Lord Bird

In 2026/27, we expect to provide over £9.5 billion for the early years' entitlements. This will more than double annual public investment in the early years sector compared to 2023/24, as we have successfully rolled out the expansion of government funded childcare for working parents.

We have announced over £400 million of funding to create tens of thousands of places in new and expanded school based nurseries to help ensure more children can access the quality early education where it is needed and get the best start in life. The first phase of the programme is creating up to 6,000 new nursery places, with schools reporting over 5,000 have been made available from September 2025.

The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action they are taking to address those issues and. Where needed we will support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract. The department does not hold data on waiting lists. No local authorities have reported to us that they do not have sufficient childcare places.

The department recognises the impact of disadvantage on children’s outcomes. The disadvantage gap in attainment at both primary and secondary remains high and persistent. We also know that children eligible for free school meals (FSM) have substantially higher absence rates.

Every child and young person should have the opportunity to achieve and thrive at school, no matter who they are or where they are from, and schools receive the pupil premium grant, worth over £3 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, to support the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils.

Our Child Poverty Strategy will lift 550,000 children out of poverty by 2030, including through the expansion of FSM, which will lift 100,000 children out of poverty by the end of this Parliament and put £500 back in families’ pockets. Providing disadvantaged children with a free lunchtime meal will lead overall to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes.

The department does not hold evidence on the reasons why eligible single parents may find it hard to access funded childcare entitlements. However, take-up of entitlements continues to be monitored.

We continue to look across the early education and childcare support provided by different parts of government to identify ways to make it simpler for providers and parents, improve access and increase the overall impact of government spending on children and families.

Through our Best Start in Life strategy we will improve access to early years education and childcare, particularly for low-income families and those with additional needs. Parents may also be eligible for childcare support through Tax-Free Childcare or Universal Credit childcare.

In 2026/27, we expect to provide over £9.5 billion for the early years entitlements, more than doubling annual public investment in the early years sector compared to 2023-24, as we have successfully rolled out the expansion of government-funded childcare for working parents.

This government continues to prioritise and protect investment in the early years, which is why we are investing over £1 billion more in the early years entitlements next year compared to 2025/26 to deliver a full year of the expanded entitlements, and an above inflation increase to entitlements funding rates.

The key measure of sufficiency is whether the supply of available places is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents and children. We have regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing.

Through our Best Start in Life strategy we will improve access to early years education and childcare, particularly for low-income families and those with additional needs. Parents may also be eligible for childcare support through Tax-Free Childcare or Universal Credit childcare.

The Best Start in Life Strategy lays the foundation for long-term improvements to recruitment and retention in the early years sector. Initiatives to improve recruitment and retention include the ‘Do something BIG’ recruitment campaign, financial incentives, a new Early Years teacher degree apprenticeship, an assessment-only route for experienced staff to achieve a Level 3 qualification, and operational flexibilities for childminders, including a grant to help with start-up costs.

The department does not hold data on the impact of stable staffing on reliable and consistent childcare for single parents. However, we want all children, regardless of background, to be able to access high quality early education and childcare. The workforce has grown by 18,200 staff to deliver the expanded childcare entitlement and we are committed to increasing the take up of the 15 hour entitlements to ensure that disadvantaged children are benefitting from early education and improved outcomes.

In 2026/27, we expect to provide over £9.5 billion for the early years entitlements, more than doubling annual public investment in the early years sector compared to 2023/24, as we have successfully rolled out the expansion of government-funded childcare for all working parents.

We have announced over £400 million of funding to create tens of thousands of places in new and expanded school-based nurseries to help ensure more children can access quality early education where it is needed and get the best start in life. The first phase of the programme is creating up to 6,000 new nursery places, with schools reporting over 5,000 having been made available from September 2025.

The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action they are taking to address those issues and, where needed, support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.

Through our Best Start in Life strategy we will improve access to early years education and childcare, particularly for low-income families and those with additional needs. Parents may also be eligible for childcare support through Tax-Free Childcare or Universal Credit Childcare.

