A Fair Start?

The first four years of children’s lives play a significant role in determining their chances later in life. It’s a crucial period for social mobility, as this is when the gap in outcomes between disadvantaged children and their more affluent peers first takes hold. A proven way to close this gap is through access to high quality early education.

Currently, under government policy all three- and four-year-olds in England are entitled to 15 hours of early education and childcare per week, and since 2017 ‘working-families’ meeting certain eligibility requirements have also been entitled to an additional 15 hours. But children from low income or workless households – the very children who would benefit most from extra provision - are locked out of these additional hours.