The Department for Education has claimed 195,355 children are benefitting from the government-funded childcare expansion launched in April.
The expansion allows all eligible two-year-olds of working parents to access 15 hours of funded care per week, increasing to 30 hours per week for children aged nine months and above from September 2025.
The DfE said the expanded scheme has enabled "tens of thousands" of parents to return to work, with the rollout on track to meet demand for places for nine-month-olds this September.
However, early years organisations have raised concerns over the reliability of government data surrounding the success of the scheme.
Early Years Alliance chief executive, Neil Leitch, said: “England's early years sector continues to face severe capacity challenges. So while these statistics may show the number of places that have been granted, what they don't reveal is whether families have been able to access all the days and sessions they need: a parent who has been given one day a week at their local setting – but needs five – may technically have a funded place, but not one that meets their needs.
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