In 2026/27, we expect to provide over £9.5 billion for the early years entitlements, more than doubling annual public investment in the early years sector compared to 2023/24, as we have successfully rolled out the expansion of government-funded childcare for all working parents.

We have announced over £400 million of funding to create tens of thousands of places in new and expanded school-based nurseries to help ensure more children can access quality early education where it is needed and get the best start in life. The first phase of the programme is creating up to 6,000 new nursery places, with schools reporting over 5,000 having been made available from September 2025.

The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action they are taking to address those issues and, where needed, support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract.

Through our Best Start in Life strategy we will improve access to early years education and childcare, particularly for low-income families and those with additional needs. Parents may also be eligible for childcare support through Tax-Free Childcare or Universal Credit Childcare.

The department has surveyed providers offering entitlements places and the parents accessing them to understand how the entitlements are being delivered to parents. This includes the use of additional extras and charges associated with entitlement hours.

Government funding is intended to deliver 15 or 30 hours a week of free, high quality, flexible childcare. The 15 or 30 hours must be able to be accessed free of charge to parents. There must not be any mandatory charges for parents in relation to the free hours. Government funding is not intended to cover the cost of meals, other consumables, additional hours or additional services.

A High Court judgment reaffirmed this position and the department subsequently updated its statutory guidance for local authorities last year on the entitlements to provide clarity on the matter for local authorities, providers and parents.

In developing the Child Poverty Strategy, the Ministerial Taskforce engaged extensively with families, charities and other organisations across the UK, including those making representations on behalf of children subject to no recourse to public funds (NRPF). This engagement will continue as the Government implements its plans for delivering and evaluating the Strategy.

We are continuing our work to develop our understanding of NRPF and its impacts. This includes work with the Home Office to develop questions on NRPF for inclusion in the Family Resources survey 2026/2027, a household survey undertaken annually to explore living standards in the UK. This will provide greater insight into how families with the NRPF conditions are living in the UK and will help to inform future policy-making.

There are important safeguards that currently exist within the system to ensure that vulnerable migrants and children are protected. For example, section 17 of the Children Act 1989 imposes a general duty on English local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of “children in need” in their area. Any support provided to a child by local authorities under such legislation is not dependent on the immigration status of the child or their parent(s). Local authorities can also provide support if there is a human rights issue, or there is a genuine care need that does not arise solely from destitution.

In England, migrant children subject to the NRPF conditions have access to a range of support to support disadvantaged children. This includes access to Free School meals (subject to certain eligibility thresholds), funding for schools to support disadvantaged children, 15 hours per week early years childcare entitlement for disadvantaged 2-year-olds, 15 hours early years child care entitlement for 3- to 4-year-olds, support for children with special educational needs and disabilities; and local authority grants.

Our Child Poverty Strategy fulfils our commitment to reducing poverty this Parliament, lifting 550,000 children out of poverty, and sets out our ambition to tackle its structural drivers as part of a long-term, 10-year strategy. This Government has taken decisive action, with the interventions in the Strategy set to lead to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (Child Poverty Strategy: Monitoring and Evaluation Framework - GOV.UK), published alongside the Strategy, sets out our plans and further details on our approach will follow in a baseline report this Summer. We will continue to have a dedicated team in government that, with Ministerial oversight, will work across government, the public and private sectors and civil society to maintain focus on tackling child poverty and build on the Strategy.

Government already has a statutory duty to publish poverty statistics annually and we also hold ourselves to account on our progress through the monitoring and evaluation arrangements we have put in place, from this year and in future years, so that the progress we make is transparent for all. Deep material poverty estimates based on two-year averages will be published for each of the UK nations in the March 2026 HBAI publication.

Our Child Poverty Strategy fulfils our commitment to reducing poverty this Parliament, lifting 550,000 children out of poverty, and sets out our ambition to tackle its structural drivers as part of a long-term, 10-year strategy. This Government has taken decisive action, with the interventions in the Strategy set to lead to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (Child Poverty Strategy: Monitoring and Evaluation Framework - GOV.UK), published alongside the Strategy, sets out our plans and further details on our approach will follow in a baseline report this Summer. We will continue to have a dedicated team in government that, with Ministerial oversight, will work across government, the public and private sectors and civil society to maintain focus on tackling child poverty and build on the Strategy.

