Report Launch: Every Child is Equal
Praxis and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) reveal the harmful impacts of being excluded from childcare support on migrant families in the new report - Every Child is Equal, Bridging the Childcare Gap for families with No Recourse to Public Funds (NPRF).
“Every child is equal, no matter if they are British or if they are non- British. They are here, so they should be treated equally.” Mother & research participant
Key findings:
A significant proportion of migrant parents are held back from working by barriers to accessing childcare, with 2 in 5 of those using care unable to work as much as they need to and 2 in 5 of those not using care unable to work at all;
Migrant parents are much less likely to use the childcare entitlements they are eligible for than the general population, with just 17% reporting use of the universal entitlement and 10% using the ‘disadvantaged’ two-year-old entitlement;
More than a third of parents surveyed were concerned that their children would be less well-prepared for school than their peers.
New modelling conducted for the report indicates that lack of access to the extended entitlement constraints migrant parents’ working hours and take home pay. Single parents earning low-incomes and working part-time are worst affected, finding themselves 38% worse off compared to a parent working the same number of hours with access to the extended entitlement. Given that children of migrant parents face a higher than average risk of poverty, unequal access to early education and care can exacerbate this disadvantage.
Recommendations:
The government should start by removing immigration status-based restrictions on eligibility for the extended entitlement. As this is fully expanded in September 2025 to parents of children aged between nine months and four years, failing to include migrant parents may further deepen existing inequalities faced by low-income migrant families.
The Department for Education should review uptake of the entitlement for ‘disadvantaged’ two-year-olds among low-income families with NRPF. Specifically designed to try to close the disadvantage gap and one of the few entitlements that low-income migrant parents are eligible for, it is striking that few appear to be using it.
The government must also take steps to ensure that providers of family services are better equipped to help migrant families understand and take up the entitlements they are eligible for.