Good Quality Childcare for All? Progress Towards Universal Provision

In 1998 childcare was for the first time put on the political map with the publication of the Green Paper `Meeting the Childcare Challenge' (DfEE, 1998), setting out the first National Childcare Strategy. Since then the childcare landscape has changed beyond recognition with a range of initiatives and considerable funding aimed at improving childcare services. A decade after its introduction, this article considers what the childcare strategy has achieved in relation to early years and what remains to be done to meet its key aim, that is: to provide good quality childcare for all parents who need it and all children who can benefit from it.