Government already has a statutory duty to publish poverty statistics annually and we also hold ourselves to account on our progress through the monitoring and evaluation arrangements we have put in place, from this year and in future years, so that the progress we make is transparent for all. Deep material poverty estimates based on two-year averages will be published for each of the UK nations in the March 2026 HBAI publication.

Our Child Poverty Strategy fulfils our commitment to reducing poverty this Parliament, lifting 550,000 children out of poverty, and sets out our ambition to tackle its structural drivers as part of a long-term, 10-year strategy. This Government has taken decisive action, with the interventions in the Strategy set to lead to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (Child Poverty Strategy: Monitoring and Evaluation Framework - GOV.UK), published alongside the Strategy, sets out our plans and further details on our approach will follow in a baseline report this Summer. We will continue to have a dedicated team in government that, with Ministerial oversight, will work across government, the public and private sectors and civil society to maintain focus on tackling child poverty and build on the Strategy.

Government already has a statutory duty to publish poverty statistics annually and we also hold ourselves to account on our progress through the monitoring and evaluation arrangements we have put in place, from this year and in future years, so that the progress we make is transparent for all. Deep material poverty estimates based on two-year averages will be published for each of the UK nations in the March 2026 HBAI publication.

Our Child Poverty Strategy fulfils our commitment to reducing poverty this Parliament, lifting 550,000 children out of poverty, and sets out our ambition to tackle its structural drivers as part of a long-term, 10-year strategy. This Government has taken decisive action, with the interventions in the Strategy set to lead to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (Child Poverty Strategy: Monitoring and Evaluation Framework - GOV.UK), published alongside the Strategy, sets out our plans and further details on our approach will follow in a baseline report this Summer. We will continue to have a dedicated team in government that, with Ministerial oversight, will work across government, the public and private sectors and civil society to maintain focus on tackling child poverty and build on the Strategy.

Government already has a statutory duty to publish poverty statistics annually and we also hold ourselves to account on our progress through the monitoring and evaluation arrangements we have put in place, from this year and in future years, so that the progress we make is transparent for all. Deep material poverty estimates based on two-year averages will be published for each of the UK nations in the March 2026 HBAI publication.

A range of poverty measures are included in the annual Households Below Average Income Statistics including Relative Low Income (After Housing Costs) and Material Deprivation. Relative Low Income involves setting a threshold based on 60% of net household income after deducing taxes and housing costs. It does not take account of any additional costs incurred due to disability. Material Deprivation involves asking families whether they can afford a set of essential items so the impact of any additional costs due to disability could impact on a family’s ability to afford these items so Material Deprivation metric does take account of these costs.

The extra costs disability benefits, including Personal Independence Payment (PIP), provide a contribution towards the extra costs (which includes equipment, care, transport and housing), that may arise from a long-term disability or health condition.

We are determined to lift children out of poverty irrespective of the size of their family.

The removal of the two child limit will lift 450,000 children out of poverty, rising to around 550,000 alongside other measures set out in our Strategy, such as the expansion of free school meals. These interventions will lead to the largest expected reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since comparable records began.

We know that large families are disproportionately impacted by the high cost of childcare.

That is why alongside wider changes to strengthen childcare support, we are also specifically increasing childcare support for large families. Currently, the amount of UC childcare that families with two or more children could claim back is capped at £1768.94 a month. We recognise that childcare costs apply to each individual child and it is not right that we have a system that doesn’t reflect this.

We are increasing UC childcare support to help with the childcare costs for all children instead of limiting this to two children, supporting parents who have larger families into work. Eligible parents will receive up to £737.06 in UC childcare support for each additional child beyond the second.

The Child Poverty Strategy sets out a range of measures that will address the financial strain on parents and families by boosting their incomes, driving down the cost of essentials, and strengthening local support.

This includes removing the two child limit in Universal Credit, which will see an estimated 560,000 families gaining on average £5,310 p.a. in their award, and introducing the Fair Repayment Rate, benefiting approximately 1.2 million of the poorest households by £420 a year.

We are also addressing families’ costs by increasing Free School Meals to all children in households in receipt of UC which will increase families’ incomes by £500 a year, requiring fewer branded school uniform items which will save families £50 per child, and making infant formula more affordable to save families up to £500 over a baby’s first year of life.

We know that parents with caring responsibilities for a disabled child or a child with a long-term health condition can find it especially hard to combine these responsibilities with paid work, as do parents with caring responsibilities for other family members or friends.

Carers will benefit from the wider measures in the strategy that address financial strain, but the government will also work with carers and employers to review the Carer’s Leave Act 2023 which gave employees a right to time off to care for someone who is disabled, has a long-term health condition, or injury.

The impacts of policies contributing to the Child Poverty Strategy will be kept under review and monitored on an ongoing basis by departments using their own established approaches to considerations made under the Public Sector Equality Duty. The ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the Child Poverty Strategy will also continue to assess the poverty risk and prevalence for groups with protected characteristics, as far as the data and evidence gathering allow.

A full summary equalities analysis was published alongside the Child Poverty Strategy and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/child-poverty-strategy-summary-equalities-analysis

We are also taking specific steps to support children with additional needs. We have committed to provide funding for all local authorities to deliver Best Start Family Hubs and are investing over £200 million over three years to strengthen the SEND offer in Best Start Family Hubs, including funding a family-facing practitioner in every hub to support children with additional needs and families from the earliest stages.

Our new SEND system will deliver a fully inclusive mainstream education, supported by £4bn investment. Children with special educational needs will access targeted and specialist support through a clear three-tier framework, with Individual Support Plans and stronger Education Health and Care Plans for complex needs. We will work with the sector and prioritise early intervention and cross-service collaboration to ensure better outcomes nationwide

The Strategy also includes measures to improve the experiences and health and education outcomes of children in temporary accommodation, including disabled children. This includes improving the quality and suitability of placements, £10.9 million in 2025/26 for 61 local authorities to increase access to support and services, and a new notification system so housing authorities can alert schools, health visitors and GPs when a child enters temporary accommodation, enabling timely support and reducing harmful impacts.

The publication of the strategy was just the first step on our journey to drive down child poverty over the next decade and beyond. We have always been clear that this will be a long-term strategy, and we will continue to consider families with disabled children.

The impacts of policies contributing to the Child Poverty Strategy will be kept under review and monitored on an ongoing basis by departments using their own established approaches to considerations made under the Public Sector Equality Duty. The ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the Child Poverty Strategy will also continue to assess the poverty risk and prevalence for groups with protected characteristics, as far as the data and evidence gathering allow.

A full summary equalities analysis was published alongside the Child Poverty Strategy and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/child-poverty-strategy-summary-equalities-analysis

We are also taking specific steps to support children with additional needs. We have committed to provide funding for all local authorities to deliver Best Start Family Hubs and are investing over £200 million over three years to strengthen the SEND offer in Best Start Family Hubs, including funding a family-facing practitioner in every hub to support children with additional needs and families from the earliest stages.

Our new SEND system will deliver a fully inclusive mainstream education, supported by £4bn investment. Children with special educational needs will access targeted and specialist support through a clear three-tier framework, with Individual Support Plans and stronger Education Health and Care Plans for complex needs. We will work with the sector and prioritise early intervention and cross-service collaboration to ensure better outcomes nationwide

The Strategy also includes measures to improve the experiences and health and education outcomes of children in temporary accommodation, including disabled children. This includes improving the quality and suitability of placements, £10.9 million in 2025/26 for 61 local authorities to increase access to support and services, and a new notification system so housing authorities can alert schools, health visitors and GPs when a child enters temporary accommodation, enabling timely support and reducing harmful impacts.

The publication of the strategy was just the first step on our journey to drive down child poverty over the next decade and beyond. We have always been clear that this will be a long-term strategy, and we will continue to consider families with disabled children.

The Monitoring and Evaluation framework published alongside the Strategy sets out how we will hold ourselves to account on delivering the impact we have promised through this Parliament and beyond as part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability, and continued learning.

We will work across government, with devolved governments, local authorities, stakeholders and experts as part of our long-term evaluation. Further details on our approach to monitoring and evaluation will follow in a baseline report in Summer 2026, which will set out the latest statistics and evidence, with annual reporting thereafter to monitor and evaluate progress.

Government also has a statutory duty to publish poverty statistics in the annual Households Below Average Income statistical publication.

The Secretaries of State for Work and Pensions and Education retain responsibility for Child Poverty across government and continue to work closely with their colleagues to deliver on the Child Poverty Strategy.

In the financial year 2024/25, 9% of Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) expenditure was recorded by Local Authorities in England and Wales as related to the Benefit Cap (9%) and 7% of expenditure being used on a combination of welfare reforms (including the Benefit Cap, Local Housing Allowance and Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy). This is taken from the DWP publication “Use of Discretionary Housing Payments: analysis of end-of-year returns from local authorities, data for April 2024 to March 2025”.

As part of the Department’s compliance with the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty, assessments of the impacts of the benefit cap policy on protected characteristics of people in capped households are undertaken to support with legislative changes.

The government is committed to monitoring the impacts of the benefit cap and publishes quarterly statistics on the number of households capped. The most recent statistics were published in December 2025 for the quarter to August 2025.

The Government recognises that growing up in a working household helps to tackle the long-term impacts of poverty on a child’s future health, employment, and life chances. The benefit cap aims to incentivise work and exemptions to the cap are in place for households in work earning at least £846 each month, rising to £881 each month from April 2026.

The Child Poverty Strategy kickstarts action and ambition over the next ten years to respond to the current crisis of child poverty now while delivering longer term change to fundamentally fix the structural drivers of child poverty.

The Government is investing in the future of our children and is removing the two child limit in Universal Credit in April 2026. This will lift 450,000 children out of poverty in the final year of this parliament and is the most cost-effective and quickest way of reducing child poverty and the impacts that child poverty can bring.

In addition, the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 places a duty on the Secretary of State to report annually on the life chances of children in non-working households and educational attainment as two main factors leading to child poverty. These were last released on 27 March: “Workless households and educational attainment statutory indicators 2025 - GOV.UK”

The benefit cap aims to incentivise work as, where possible, it is in the best interest of children to be in working households. Living in a working family has a positive impact on children’s educational attainment, mental health, and long-term aspirations. The Government is driving forward labour market interventions that will deliver a step-change in support and help parents to enter and progress in work.

The Government is committed to monitoring the impacts of the benefit cap and publishes quarterly statistics on the number of households capped. The most recent statistics were published in December 2025 for the quarter to August 2025.

The Government continues to review research from and engages with a range of organisations representing children and families, to ensure the social security system provides the support people need.

The benefit cap aims to incentivise work as, where possible, it is in the best interest of children to be in working households. Living in a working family has a positive impact on children’s educational attainment, mental health, and long-term aspirations. The Government is driving forward labour market interventions that will deliver a step-change in support and help parents to enter and progress in work.

Alongside employment support, the department supports families in work through an exemption from the benefit cap for households earning at least £846 each month. There is also protection for the most vulnerable as those who are caring or are severely disabled are exempt from the benefit cap.

The Government is investing in the future of our children and introducing a fundamental change by removing the two child limit on Universal Credit and therefore reinstating support for all children. This comes alongside a package of measures that will drive down working poverty by raising the minimum wage, creating more secure jobs by strengthening rights at work, and expanding free childcare.

Furthermore, the Government is committed to rolling out Best Start Family Hubs in every local authority by April 2026 and creating up to 1,000 hubs across the country by the end of 2028. Family Hubs will offer universal, open access support for families and connect them to other local services such as healthcare, welfare, early education, and housing.

The Government recognises that households with disabled children have additional costs and that is reflected in the support that is available for these families.

