In the UK, more than a third of children in families with a child aged under 5 are living in poverty.1 Growing up in poverty can affect early childhood development, education and future life chances.
Evidence shows that early childhood services play an important role in mitigating the impact of poverty on young children.2 However, our research with UNICEF UK finds that families on low incomes face multiple barriers to accessing these services.
Our report refers to ‘low income’ as relative poverty which is defined as below 60% of the median income. It defines ‘young children’ as children from age 0 to 5 years and ‘early childhood services’ as maternity, health visiting and integrated services, such as children’s centres and family hubs.
Findings and recommendations in the report are drawn from:
- a wide-ranging rapid review of existing evidence
- semi-structured online interviews with 12 early childhood service professionals
- four UK-wide focus groups totalling 30 parents and carers from areas of high deprivation
- an online survey of 2,892 UK parents and carers of children aged 0-4, facilitated by YouGov and commissioned by UNICEF UK.
Authors: Vicky Nevin, NSPCC and Rebecca Jacques, UNICEF UK.
References
Department for Work and Pensions (2024) Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2023 [Accessed 03/12/2024].See the Background and context section of the Opening doors report for more detail and references
