1/10 Today @kittyjstewart and I published our SPDO @CASE_LSE paper on the Conservatives’ record on early childhood since 2015. We analyse policies, spending and outcomes for children under 5 over this period, from early education to benefits for families. https://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/CASE/_NEW/PUBLICATIONS/abstract/?index=7717

2/ Spending on early childhood has fallen since 2015, driven by cuts to benefits. Spending on services – notably early education and the free entitlement – has increased, though not enough to make up for the reductions in benefits.

3/ And within services spending, there's been a shift away from support for low-income families (e.g. Sure Start, childcare support through benefits) towards support for working families (e.g. 30 hours policy, tax-free childcare) - see the squeezing of the blue bar here.

4/ There have been some really welcome attempts to improve childcare affordability through 30 hrs of free childcare for 3 & 4 year olds and tax-free childcare. Maternal employment looks like it's increased as a result. But these programmes exclude the most disadvantaged families.

5/ Worryingly, take-up of early education for 3 and 4 year olds has been slowly falling over the last 5 years. Our analysis also suggests that children eligible for free school meals may be being squeezed out of the maintained sector (where there are more qualified teachers).

6/ Despite increases in employment, child poverty is on the rise. Relative child poverty increased significantly since 2013-14 for children in households with a child under 5, particularly sharply for those with a baby or toddler aged 0-1.

7/ These trends are really starting to feed through to children' outcomes. Gaps in early years development, child obesity & low birthweight have all widened. This graph shows that all progress in closing the gap low birthweight gap by social class since 2005 has been wiped out.

8/ This is the product of austerity but also a policy approach that has viewed early childhood policy primarily as a way of getting parents into work - as childcare, rather than investment in small human beings at a crucial stage of development.

9/ These spiralling inequalities will feed into future generations, and Covid-19 will make it worse. It was never more urgent to put young children & early childhood back on the policy agenda. See our @Independent article here: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/child-poverty-covid-universal-credit-cuts-b1795862.html