Education Endowment Foundation:The Early Years Pupil Premium: a practice review of current awareness, use, and decision-making in settings

The Early Years Pupil Premium: a practice review of current awareness, use, and decision-making in settings

Insights from the early years sector.

Based on a survey of 524 individuals working in early years settings and 18 in-depth interviews, this practice review looks at how early years settings understand and use Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP).

It explores how settings identify eligible children and claim EYPP, how the funding is used, how spending decisions are made, and how settings record and monitor its effectiveness.

Key findings

  • Awareness of Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) was very high (95%) among survey respondents. 
    • Seven in ten (71%) of those aware of the funding had also applied for it
  • Interview participants who had applied for EYPP funding generally found the process straightforward. However, in some cases it required asking parents or carers for personal information or more complex processes for checking eligibility and applying. 
  • Early Years Pupil Premium funding is most commonly used to pay for:
    • physical or digital resources (74% of respondents)
    • staff deployment (53%)
    • and professional development (48%)
  • EYPP spending varied by the type of setting: 
    • School-based and group-based settings are more likely to spend on targeted interventions, specialist support, and staff training.
    • Smaller providers and childminders are more likely to spend the funding on trips, resources, or meeting children’s immediate needs (e.g. buying clothes or food).
  • Most survey respondents (92%) who applied for EYPP funding reported that they monitored the effectiveness of the funding. The ways they did this included: 
    • observations of children (80%)
    • tracking children’s progress on key measures (65%)
    • feedback from/​discussions with staff (53%)
    • discussions with parents/​carers (50%).
  • Interview participants felt the funding had a positive impact and enabled their setting to provide additional experiences and resources for children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. 
  • While the April 2025 uplift was welcomed, some noted that the amount received was still insufficient to fund evidence-informed programmes or professional development. 
  • Around one in five (19%) respondents thought they could be working with children who could be eligible, but for whom they had not made a claim.
  • When funding had not been applied for, barriers cited included: 
    • parents or carers being unwilling to share personal information (38%)
    • parents or carers not wanting an application submitted (17%)
    • and uncertainty over children’s eligibility (17%).
  • Key barriers varied by type of setting: 
    • respondents from school-based settings were more likely to cite parents or carers being unwilling to share the personal information required to confirm eligibility (59%)
    • childminders were more likely to report being unsure what information was required to support the application (21%).
  • Interview participants highlighted that the way that EYPP was delivered to settings – typically in arrears, in small instalments, and bundled with other funding streams – limited their ability to make effective spending plans.