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

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Kyle

The Early Years Pupil Premium practice review examines how early years settings understand and use Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP). It addresses five research questions covering identification of eligible children, claiming EYPP, how the funding is used, decision-making on spending, and how effectiveness is recorded and monitored. A mixed-methods design combines an online survey of 524 early years participants and 18 in-depth interviews, also exploring uptake barriers and changes following the April 2025 funding uplift.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages69

Reading Time2 h 54 min

AccessFree to download

About the Researchers

Executive Summary

Introduction

Methods

Findings

Discussion

References

Appendix A: Weighting approach

The Early Years Pupil Premium A practice review of awareness, use, and decision-making in settings The Early Years Pupil Premium review of current awareness, use, and decision-making in settings The Early Years Pupil Premium A practice review of awareness, use, and decision-making in settings The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is an independent charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and education achievement. We support schools, nurseries, and colleges to improve teaching and learning for 2–19-year-olds through better use of evidence. We do this by: Summarising evidence. Reviewing the best available evidence on teaching and learning and presenting in an accessible way. Finding new evidence. Funding independent evaluations of programmes and approaches that aim to raise the attainment of children and young people from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Putting evidence to use. Supporting education practitioners, as well as policymakers and other organisations, to use evidence in ways that improve teaching and learning. We were set-up in 2011 by the Sutton Trust partnership with Impetus with a founding £125m grant from the Department for Education. In 2022, we were re-endowed with an additional £137m, allowing us to continue our work until at least 2032. For more information about the EEF or this report please contact: The Education Endowment Foundation 5th Floor, Millbank Tower, 21–24 Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP 0207 802 1653 [info@eefoundation.org.uk](info@eefoundation.org.uk) [www.educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk](www.educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk) Table of Contents About the Researchers 04 Executive Summary 05 Introduction 13 Methods 17 Findings 22 Discussion 64 References 66 Appendix A: Weighting approach 67 Caitlin Webb, Aisling O’Connell, Oona Miller, Yesmine Abdelkefi, Yasmin White, and Jacquie Collins 3 The Early Years Pupil Premium A practice review of awareness, use, and decision-making in settings About the researchers The Early Years Pupil Premium practice review was independently delivered by IFF Research. IFF Research is a social and market research agency based in the United Kingdom, and was established in 1965. The research team comprised of Jacquie Collins and Yasmin White who led the practice review, Caitlin Webb who managed the review day to day, and Aisling O’Connell, Oona Miller, and Yesmine Abdelkefi who supported with the day-to-day running of the project. Contact details: Jacquie Collins IFF Research 5th Floor, The Harlequin Building, 65 Southwark Street, London, SE1 0HR [Jacquie.Collins@iffresearch.com](Jacquie.Collins@iffresearch.com) You may re-use this document/publication (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 . To view this licence, visit [https://nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/](https://nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or email:)[3 or email:](https://nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or email:)[ ](https://nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or email:)[psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk](psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk) Where we have identified any third-party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. The views expressed in this report are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department for Education. This document is available for download at [https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk](https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk) 4 The Early Years Pupil Premium A practice review of awareness, use, and decision-making in settings Executive summary This practice review looked at how early years settings understand and use Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) . The review focused on five research ques

FAQs

What is the focus of the Early Years Pupil Premium practice review?

It examines how early years settings understand and use EYPP, including how eligible children are identified and claims are made, how funding is used, and how effectiveness is monitored.

How was the review conducted?

The review used mixed methods, combining an online survey of 524 participants in early years settings with 18 in-depth interviews with participants who agreed to be recontacted.

What does the report assess regarding barriers and change over time?

It explores potential barriers to EYPP uptake and whether practice changed following the April 2025 uplift in funding.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Kyle