In my work as an adviser working in early years and childcare strategy, I am often asked if a local authority’s childcare sufficiency is being met. It’s a simple question, yet the answer is complex. When as a local authority officer I was asked if it was meeting its childcare sufficiency duty my stock answer was: “We don’t have any parents complaining to us that they can’t find the childcare they need”.

I was always aware that this was down to a number of reasons such as parents genuinely didn’t have complaints, they have low confidence in a complaint resulting in a positive outcome, or even though their childcare arrangements weren’t fully met – they had found a work around.

I think the overriding reason is that parents simply did not understand that local authorities have a responsibility for ensuring access to a childcare place and, therefore, would never think to complain if they couldn’t - finding childcare was surely just market forces and subject to the luck-of-the-draw, dependent upon entrepreneurs setting up a service to meet a commercial demand.

I can understand the reluctance among local authority officers and the Department for Education for promoting to parents that childcare sufficiency is a statutory legal duty – especially given the exponential growth and high stakes government offers of late. The expectation is that this would result in an avalanche of parental complaints, each requiring careful consideration and a response that some may consider a far from satisfactory outcome.

We need to ask ourselves, what is there to gain from parents highlighting gaps if local authority levers are relatively limited? With government funding exceeding £10 billion, and early years income being dominated by public funds, is now the time to think differently?

With the renewed emphasis on the role of the local authority in relation to childcare sufficiency within the Best Start in Life and School Aged Childcare strategies, and the lessons we have learned from the roll out of expanded entitlements, including charging tensions and reiterated guidance, we could do something different. We could make this the time we grow parents’ awareness of their entitlements and use that to support us all in making the changes we want to the whole system – and provide authorities and the DfE with enhanced powers to effectively manage the market in every postcode for all families, working and non-working.

At worst, the result could be changes, and there are no - or limited - complaints. In which case it would seem that perhaps there isn’t a problem that needs fixing, or at least parents are able to find childcare and/or make their own arrangements and do not feel aggrieved enough to merit further action.

As we have seen in the case of the early years entitlements, parental feedback will find its way to the decision makers and the powers that be, pushing them to reflect on policies and how they may be better aligned to achieve wider outcomes. If we do begin to see growing numbers of parents asking for action, or explanation, then this could, at least, raise the profile of the issue. It could put pressure on senior leaders to take notice, to ensure they are crystal clear on the responsibilities, understand the current levers that exist to influence supply and engage people internally and within local communities and to begin to look at possible solutions and/or increased powers. It has the potential to raise the profile of the work early years and childcare teams do, and the impact of that work on the economic, educational, and healthy lives of families.

Now is the time to be bold and fully involve parent power so it is an essential part of the childcare market management duty. That really would strength all our roles and sharpen our focus on what is true childcare sufficiency.