As we at Early Years Wales join the Childcare Expo again this year, we are doing so at a time of unprecedented interest in childcare as a sector. The opportunity now is not simply to expand childcare access, but to build an early years system that is affordable for families, sustainable for providers, and consistently high quality for children.

In Wales, Plaid Cymru made childcare a leading pillar of their election campaign and have committed to creating an offer that will be universal from 9-months of age through to school start and be at least 20 hours per week for 48 weeks of the year. Similar noticeable commitments have followed in Scotland, and in England, adding to the already pledged offers, incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham has reiterated access to childcare is one of his top priorities. This change in focus is welcomed; however, the ambition needs to be met with the required system support.

Focusing on Wales, we are pleased to see childcare beginning to be acknowledged as part of the solution to some of the challenges within education — possibly the first time a government has committed to investing early to help prevent children from falling behind their peers. That commitment matters. Neither the PISA results nor the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health report make for comfortable reading in Wales, and Early Years Wales has long campaigned for early investment in children and families to support better outcomes.

However, to realise the ambition set out, one persistent issue will need a resolution; the pay, conditions, and career pathway for practitioners in the sector must improve. During my seven years in post, we have seen little progress on any of the issues above and this is not because of a lack of willingness to take action by providers. These issues and deeply interconnected with the current funding models in place to support parent’s with childcare costs; funding that I argue underestimates the cost-per-hour of running a high-quality service.

Additionally, when we list the extensive requirements placed on practitioners and providers — from employment legislation and mandatory training to investing in CPD, often without the means to back-fill staff — and add the steep rises in costs between 2020 and 2026 for utilities, resources, and travel, it is clear that pressure across the system is a challenge for everyone. I remain continuously impressed by the energy, commitment, and value the sector provides despite those pressures.

We welcomed the focus on childcare in Wales, the commitments to expansion in this Senedd term, and the ambition set out in 2025 ahead of the election. The journey towards implementation has begun, but not all of the answers are yet in place. That makes one question central to the work ahead:

‘How do we ensure high quality across every aspect of childcare, so that increased access has the greatest possible positive impact on children’s early years development?’

For me, the destination isn’t access at all costs; it is retaining and enhancing quality and impact leading to improvements in children’s mental, physical, cognitive and pro-social development; laying the foundations needed for a strong start in life. To be certain of this, we need to invest in supporting a workforce that has, for a long-time, lagged behind their contemporaries in education and health in terms of pay and conditions.

I’m looking forward to seeing you in the Childcare Expo in Coventry – opportunities to talk, network, and enhance my own learning are valuable and the Expo brings all of this and more together connecting us across borders in the pursuit of a vibrant and excellent early years system in the UK.