Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “NAHT believes it would be a serious mistake to relax ratios in the Early Years. Given the disruption of the last two years, and the impact of the pandemic on young children, now is clearly not the time to be contemplating reducing the amount of individual care and attention those children receive. Not only is this likely to have a negative impact on young children, but it almost certainly won’t solve the problem of rising childcare costs either. The Early Years sector and the children they serve deserve better than this.”