28/07/2026
We at the Alliance are calling on the government to provide more support and guidance to nurseries, pre-schools and childminding settings about safely operating during extreme heatwaves, particularly in relation to the care of babies and young children.
This follows a new Met Office report which warns that climate extremes are becoming the new ‘normal’ for the UK, and that “in terms of temperature … this evidence shows the climate of the 20th century has now gone”.
Current government guidance on looking after children in early years settings in hot weather, which was first published in December 2024, makes no specific reference to how to keep babies safe in hot weather, despite the fact that babies are not able to regulate their own temperature.
We are also calling on the government to provide additional funding to early years settings to invest in resources and equipment – such as funding for air conditioning units – to help ensure they can remain open during hotter summer temperatures, where it is safe to do so. This follows a recent report from the Climate Change Committee, which argued that the government should “invest in cooling for key public services … such as hospitals, schools, prisons, and care homes in many parts of the country to protect wellbeing and often lives”.
We are also urging the government to ensure that providers are not penalised for closing due to extreme heat through the loss of entitlement funding. Current Department for Education guidance states that local authorities should “ensure that providers are not penalised through withdrawal of funding for short-term closures of a setting”.
Commenting, Alliance CEO Neil Leitch said:
“It’s now clear that we are living at a time where extreme temperatures during the summer months are fast becoming the norm. Early educators have done a fantastic job adapting to the most recent heatwaves and continue to do their utmost to ensure the children in their care are kept safe, but they shouldn’t feel that they are doing so alone.
“With an ongoing rise in the number of babies and young toddlers attending early years settings following the expansion of the early entitlement offers, we’re clear that much more support and evidence-based guidance from government is needed on the best ways to keep them safe in extreme heat, particularly in light of new safe sleep rules.
“Over recent months, there has – rightly – been a growing focus on the need to take proactive steps to ensure all children, and particularly babies and young children. are kept safe in early years settings. We’re clear that protecting them from the effects of increasingly extreme weather conditions is very much a part of this.”
