A report by the Social Market Foundation (SMF) called for savings to be made in further and higher education to tip the balance of public spending more in favour of the under-fives.
A failure to invest enough money early on in children's lives could mean the education system will fail nearly half of all young people, the report claims.
The report, Too Much, Too Late, is the final study in the SMF's early years and life chances research project. It recommends that the Government should:
* raise the current 3,000 cap on student tuition fees
* introduce cheaper work-based training programmes for low-skilled adults
* use savings made on higher education and training to increase direct funding to childcare providers. This will reduce costs for parents and improve the affordability of childcare
* invest in follow-on interventions during school to maintain the gains from high-quality early education and prevent the attainment of disadvantaged children from slipping back.
Vidhya Alakeson, author of the report and senior research fellow at the SMF, said, 'We've seen unprecedented investment in education in recent years, but the link between family background and participation in education is as strong as ever. This won't change if the UK continues to offer a far greater public subsidy to students in further and higher education than it does to children under five.
'If the Government is serious about promoting life chances, it should rebalance spending on education and training in favour of under-fives in the medium term. This will do more to widen participation in further and higher education than current measures that target young people at 16 and 18.'
Too Much, Too Late costs 15 and is available from Emma Carr at ecarr@smf.co.uk.