All parents, working or not, should have access to childcare, say experts in England

Under current plans, only children whose parents work a minimum of 16 hours a week are entitled to the new 15 and 30 hours of childcare being phased in. Photograph: Stuart Boulton/Alamy

A manifesto calling for an overhaul of childcare provision in England, including making early education accessible to all children regardless of whether their parents work or not, has been backed by dozens of leading employers and unions.

Thirty-five national organisations have joined forces to call for the reform of the current childcare model, including the Federation of Small Businesses, the Early Years Alliance, the Fawcett Society, the Joseph Rowntree Trust, and National Children’s Bureau.