More than twice as many children as childcare places in West Northamptonshire, data reveals

Children aged under five years far outnumber childcare places in West Northamptonshire, new figures show.

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 10,222 places for early years childcare in West Northamptonshire as of December 2022, while separate data from the 2021 census shows there were around 24,000 children aged four and under in the area.

This suggests there was one childcare place for every 2.3 children in West Northamptonshire. This was a slightly better ratio than across the country, where there were 2.4 children per place.

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.

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.

Joeli Brearly, founder of campaign group Pregnant then Screwed, fears more money may be needed for the Chancellor's scheme to work.

She said: “It is imperative that there is a clear and remunerated strategy to attract more educators into the sector, to retain those workers and to offer progression opportunities.

“Free childcare from nine months is brilliant, but only if there are childcare settings to be able to access this care, without the correct funding there won’t be,” she added.

Megan Jarvie, head of Coram Family and Childcare charity, said it was “crucial” that there is enough funding for the expansion of free childcare places.

“If it is not right then we are at risk of seeing big childcare shortages,” she said.