Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate his Department has made of the number of children who are (a) eligible for the early years pupil premium and (b) in receipt of that support through their early years provider.
The table below shows the number of children in receipt of the early years pupil premium and the total number of providers attended by those children according to the early years census. The figures reflect the position as it was during ‘census week’ in January of each year.
Number of 3- and 4-year-old children recorded in receipt of early years pupil premium and the number of providers attended
Year | Number of children | Number of providers |
2020 | 49,256 | 12,814 |
2019 | 48,305 | 12,714 |
2018 | 42,830 | 11,928 |
2017 | 47,103 | 12,261 |
2016 | 50,591 | 12,458 |
Source: Early Years Census
The department does not hold information on the number of children who are eligible for the early years premium but are not in receipt of that support.
These figures only relate to children attending private, voluntary and independent providers, including childminders. The majority of children in receipt of pupil premium aged 4 will be in school settings in Reception so will be in receipt of the school-age pupil premium, rather than the early years pupil premium. Therefore, they have been excluded from the figures in the above table.