Department for Education

July 2026

Expansion to early childcare entitlements: eligibility codes issued and validated

Management information on eligibility codes for the extended childcare entitlement for working parents.

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• Published: 6 July 2026

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  Description of the data sets included in this release, including information on data sources, coverage, quality and any data conventions used.

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Featured tables

Featured tables are pre-prepared tables created from a statistical release's data sets. They provide statistics that are regularly requested by some users (such as local councils, regional government or government policy teams) and can be adapted to switch between different categories (such as different geographies, time periods or characteristics where available).

7 featured tables

• Proportion of codes validated for the Spring 2026 term

  Proportion of codes validated out of all those issued during the Spring 2026 term

  View, edit or download

• LA Validation Rates Summer 2026

  Proportion of codes validated for the Summer 2026 term By LA

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• Headline stats for children of all ages over Autumn and Spring terms

  Headline national codes issued, validated, and percentage validated by term and age of child for Spring and Summer terms.

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• Number of Parents Benefiting from Entitlement in England, Spring 2026

  Number of Parents benefiting from funded Working Parent Entitlement, as measured by issued and validated codes in Spring 2026.

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• Number of Parents Benefiting from Entitlement in England, Summer Term 2026

  Number of Parents benefiting from funded Working Parent Entitlement, as measured by issued and validated codes in Summer 2026.

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• Percentage of codes validated by IDACI Deciles for Spring Term 2026

  Percentage of codes validated by Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) measure of deprivation across 10 Deciles, with 1 being the most Deprived and 10 being the Least - Spring term 2026.

  View, edit or download

• Percentage of codes validated by IDACI Deciles for Summer Term 2026

  Percentage of codes validated by Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) measure of deprivation across 10 Deciles, with 1 being the most Deprived and 10 being the Least - Summer term 2026.

  View, edit or download

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Data sets: download or create tables

Data sets present comprehensive open data from which users can create their own tables using the EES table tool or download a zipped CSV file.

7 data sets available for download

Download all (ZIP)

• Summer 2026 Headline Stats Release

  National

  Headline statistics.

  • Number of rows: 8
  • Indicators:
    • Codes issued
    • Codes validated
    • Percentage of codes validated
  • Filters:
    • Age of child at start of term
  • Time period: 2025/26 Spring term to 2025/26 Summer term

  Data set information page
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• Summer 2026 Codes Issued and Validated by LA

  Local authority, National, Regional

  Codes issued and validated by local authority for Summer 2026 term.

  • Number of rows: 1,791
  • Indicators:
    • Codes issued
    • Codes validated
    • Percentage of codes validated
  • Filters:
    • Age
    • User Type
  • Time period: 2026

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Summer 2026 Codes Issued and Validated by IDACI

  National

  Codes issued and validated by deprivation, as represented by Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) for Summer 2026 term.

  • Number of rows: 30
  • Indicators:
    • Codes issued for 9 months to two-year-olds (Summer term)
    • Codes validated for 9 months to two-year-olds (Summer term)
    • Percentage of codes validated (Summer term)
  • Filters:
    • IDACI Decile
    • User Type
  • Time period: 2026

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Summer 2026 Number of Parents Summary

  Local authority, National, Regional

  Number of parents associated with Codes issued and validated for the Summer 2026 term.

  • Number of rows: 163
  • Indicators:
    • Parents wiIth a code issued for 9 months to two-year-olds (Summer term)
    • Parents with a code validated for 9 months to two-year-olds (Summer term)
    • Percentage of parents with a validated code
  • Time period: 2026

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Spring 2026 Codes Issued and Validated by LA

  Local authority, National, Regional

  Codes issued and validated by local authority for Spring 2026 term.

  • Number of rows: 1,792
  • Indicators:
    • Codes issued
    • Codes validated
    • Percentage of codes validated
  • Filters:
    • Age
    • User Type
  • Time period: 2026

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Spring 2026 codes issued and validated by IDACI

  National

  Codes issued and validated by deprivation, as represented by Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) for Spring 2026 term.

  • Number of rows: 30
  • Indicators:
    • Codes issued for 9 months to two-year-olds (Spring term)
    • Codes validated for 9 months to two-year-olds (Spring term)
    • Percentage of codes validated (Spring term)
  • Filters:
    • IDACI Decile
    • User Type
  • Time period: 2026

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Spring 2026 Number of Parents Summary

  Local authority, National, Regional

  Number of parents associated with Codes issued and validated for the Spring 2026 term.

  • Number of rows: 163
  • Indicators:
    • Parents wiIth a code issued for 9 months to two-year-olds (Spring term)
    • Parents with a code validated for 9 months to two-year-olds (Spring term)
    • Percentage of parents with a validated code
  • Time period: 2026

  Data set information page
  Create table

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Supporting files

Supporting files provide an area for teams to supply non-standard files for download by users where required.

1 supporting data file

• Spring 2026 codes issued and validated

  Eligibility Checking Service (ECS) Codes that have been issued and validated by all the 153 LAs in England.

  Download (csv, 223 Kb)

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Data guidance

Description of the data sets included in this release, including information on data sources, coverage, quality and any data conventions used.

This document contains the guidance for the underlying data included in the management information report: “Expansion to early childcare entitlements: eligibility codes issued and validated”.

This technical document published with the release should be referenced alongside this data. It provides information on the data sources, their coverage and quality as well as the methodology used in producing the data.

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Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Expansion to early childcare entitlements: eligibility codes issued and validated statistics and data:

Early Years Analysis and Research Unit

Email: EY.AnalysisANDResearch@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Thabang Nonyane

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Telephone: 020 7783 8300

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