The 1989 Children Act: welfare, day care and early years provision

The Children Act 1989 was introduced into a context of early years provision which was characterized by a structural and conceptual divide between ‘day care’ services, provided by Social Services Departments, and pre‐school educational services, provided by Education Departments. The Children Act 1989 includes day care within the range of ‘family support services’ to be provided for children ‘in need’ and, although it requires collaboration between various agencies and departments, the structural and conceptual divide between the two systems of services remains. The Act also introduces a new regulatory regime for general day care services. This paper describes how two key aspects of the Act, in relation to day care services, have been implemented by local authorities: the duty placed on local authorities to provide for children ‘in need’, and the duty to regulate services in general use in the private and voluntary sectors. In doing so, it highlights how some of the problems emerging from implementation relate to the structural and conceptual divide between education and care that is perpetuated in the Act, and to the tensions inherent in attempting to regulate the growing private market in day care. The authors assert that the Act is essentially conservative in leaving assumptions that underlie early years policy unchallenged. It is argued that the Act consolidates the welfare role of day care and that the regulation of general services included within this model makes more acute the tensions between allowing the free operation of the market and attempting to promote quality. In the light of this, the authors question the combination of the two duties within the same, essentially welfare orientated, legislation. They conclude by offering some alternative models for an integrated early childhood service.