Over 150,000 two-year-olds have secured a funded place under the first phase of the expanded offer that came into effect at the beginning of this week, the Government has announced.
According to the Department for Education (DfE), as of today (Friday 5 April), 150,459 childcare codes for the funded twos offer (15 hours a week) have been validated by early years providers – surpassing the take-up expectation set for early April.
It says it expects thousands more two-year-old places will continue to be secured over the coming weeks.
The announcement comes after parents raised concerns over a lack of available funded places, challenging the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, on the day the first phase of the ‘landmark’ childcare offer came into effect. And follows the education secretary, Gillian Keegan’s admittance that an additional 40,000 staff will be needed to deliver on the full roll out of the expanded hours policy.
‘Our childcare support is already helping well over a million families across the country.'
