These annual January statistics report on children under 5 registered for government funded entitlements in England and on providers and staff delivering them. Specifically, the:
universal entitlement for all 3 and 4-year-olds
working parent entitlement for eligible children aged 9 months to 4 years (expanded from April 2024 to include eligible 2-year-olds and expanded from September 2024 to include eligible children aged 9 to 23 months)
the families receiving additional support (FRAS) entitlement for eligible 2-year-olds (formerly known as the disadvantaged entitlement).
The underlying data files include national, regional, and local authority level information for the years 2018 to 2025 (and back to 2011 in the headline figures file).
File formats and conventions
Symbology
The following symbols are used in the underlying data files as follows:
z data not applicable
x data is unavailable for unknown or other reasons
c suppressed to protect confidential information
low rounds to 0, but is not 0
Where any number is shown as zero, the original figure submitted was zero.
Rounding
In the headline statistics file, the numbers of children eligible for the working parent entitlement have been rounded to the nearest 1000 and the percentages of eligible children registered have been rounded to the nearest percentage. In data file 3, regional numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10; therefore regional numbers may not sum to national totals.
Data files
All data files associated with this releases are listed below with guidance on their content. To download any of these files, please visit our data catalogue.
Data files
All data files associated with this releases are listed below with guidance on their content. To download any of these files, please visit our data catalogue.
Headline statistics including children registered for and providers and staff delivering entitlements, by entitlement type.
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
age
Age
all_children_count
Estimated number of all children
childminders_count
Number of childminders
eligible_children_count
Estimated number of eligible children
eligible_children_legacy_benefit_count
Estimated number of eligible children: legacy benefit
eligible_children_universal_credit_count
Estimated number of eligible children: universal credit
independent_schools_count
Number of independent schools
local_authority_day_nurseries_count
Number of local authority day nurseries
other_pvis_count
Number of other private, voluntary and independent providers
private_and_voluntary_providers_count
Number of private and voluntary providers
providers_count
Number of providers
registered_all_children_rate
Estimated percentage of all children registered
registered_children_count
Number of registered children
registered_children_reception_count
Number of registered children: reception
registered_eligible_children_rate
Estimated percentage of eligible children registered
staff_count
Numbers of staff
state_funded_governor_run_count
Number of state-funded governor run providers
state_funded_schools_count
Number of state-funded schools
Footnotes
Children attending a general hospital school and a small number of children attending a special school do not follow the national curriculum. These children are included in totals but not breakdowns by year group.
Where children under 4 years of age are recorded as in reception, this may be because they attend a school with a mixed-year class, because the local authority has agreed it would be beneficial to start reception year early, or for another reason.
A very small number of children under 5 years of age are registered in a higher year group than reception. This may be because the local authority has agreed it would be beneficial for the child, or for another reason. These children have been included in the reception category.
Since 2019, data cleaning exercises with local authorities each year have improved data quality. Provider types have become more accurately recorded over the years and caution should therefore be taken when comparing changes in provider types between years, particularly for childminders and state-funded governor run provision, which has been reclassified from other in some instances.
State-funded governor-run provision is included in the private, voluntary and independent providers category because data for these providers is returned on the early years census.
Data collected in 2021 (and to a lesser extent 2022) was affected by the impact of COVID-19 uncertainty on providers and parents. Further information is available on the methodology page.
Local authority day nurseries are included in the private, voluntary and independent providers category because data for these providers is returned on the early years census.
Number of children registered for and number of providers delivering funded early years provision by entitlement type, age, year group, & provider type. PVIs figures exclude providers where no child accessed all or the majority of their entitlement.
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
age
Entitlement type and age
number_children
Number of registered children
number_providers
Number of providers
provider_type
Type of provider
year_group
Year group
Footnotes
Children attending a general hospital school and a small number of children attending a special school do not follow the national curriculum. These children are included in totals but not breakdowns by year group.
Where children under 4 years of age are recorded as in reception, this may be because they attend a school with a mixed-year class, because the local authority has agreed it would be beneficial to start reception year early, or for another reason.
A very small number of children under 5 years of age are registered in a higher year group than reception. This may be because the local authority has agreed it would be beneficial for the child, or for another reason. These children have been included in the reception category.
