{
 "id": "funded-early-education-england",
 "title": "Take-up of funded early education, England",
 "category": "education",
 "summary": "The share of eligible children registered for funded early education each January in England: 3 and 4-year-olds for the universal entitlement and 2-year-olds for early learning for 2-year-olds, from the DfE.",
 "unit": "percent",
 "chart": "line",
 "volatile": false,
 "status": "Accredited official statistics",
 "notes": [
  "Children registered in January for the government-funded entitlements, in any setting, as a share of the DfE's estimate of those eligible: every 3 and 4-year-old for the universal 15 hours, and 2-year-olds who meet the criteria for early learning for 2-year-olds (families on certain benefits or low incomes, children looked after or with an EHC plan, among others).",
  "The estimates of eligible children come from population estimates and, for 2-year-olds, DWP's records, so a take-up rate can move with the estimate as well as with registrations. The registered children and the estimates behind each share are in the record's data.",
  "The entitlements for working parents, from 9 months old, are counted in another of the DfE's files, not in this data set, so they are not here."
 ],
 "provenance": {
  "publisher": "Department for Education",
  "publisher_url": "https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/",
  "source_page": "https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/funded-early-education-and-childcare",
  "licence": "OGL-3.0",
  "licence_name": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.",
  "retrieved_at": "2026-11-08T13:08:00Z",
  "raw_files": [
   {
    "name": "meta.json",
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   },
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    "name": "query.json",
    "url": "https://api.education.gov.uk/statistics/v1/data-sets/019efe35-3052-7638-9105-4edbf506eb54/query?dataSetVersion=1.0&indicators=WcUd2,mUdf9,0evCT&geographicLevels.in=NAT,REG&timePeriods.in=2018%7CRY,2019%7CRY,2020%7CRY,2021%7CRY,2022%7CRY,2023%7CRY,2024%7CRY,2025%7CRY,2026%7CRY&pageSize=10000",
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 },
 "meta": {
  "latest_period": "January 2026",
  "version": "1.0",
  "data_set": "019efe35-3052-7638-9105-4edbf506eb54",
  "children": {
   "3 and 4-year-olds": {
    "January 2018": {
     "registered": 1284632.0,
     "eligible": 1322233.550811
    },
    "January 2019": {
     "registered": 1277137.0,
     "eligible": 1315386.334361
    },
    "January 2020": {
     "registered": 1271544.0,
     "eligible": 1310666.667577
    },
    "January 2021": {
     "registered": 1211991.0,
     "eligible": 1286697.826366
    },
    "January 2022": {
     "registered": 1212234.0,
     "eligible": 1263562.166276
    },
    "January 2023": {
     "registered": 1196031.0,
     "eligible": 1269736.277496
    },
    "January 2024": {
     "registered": 1169541.0,
     "eligible": 1270734.934523
    },
    "January 2025": {
     "registered": 1155342.0,
     "eligible": 1270169.922825
    },
    "January 2026": {
     "registered": 1127056.0,
     "eligible": 1250185.175436
    }
   },
   "3-year-olds": {
    "January 2018": {
     "registered": 628503.0,
     "eligible": 658521.77105
    },
    "January 2019": {
     "registered": 625658.0,
     "eligible": 658455.161549
    },
    "January 2020": {
     "registered": 621351.0,
     "eligible": 653992.344535
    },
    "January 2021": {
     "registered": 574845.0,
     "eligible": 634638.590295
    },
    "January 2022": {
     "registered": 582295.0,
     "eligible": 623763.867423
    },
    "January 2023": {
     "registered": 576886.0,
     "eligible": 631107.406292
    },
    "January 2024": {
     "registered": 559825.0,
     "eligible": 623155.053359
    },
    "January 2025": {
     "registered": 565961.0,
     "eligible": 638657.510746
    },
    "January 2026": {
     "registered": 535220.0,
     "eligible": 610427.206601
    }
   },
   "4-year-olds": {
    "January 2018": {
     "registered": 656129.0,
     "eligible": 663711.779761
    },
    "January 2019": {
     "registered": 651479.0,
     "eligible": 656931.172811
    },
    "January 2020": {
     "registered": 650193.0,
     "eligible": 656674.323043
    },
    "January 2021": {
     "registered": 637146.0,
     "eligible": 652059.236071
    },
    "January 2022": {
     "registered": 629939.0,
     "eligible": 639798.298853
    },
    "January 2023": {
     "registered": 619145.0,
     "eligible": 638628.871204
    },
    "January 2024": {
     "registered": 609716.0,
     "eligible": 647579.881163
    },
    "January 2025": {
     "registered": 589381.0,
     "eligible": 631512.412079
    },
    "January 2026": {
     "registered": 591836.0,
     "eligible": 639757.968835
    }
   },
   "2-year-olds": {
    "January 2018": {
     "registered": 154962.0,
     "eligible": 215879.0
    },
    "January 2019": {
     "registered": 148751.0,
     "eligible": 219316.0
    },
    "January 2020": {
     "registered": 143439.0,
     "eligible": 207392.0
    },
    "January 2021": {
     "registered": 124543.0,
     "eligible": 201562.0
    },
    "January 2022": {
     "registered": 135410.0,
     "eligible": 188318.0
    },
    "January 2023": {
     "registered": 124211.0,
     "eligible": 167976.0
    },
    "January 2024": {
     "registered": 115852.0,
     "eligible": 154957.0
    },
    "January 2025": {
     "registered": 95031.0,
     "eligible": 145824.0
    },
    "January 2026": {
     "registered": 85629.0,
     "eligible": 119598.0
    }
   }
  }
 },
 "headline": {
  "label": "England",
  "value": 90.151125,
  "period": "January 2026",
  "note": "1,127,056 3 and 4-year-olds registered for the universal entitlement"
 },
 "series": [
  {
   "name": "3 and 4-year-olds",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "January 2018",
     "v": 97.15621
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2019",
     "v": 97.09216
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2020",
     "v": 97.015056
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2021",
     "v": 94.193911
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2022",
     "v": 95.93782
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2023",
     "v": 94.195229
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2024",
     "v": 92.036582
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2025",
     "v": 90.959641
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2026",
     "v": 90.151125
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "3-year-olds",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "January 2018",
     "v": 95.441491
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2019",
     "v": 95.019074
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2020",
     "v": 95.00891
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2021",
     "v": 90.578324
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2022",
     "v": 93.351832
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2023",
     "v": 91.40853
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2024",
     "v": 89.837192
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2025",
     "v": 88.617293
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2026",
     "v": 87.679578
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "4-year-olds",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "January 2018",
     "v": 98.857519
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2019",
     "v": 99.170054
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2020",
     "v": 99.013008
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2021",
     "v": 97.712902
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2022",
     "v": 98.458999
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2023",
     "v": 96.949109
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2024",
     "v": 94.153018
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2025",
     "v": 93.32849
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2026",
     "v": 92.50936
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "name": "2-year-olds",
   "points": [
    {
     "x": "January 2018",
     "v": 71.781878
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2019",
     "v": 67.824965
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2020",
     "v": 69.163227
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2021",
     "v": 61.788928
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2022",
     "v": 71.904969
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2023",
     "v": 73.945683
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2024",
     "v": 74.763967
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2025",
     "v": 65.168285
    },
    {
     "x": "January 2026",
     "v": 71.597351
    }
   ]
  }
 ]
}