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Written question asked by Melanie Onn (Labour) on Thursday, 20 November 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 24 November 2025. It was answered by Olivia Bailey (Labour) on Monday, 8 December 2025 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Extended Services

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) financial sustainability of early years providers and (b) capacity of schools to deliver wraparound care in areas experiencing long waiting lists.

Answer

In 2025/26, this government plans to spend over £8 billion on early years entitlements, increasing to over £9 billion in 2026/27, and we have increased the early years pupil premium by over 45%. On top of this we have provided further supplementary funding of £75 million for the Early Years Expansion Grant.

At Spending Review 2025, the government announced it will provide an additional £1.6 billion per year by 2028/29. We will also spend over £400 million over the next four years to deliver school-based nurseries across England.

The free breakfast clubs programme has delivered more than 5 million breakfasts and offered places to almost 180,000 pupils across the country. We are investing a further £80 million into the programme to fund an additional 2,000 schools between April 2026 and March 2027. Since September 2024, the National Wraparound Programme has also provided over 50,000 additional full childcare places. In 2026/27, we are providing local authorities with £12.9 million to sustain these places, ensuring sufficiency of school-age childcare and supporting national rollout of free breakfast clubs.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
93018
Session
2024-26
Subjects
Finance Waiting lists Extended services
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk