available, in particular following the final phase of the rollout of the 30hours expansion from September 2025. In addition to the monetised impacts, there are important benefits that are not currently quantified, including how funding rates for 9mo-2 yo children supports provider delivery and quality, across the sector, and benefits child development and outcomes as has been recognised by successive governments . Further, the benefits of increased formal childcare use influencing the home learning environment are not captured. These omissions mean that the appraisal does not capture the full range of potential benefits to both labour market participation which is itself shaped through local childcare markets, and child development. The department recognises that the current benefit estimates are uncertain and subject to ongoing refinement. Ongoing evaluation activity, including analytical work by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, will provide further evidence on behavioural impacts, deadweight and longer-term outcomes, helping to inform future assessments of programme benefits and overall value for money.