Stephen Burke, Neil Homer, Paloma Tarazona, Kathryn Graham and Cliff Mills

The Government has committed itself to extending the provision of quality childcare and early education services. It recognises that as the economy grows, childcare provision is vital in underpinning the regeneration of our most disadvantaged communities and ensuring parents can find work or appropriate training.

But the Government’s National Childcare Strategy, launched in 1998, is not delivering for all children and parents. Stephen Burke of Daycare Trust and Paloma Tarazonaof Social Enterprise London argue that Community-based social enterprises offer the best hope of addressing the chronic shortage of childcare in the UK.

Child’s Play demonstrates how social enterprises are the most successful vehicles for the provision of childcare to both poor and prosperous communities, and that the development of new stakeholder models may hold the key to affordable, sustainable quality provision for all.