Some state-funded nursery schools have a reception class and/or some children may continue to attend their state-funded nursery school in reception year until they are ready for primary school.
Data collected in 2021 (and to a lesser extent 2022) was affected by the impact of COVID-19 uncertainty on providers and parents. Further information is available on the methodology page.
Number of children registered for funded early years provision by entitlement type, age, year group, ethnicity and SEN provision.
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
age
Entitlement type and age
ethnicity_major
Major ethnic group
number_children
Number of registered children
percentage_children
Percentage of registered children
sen_provision
Special educational needs (SEN) provision
year_group
Year group
Footnotes
Children attending a general hospital school and a small number of children attending a special school do not follow the national curriculum. These children are included in totals but not breakdowns by year group.
Where children under 4 years of age are recorded as in reception, this may be because they attend a school with a mixed-year class, because the local authority has agreed it would be beneficial to start reception year early, or for another reason.
A very small number of children under 5 years of age are registered in a higher year group than reception. This may be because the local authority has agreed it would be beneficial for the child, or for another reason. These children have been included in the reception category.
The 'Unknown' category describes cases where the child's ethnicity was refused or not obtained. These children are included in the 'Total' numbers.
No data on ethnicity or SEN provision is available for children registered at general hospital schools.
Data collected in 2021 (and to a lesser extent 2022) was affected by the impact of COVID-19 uncertainty on providers and parents. Further information is available on the methodology page.
5 Children registered by Ofsted judgement at provider
Filename
5_early_years_provision_ofsted_2025.csv
Geographic levels
Local authority; National; Regional
Time period
2025
Content
Number of children registered for funded early years provision by age and provider's Ofsted inspection judgement.
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
age
Age
number_children
Number of registered children
ofsted_judgement
Ofsted inspection judgement
percentage_children
Percentage of registered children
Footnotes
Percentages are based upon those providers with a matched and identified Ofsted judgement (i.e. excludes 'No match found'). The four available judgements sum to 100% (may not be exact due to rounding).
'No match found' includes state-funded schools, as from September 2024, graded inspections of state-funded schools have no longer included an overall effectiveness grade.
Data collected in 2021 (and to a lesser extent 2022) was affected by the impact of COVID-19 uncertainty on providers and parents. Further information is available on the methodology page.
Number of providers delivering funded early years provision by entitlement type, age and provider type. PVIs figures include all providers.
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
age
Entitlement type and age
number_providers
Number of providers
provider_sub_type
Sub-type of provider
provider_type
Type of provider
provider_type_group
Type of provider group
Footnotes
Since 2019, data cleaning exercises with local authorities each year have improved data quality. Provider types have become more accurately recorded over the years and caution should therefore be taken when comparing changes in provider types between years, particularly for childminders and state-funded governor run provision, which has been reclassified from other in some instances.
State-funded governor-run provision is included in the private, voluntary and independent providers category because data for these providers is returned on the early years census.
Data collected in 2021 (and to a lesser extent 2022) was affected by the impact of COVID-19 uncertainty on providers and parents. Further information is available on the methodology page.
Local authority day nurseries are included in the private, voluntary and independent providers category because data for these providers is returned on the early years census.
Number of staff delivering funded early years provision at private, voluntary, and independent providers, by highest qualification and provider type.
Variable names and descriptions
Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:
Variable name
Variable description
highest_qualification
Highest level of qualification
number_staff
Number of staff
percentage_staff
Percentage of staff
pvi_provider_type
Type of PVI provider
Footnotes
Since 2019, data cleaning exercises with local authorities each year have improved data quality. Provider types have become more accurately recorded over the years and caution should therefore be taken when comparing changes in provider types between years, particularly for childminders and state-funded governor run provision, which has been reclassified from other in some instances.
'Total' includes staff without a level 2 qualification, level 3 qualification or accredited graduate status.
State-funded governor-run provision is included in the private, voluntary and independent providers category because data for these providers is returned on the early years census.
Data collected in 2021 (and to a lesser extent 2022) was affected by the impact of COVID-19 uncertainty on providers and parents. Further information is available on the methodology page.
Local authority day nurseries are included in the private, voluntary and independent providers category because data for these providers is returned on the early years census.