CYP Now - Disadvantaged children more likely to be absent from early education, research finds

Children from disadvantaged backgrounds are more likely to be absent from early years education settings than their peers, with as many as 45 million hours of learning being missed by this cohort, research finds.

Children from disadvantaged backgrounds are twice as likely to have attendance rates under 70 per cent, research finds. Picture: Adobe Stock

After investigating early years attendance from 52 settings across three local authorities – Leeds, Stockport and York – researchers found that attendance rates were lower on average for disadvantaged children eligible for the government’s free childcare scheme, known as the two-year-old offer.

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The two-year-old offer provides 15 hours of free childcare per week to two-year-olds from low income families, but research finds the uptake has been low, with only 72 per cent of eligible families accessing the scheme.

In addition to the scheme’s low uptake, the average attendance rate among children who were eligible was just 79 per cent, compared with an average of 85 per cent among their peers.

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