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Free childcare entitlement 'not levelling the playing field' for disadvantaged children

The public spending watchdog has warned that the development gap for disadvantaged children is at risk of increasing due low take-up of funded places in deprived areas and poorer quality provision.
The Department for Education (DfE) falls short of its target for the take-up of funded two-year-old places
The Department for Education (DfE) falls short of its target for the take-up of funded two-year-old places

According to the National Audit Office (NAO), which has today published a report assessing the value for money of free childcare entitlement, while take-up of the universal 15 hours childcare a week for three- and four-year-olds is high, the Department for Education (DfE) falls short of its target for the take-up of funded two-year-old places.

The DfE’s target is between 73 per cent and 77 per cent take-up among eligible two-year-olds, but the NAO says that in 2019, those benefiting from the places fell nationally to 68 per cent, and varied between 39 per cent and 97 per cent among different local authorities.

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