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Two-year-old places have bridged the gap in early years take-up, shows study

The Government’s two-year-old offer has closed the gap between the most disadvantaged and advantaged children taking-up early years education, a new report claims.

The latest Study of Early Education and Development (SEED) report shows that once children from the most disadvantaged families turned two, they were almost as likely to attend early years settings as their more advantaged peers.

However, it also highlights the low take-up of the two-year-old places.

Twenty per cent of two-year-olds in the poorest households have been eligible for 15 hours of funded early education since September 2013. This was expanded to 40 per cent in September 2014.

According to the report, which is based upon a survey of over 5,600 families, at age two 58 per cent of children from the most disadvantaged families took up a childcare place, compared to 60 per cent of those from moderately disadvantaged and advantaged households.

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