A summary of the CRAE report in relation to play:

Increased attention on recording the attainment of very young children is inhibiting their ability to learn through free play

Rest, leisure and play have been a casualty of the austerity drive. In the absence of a national play policy, many councils have disproportionately targeted play services for cuts¹ with many long-standing services and projects closed and the land redeveloped.

Since 2010 the Government undermined children’s rights under Article 31 by:

• Abandoning a ten-year national play strategy for England with eight years still to run;
• Cancelling all national play contracts;
• Removing responsibility for play from the education Ministerial portfolio without reassigning it elsewhere;
• Breaking a public commitment to develop an alternative cabinet-led approach to play policy;
• Excluding all mention of children’s need for play space from a revised framework document on national planning policy; and
• Withdrawing recognition of playwork in out-of-school care, leaving many children supervised under the same arrangements as during the school day.

Policy and strategy for children’s play and recreation should be reinstated as a ministerial responsibility, and sufficient provision for play should be made a statutory duty for local authorities in England.

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1. A survey in 2014 by CYPN magazine found overall spending by local authorities on play services down from £67.9m in 2010/11 to £41.5m in 2013/4 (a 39% cut)