Childcare Ask 1

Consider how local early years funding could be used more creatively and complemented from additional sources, to increase provision for children who would disproportionately benefit from it, including children whose families are experiencing financial hardship, children with SEND and children in need.

Why?

In response to witnessing children arriving at nursery ‘hungry, anxious and developmentally delayed’, London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) offered free additional hours plus a daily hot meal to children most in need from October 2020. The programme was called Doubling Down. This programme doubles the Government-funded hours of early childhood education and care (ECEC) for its most vulnerable children from 15 hours per week up to 30 hours per week.