March 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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• Produced by: Department for Education
• Published: 23 March 2026

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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.

• Data guidance

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

• Data catalogue

  Alternatively use our data catalogue to search and filter for specific data sets from this release or our entire library, providing full data summaries, data previews and access to API data sets.

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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).

8 featured tables

• LA Validation Rates Autumn 2025

  Percentage of codes validated for Autumn 2025 term, for All Local Authorities in England

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• LA Validation Rates Spring 2026

  Percentage of codes validated for Spring 2026 term, for All Local Authorities in England

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• Codes issued, validated, and percentage validated nationally (all terms and ages of children)

  Headline ECS management information stats for all ages of children and all terms separately.

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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 Autumn and Spring terms.

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• Percentage of codes validated by IDACI (Deprivation) Deciles for Autumn term 2025

  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 - Autumn term 2025.

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• Percentage of codes validated by IDACI (Deprivation) 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.

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• Number of Parents Benefiting from Entitlement in England, Autumn 2025

  Number of Parents benefiting from funded Working Parent Entitlement, as measured by issued and validated codes in Autumn 2025.

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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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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

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• Headline stats spring 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 Autumn term to 2025/26 Spring term

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• Autumn 2025 codes issued and validated

  Local authority, National, Regional

  Codes issued and validated by local authority for Autumn 2025 term.

  • Number of rows: 1,791
  • Indicators:
    • Codes issued
    • Codes validated
    • Percentage of codes validated
  • Filters:
    • Age
    • User Type
  • Time period: 2025

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Spring 2026 codes issued and validated

  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 Number of Parents

  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
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• 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

• Autumn 2025 codes issued and validated by IDACI

  National

  Codes issued and validated by deprivation, as represented by Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) for Autumn 2025 term.

  • Number of rows: 30
  • Indicators:
    • Codes issued for 9 months to two-year-olds (Autumn term)
    • Codes validated for 9 months to two-year-olds (Autumn term)
    • Percentage of codes validated (Autumn term)
  • Filters:
    • IDACI Decile
    • User Type
  • Time period: 2025

  Data set information page
  Create table

• Autumn 2025 Number of Parents

  Local authority, National, Regional

  Number of parents associated with Codes issued and validated for the Autumn 2025 term

  • Number of rows: 163
  • Indicators:
    • Parents wiIth a code issued for 9 months to two-year-olds (Autumn term)
    • Parents with a code validated for 9 months to two-year-olds (Autumn term)
    • Percentage of parents with a validated code
  • Time period: 2025

  Data set information page
  Create table

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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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