Figures from the DfE show that the number of two-year-olds taking up a free entitlement place fell to just under 125,000 in 2022-23: 8 per cent lower than in 2021-22, and a record low since the full two-year-old offer was introduced in 2014.
Despite this, the take-up rate reached an all-time high last year, with 74 per cent of eligible twos accessing a place.
There are two trends underlying these seemingly contradictory numbers.
First, big demographic changes are afoot: the number of young children in England has been falling sharply.
In 2014-15, when the two-year-old offer was introduced, there were just over 700,000 two-year-olds in England.
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