Untapped Potential: How England’s nursery lottery is failing too many children

Save the Children believes that if the British government is to deliver on this aim to significantly improve social mobility in England, it must guarantee every child not just a good school place, but a good nursery place too. The evidence for this is clear: if a child is already behind when they start primary school, they are more likely to be behind throughout school, and for the rest of their lives.

This report shows that more than a quarter of a million children were locked out of high-quality childcare provision in 2015, affecting children from families right across society, in better-off as well as poor areas. But our analysis also provides compelling evidence that children in the poorest areas are most likely to miss out on this crucial support in their first years. We cannot allow this barrier to success to remain.