Education Minister has announced a further £600,000
for the Pathway Fund, to help support very young, disadvantaged
and vulnerable children.
The extra funding brings the total Pathway Fund to nearly £4.4m
in 2024-25 which will help support over 10,000 children.
Education Minister said:
“This additional funding has enabled the Department to offer
awards this year to all 175 Pathway projects which met Fund
criteria. It has also allowed funded settings to receive an
additional ‘Sustainability Support Payment' of £1,500 or £2,000
to help with the significant rise in programme delivery costs
over recent years.
“This funding increase reaffirms my Department's ongoing
commitment to stabilise the early years sector and support for
high-quality targeted learning for children at risk of
educational underachievement.”
The application process for the next round of Pathway funding for
2025/26 and 2026/27 will open at the end of November 2024.
Notes to editors:
- The main aims of the Pathway Fund are to: improve development
of children (0-4 years) who are at risk of not reaching their
full educational potential; and an enhanced, more sustainable
Early Years sector.
- DE introduced the Pathway Fund in 2016-17. The Fund value has
increased from £2.94m in 2016-17, to £3.789m in 2024-25.
- The Pathway Fund is administered under contract by Early
Years – the Organisation for Young Children.
