Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced that while 150,000 two-year-olds will be entitled to free hours of childcare from September 2013, rising to 260,000 by 2014, he wants preparations for the expansion to begin this year.
Blackpool, Cornwall, Greenwich, Kent, Lambeth, Lancashire, Newcastle, Northamptonshire, Peterborough and Rotherham will offer the entitlement to around 1,000 two-year-olds.
Clegg said: "We’re revolutionising the early start our children get in life – there will be more free childcare, it will be higher quality and it will be more flexible for parents.”
In its response to the consultation on the delivery of free early education, the government also announced that money to fund the expansion of free childcare will be ringfenced in the dedicated schools grant from April next year, a position that many providers have lobbied for.
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