According to the annual State of the Nation report by the Government’s social mobility watchdog, there are 94 local authority areas in England (29 per cent of the country) where less than half of disadvantaged five-year-olds reach a good level of development.
The South East is the best region for a child’s early years, which the report attributes to the prevalence of more affluent areas as well as high development outcomes and good-quality childcare.
This is in contrast with ‘coldspots’ for early years, where disadvantaged five-year-olds are 14 percentage points less likely to be school-ready than in ‘hotspots’.
According to the findings, the best place for the prospects for disadvantaged children and young people to grow up is Westminster, and the worst is West Somerset.
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