
Latest research highlights barriers that disadvantaged families face in accessing the 15 hours of government-funded early education and that the approaches taken by local authorities can play a crucial role in boosting take-up.
Since 2017, the early education entitlements policy has focused on supporting parental employment, first by increasing from 15 to 30 funded hours for three- and four-year-olds from working families and then by giving the same entitlement to younger children with working parents by 2025.
This was a shift away from the original aim of the policy – the entitlement to 15 hours for all three- and four-year-olds and disadvantaged two-year-olds were introduced to support child development, as the evidence shows that access to good quality provision can reduce inequalities in early childhood.
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