30,000 two-year-olds missing out on free childcare places

Parents of England’s 130,000 most disadvantaged two-year-olds became entitled last September to 15 hours of free childcare from a local nursery or childminder.

But according to data from the Family and Childcare Trust, 26 per cent of eligible children were without free early education as of November.

Take-up was found to be significantly lower in London. The research shows that just 51 per cent of eligible two-year-olds living in the capital were receiving free childcare. By contrast, 91 per cent of those eligible in both the South West, and Yorkshire and Humberside, were receiving their entitlement.

Anand Shukla, chief executive of the Family and Childcare Trust, urged local authorities to ensure they are delivering the offer.

He said: “They need to make sure that local children’s centres are fully utilised and funded to provide the necessary places for the two-year-olds who are missing out.

“They also need to take advantage of the time-limited offer of grants and support available to them from central government to expand provision.”

But childcare minister Elizabeth Truss has defended the take-up of the initiative. “Just two months into the scheme offering free childcare to the most disadvantaged two-year-olds, over 70 per cent of parents are taking up places.

“This is a great achievement and a huge increase on the 20,000 two-year-olds who were accessing early education in 2010 – and with over 300,000 places available across the country, there are sufficient places for all eligible two-year-olds.

“We are working closely with local authorities with lower take-up rates in reaching out to all families who are eligible for the scheme but ultimately it is for parents to decide whether they want to take up the place for their child.”

Local authorities will receive £755m to deliver the scheme from September when the government increases the offer to 260,000 places.

The research was carried out as part of the charity’s annual Childcare Costs Survey, which will be published in full in March.