Responding to the Prime Minister’s speech today on the Government’s Plan for Change, Nick Harrison, Chief Executive of the Sutton Trust, said:

‘The announcement of a new target to increase the proportion of young children meeting early learning goals from 68% to 75% is absolutely the right ambition. But it will be a momentous task to achieve this if the status quo remains in early education for the most disadvantaged children.

‘The gap between children eligible for free school meals and their peers in meeting these learning goals has been widening since 2017 and there is no sign of this trend reversing. Perversely, as things stand, children from better off families are receiving at least double the government-funded early years education that those from poorer families are entitled to. And with competition for nursery places growing, disadvantaged young children risk being increasingly locked out.

‘The Government must find the resources to end this travesty by equalising access to early education, and will also need to invest in the early years workforce to raise the quality of provision, particularly in the most deprived areas. Beyond education, child poverty is a major driver of learning outcomes and it is disappointing to see no target, as yet, to eradicate it.’

Notes to editors:

  • The percentage of children with a good level of development (“school ready”) at age 5 was 67.7% in 2023/24, up slightly from 67.2% in 2022/23, but substantially below the pre-pandemic figure of 71.8% in 2018/19.
  • However, for children eligible for Free School Meals, the figure is just 51.5%, down slightly from 51.6% the previous year.
  • The gap between children eligible for FSM and their peers is 20.5 percentage points, which has widened since 2017, when it was just 17 percentage points.