Sarah Teather, Minister for Children and Families, has today launched a consultation, Extending Free Early Education to More Two-year-olds, calling for views on the second phase of the roll out of free early education to around 40 per cent of two-year-old children from September 2014 – some 300,000 children.
Two-year-olds from families who meet the criteria for free school meals will continue to be eligible. In addition, the Department for Education (DfE) proposes that two-year-old children should get free early education if they:
- are in low-income working families earning no more than £16,190 each year;
- have special educational needs or a disability; or
- have been in care and been adopted.
The consultation can be accessed at: http://www.education.gov.uk at the ‘consultations’ link at the bottom of the DfE homepage.