Early childhood care policy covers all actions aimed at developing childcare solutions for children under the age of three, i.e. 2.17 million children in January 2023. In the 1970s, subsidies were granted to parents looking after their children and to childminders. A key priority has been developing childcare options to allow mothers to return to work shortly after childbirth. Childcare policies have primarily focused on supporting childminders to develop individual childcare and on establishing a clear legal framework for a diverse range of nursery-based childcare, which accounts for the majority of collective care. All of this financing, paid by the Family Allowance Funds (Caisse d’allocations familiales, CAF and the Agricultural Social Security Fund (Mutualité Sociale Agricole), by local authorities or by the State, accounts nearly 90 % of total early childhood care expenditure. The investigation, conducted by the Court of Auditors and the regional audit chambers of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Bretagne and Pays-de-la-Loire, was based on eleven audits of local authorities and organizations. It aimed to measure the effectiveness of the policy, identify the difficulties encountered and provide recommendations for remedying them.