For example, Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is available as a contribution to the extra costs associated with being disabled to those under the age of 16 who, due to a disability or health condition have mobility issues and/or care needs which are substantially in excess of a child the same age without the disability or health condition. Universal Credit also provides an additional amount for disabled children.

Households in receipt of disability and/or caring benefits, including child DLA, are exempt from the benefit cap. This reflects the impact a disability and/or caring responsibilities may have on a household's ability to work and earn enough to meet the benefit cap work exemption of at least £846 each month. Additionally, disability and caring benefits do not count towards the benefit cap.

No assessment has been made by my department.

Our Best Start in Life Strategy, published in July 2025, sets out how we will expand and strengthen family service and improve the accessibility, affordability and quality of early years education and school-aged childcare in England.

From September 2025, 30 hours of Government-funded childcare is now available to eligible working parents of children from nine months old, enabling thousands more children to start school ready to learn (and giving parents greater freedom over jobs and working hours).

No assessment has been made by my department.

Our Best Start in Life Strategy, published in July 2025, sets out how we will expand and strengthen family service and improve the accessibility, affordability and quality of early years education and school-aged childcare in England.

From September 2025, 30 hours of Government-funded childcare is now available to eligible working parents of children from nine months old, enabling thousands more children to start school ready to learn (and giving parents greater freedom over jobs and working hours).

Poverty scars the lives and life chances of our children. Tackling child poverty is at the heart of this government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life.

The Child Poverty Strategy sets out the steps we are taking to reduce child poverty in the short term, as well as putting in place the building blocks we need to change the course we’re on and create long-term change.

The Government is investing in the future of our children by removing the two child limit on Universal Credit, reinstating support for all children in the household. This comes alongside a package of measures that will drive down working poverty by raising the minimum wage, creating more secure jobs by strengthening rights at work, and expanding free childcare.

We recognise that access to high quality, affordable childcare is essential for parents to be able to work. We will increase Universal Credit childcare support to help parents in work, with eligible parents receiving up to £737.06 in UC childcare support for each additional child beyond the first. We will also streamline the process for getting support with upfront childcare costs.

Changes to the childcare cost caps will occur during the 2026-27 financial year, subject to the laying of the relevant legislation and alterations to the UC service.

The Child Poverty Taskforce continues its urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy and is exploring all available levers across government to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year Strategy for lasting change.

As set out in the publication of 23 October ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing our Strategy’, the Taskforce is exploring a range of metrics and will make decisions alongside the publication of the strategy. This work will be guided by the leading, and internationally recognised, measure of poverty - Relative Poverty After Housing Costs (the proportion of families with below 60% of the median income after housing costs are deducted).

Our metrics must also reflect the experience of poverty in households across the UK and the urgent need to focus on those children experiencing the most severe and acute forms of poverty. The Taskforce will consider how best to measure this as the strategy develops, including through our work on the material deprivation measure following the recent review of the material deprivation survey questions carried out by the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

The Child Poverty Taskforce continues its urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy and is exploring all available levers across government to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year Strategy for lasting change.

As set out in the publication of 23 October ‘Tackling Child Poverty: Developing our Strategy’, the Taskforce is exploring a range of metrics and will make decisions alongside the publication of the strategy. This work will be guided by the leading, and internationally recognised, measure of poverty - Relative Poverty After Housing Costs (the proportion of families with below 60% of the median income after housing costs are deducted).

Our metrics must also reflect the experience of poverty in households across the UK and the urgent need to focus on those children experiencing the most severe and acute forms of poverty. The Taskforce will consider how best to measure this as the strategy develops, including through our work on the material deprivation measure following the recent review of the material deprivation survey questions carried out by the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). Research recently completed and funded by the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre has found that socioeconomic inequalities in children’s mental health are evident by age five and persist throughout childhood and adolescence. Further information is available at the following link:

https://oxfordhealthbrc.nihr.ac.uk/study-finds-socioeconomic-inequalities-in-childrens-mental-health-are-evident-by-age-five/