First statewide agreement to improve early childhood care and reduce waiting times approved in Spain

Plataforma de Infancia, Eurochild Spanish member, participates in the expert group that developed the first statewide agreement to improve early care.

Since 2022, the Early Childhood Care Technical Group has been collaborating with the Autonomous Communities, civil society actors specialised in childhood and disability, and has been coordinated by various ministries: Social Rights, Health, Education, and Youth and Children.

In a session held in July 2023, the road map to improve early childhood care in Spain was approved. It is based on principles of universality, public responsibility, equity, free access, and quality.

These are the lines of action of this agreement:

• Planning, structuring, organisation and financing of early care.
• Improving the quality of early care actions and services.
• Implementing effective inter-administrative coordination systems.
• Implementing effective processes of collaboration and active participation of families.
• Promoting primary prevention.
• Facilitate access to early care in conditions of equality and quality for all children, reducing waiting times to a maximum of 45 days.
• Guarantee comprehensive assessment and intervention.
• Professional teams and continuous training of professionals involved in early care.
• Optimise information and registration systems.

The timeframe for the implementation of these measures will be 2030 and will coincide with the end of the State Action Plan for the Implementation of the European Child Guarantee (2022-2030), and the agreement also includes a financial envelope of almost 42 million euros (41,874,524.17 euros) that the Ministry of Social Rights will distribute among the regional governments from the European Social Fund Plus.

The Early Childhood Care Technical Group will conduct biennial reviews of the implementation progress based on established indicators.

Read the full news (in Spanish)

For further info, email Claudia Ponce de León Rodríguez, Advocacy Advisor at Plataforma de Infancia