We estimate that around a quarter of families with a two year old are eligible for early access to funded early learning and childcare (ELC). This targeted component includes children in households that receive low or no income benefits, children with care experience, and children whose parents or carers have care experience themselves.

Our annual data collection on the number of registrations for funded ELC tells us that almost all three and four year olds take up their ELC entitlement. However, while the number of registrations for eligible two year olds has increased in recent years it is still lower than for the universal offer and uptake rates vary between local authority areas.

CYPIC staff promote and practically support the use of the Quality Improvement Journey across our programmes and connected networks. By applying method to our change programmes we can map the progression of our work, test and refine our approach to ensure we are “doing the right things, right” and most importantly track where we are making a positive difference for the babies, children and young people in Scotland.

A Two Year Old Uptake Improvement Practicum ran in 2018-19, jointly facilitated by CYPIC Improvement Advisers, subject matter experts and policy colleagues. The Practicum supported local authorities, health boards and the third sector to apply the Quality Improvement Journey to improvement projects aimed at increasing the uptake for eligible two year olds. This work led to the development of a support pack for anyone interested in using the QI Journey to help their work to increase uptake for 2 year olds in their setting or locality.

You can access the support pack at the bottom of this page.

What connects all of us is our systematic use of quality improvement. The ELC QI Learning Exchange is a community of practice aiming to build learning on how to best improve outcomes during the early years using an evidence based QI approach. Membership is open to anyone who is working in ELC, however it may be of particular interest to those with a leadership role for improvement.

Find out more here