Education Policy Institute comments on the government's Plan for Change

Commenting on the government's Plan for Change, Natalie Perera, Chief Executive at the Education Policy Institute said:

"We welcome the government's focus on the early years in today's "Plan for Change". As EPI research has highlighted, disadvantage gaps are already evident by age 5 and those gaps only widen as children go through the school system.

However, we would expect the proportion of children reported to be achieving a good level of development to increase year-on-year in any case. The more important measure in an opportunity-led mission to reduce the gap between disadvantaged and vulnerable children and their peers.

Improving outcomes for disadvantaged children also requires a relentless drive to bring down child poverty and to provide families with early support. The focus on Family Hubs and learning lessons about what worked from the Sure Start programme is an important element of today's announcement.

In order to meet its mission to break down barriers to opportunity, the government's forthcoming child poverty strategy must be bold and ensure that every child is able to thrive."