The Mayor of London has launched a campaign to boost awareness of the funded early years entitlements after latest data shows the number of disadvantaged two-year-olds taking up a place remains below pre-pandemic levels.
Across England as a whole, take-up of the 15-hours of government-funded early education for the 40 per cent most disadvantaged two-year-olds has been significantly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Most recent Department for Education data published last July shows that on average, 62 per cent of eligible two-year-olds were accessing a place in January 2021, compared with 69 per cent in January 2020.
However, the steepest fall has been in London where just half of eligible children were accessing a place in January 2021 compared to 59 per cent the year before. Late last year, with little sign of take-up improving and cases of the Omicron variant beginning to surge, London Mayor Sadiq Khan launched the Mayor’s London Early Years Campaign as part of wider pandemic recovery efforts.
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