Striking that there's no mention of the early years here. The early years current funding shortfall stands at £662 million - that will increase to well over three quarters of a billion by the end of this parliament unless action is taken.

Labour leadership candidate Jess Phillips has called for "National Universal Childcare". She said: "I will prioritise childcare to support mums, dads, nans and grandads, in the knowledge kids and grandkids are in good hands. Like in Scandinavia." mirror.co.uk/news/politics/…

👇Read this - we hear things like this every week from providers over the country. Enough is enough. Time for #FairFutureFunding

How do we respond to the funding crisis? Do we want a sector open only to those parents who can afford it? Or do we want to lift the poorest children up & helps them achieve their full potential? Join us & debate the sector's future with Early Years Research nurseryworld.co.uk/news/article/f…

Missed #politicslive today? Owner Katherine - who has had to take a second job to make ends meet because of underfunding - told reporters she would earn more cleaning the building's toilets than looking after the children. bbc.co.uk/news/av/electi…

Neil will appear on BBC Radio 4's 4 #YouandYours this afternoon. He'll talking about the impact underfunding is having on the sector alongside a provider worried about the impact of minimum wage increases this April. 📻Tune in from just after 12 bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/li…

Now live on air

Listen back to the whole episode here - it begins around 9 minutes and thirty seconds in. bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0…

What does it say about Government's approach to the early years that this report found the last effective policy for investing in and improving the sector’s workforce qualifications was abandoned almost ten years ago? We can't afford another lost decade. nurseryworld.co.uk/news/article/g…

How can providers budget without knowing how much of April's funding increase is actually going to them? Too many LA funding consultations are either too short, delayed not being held at all - it's not good enough and could make planning impossible. nurseryworld.co.uk/news/article/p…

An additional £66 million = *at most* 8p per provider And that’s the money that local councils receive, not providers on the frontline.

"I make more money cleaning toilets than I do working with the children." "I just do it because I love the children. But I'm having to work from home and have taken on a second job. "It directly impacts the children's development" lowestoftjournal.co.uk/news/we-might-…?

State of the Early Years sector over on Facebook - "For the first 35hrs a week, I am paid £3 an hour and then work for free. I am manager, HR, payroll, cleaner.... Then in April it will be less, if any pay." According to the government, Early Years funding is sorted?!

Please complete a survey from Early Years Alliance focused on #funding & #SEND provision. It only takes 5 minutes to respond, and all responses are anonymous unless you choose to provide your contact details to allow follow up with you at a later date. surveymonkey.co.uk/r/SENDfunding

Great work StepsNursery! Have you written to your local MP yet? Why not do it today in less than five minutes until our simple #TakeAction form? bit.ly/2t2XvWn

Hi Ben 🐦📕🌟🌿🍂⛺🥾👣🏔️🛶🪵🪓, unfortunately many early years providers are being forced to take similar action. We agree that this places pressure on those parents who need truly 'free childcare'. You can find out more in our parent infosheet here: bit.ly/2u6Z7yV #FairFutureFunding

Such incredibly sad news: this local pre-school is closing its doors after 51 years because it could not cope with rising business costs. We need MPs to take action on underfunding and support their local providers. Visit bit.ly/31CCezL to write to your MP today.

If you missed The Early Years Miracle on BBC Radio 4 last night, you can now catch up here: bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…