Adam Marycz, Early Years Education Consultant at TTS, discusses using the uplifted Early Years Pupil Premium to help close the language gap in children under 5.
How much does the Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) cover?
The topic of funding is almost always the top of survey results around the question of challenges facing the early years sector, whether this is funding the upskilling of educators, bringing more educators to the sector and retaining them or closing the developmental gap between children.
2025 is another year of change in the funding landscape and one of the biggest changes is the 40% uplift to the Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) from April which now totals up to £570 per year, per eligible child which is paid directly to the provider.
What should Early Years Pupil Premium be used for?
The aim, as described by the Education Endowment Fund, is to ‘improve outcomes for socio-economically disadvantaged children.’ They highlight how ‘the learning gap between socio-economically disadvantaged children and their peers is already 4.6 months, on average by the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage.’
As mentioned above this funding is targeted at those children who the government considers to be ‘disadvantaged.’ Families can check their eligibility on the GOV.UK website..
How can Early Years Pupil Premium support Language and Communication?
When I was in-setting, I found that being given this additional, targeted funding to be invaluable, particularly at a time where the funding rates for those children, especially the 3–4-year-olds was really struggling to cover costs let alone fund any additional resources, interventions or training.
The number one rule I was given at the beginning of my career was when working with children who are categorised as ‘disadvantaged’ was that educators should always focus on a child’s communication and language development first by ensuring those children especially are exposed to high-quality interactions and a language rich environment every day. A couple of possible examples include reading to the child every day or educators engaging in one-to-one interactions or other targeted interventions.
Language is a prerequisite to the development of literacy skills, the two are inextricably linked. The quality of children’s early language experiences is a powerful predictor of their future educational achievement across the curriculum, not just in those subjects closely related to language as well as future life outcomes. Communication and language is the foundation upon which all other learning is built.
How can the Early Years Pupil Premium be spent?
There are many different ways educators can develop children’s communication and language skills, not just through stories, songs and rhymes but also through providing children with physical resources and play and learning opportunities which improve their communication skills.
Children having the opportunity to hear their own voice through the use of recordables is an engaging way to support a child’s pronunciation for example and these can also be used as a way of introducing new vocabulary to children in different contexts and further strengthening a language rich space.
It is worth noting however that I am not saying children would not benefit from targeted interventions across other areas of their development too. Every child’s developmental journey is unique as is the areas in which they may need additional support. With this in mind, whilst the EYPP can of course be used to support children’s communication and language development there are many other options too.
How will Early Years Pupil Premium spend be evaluated?
The answer to this can vary from one local authority to another. Some local authorities may ask you to evidence how it has been spent, I have experienced this for children who are ‘looked after’ by children’s services for example as they are often eligible for Early Years Pupil Premium for example.
Another question often asked if what do Ofsted look for? Well, as Wendy Ratcliff explained in her Ofsted blog post back in April 2025 – it is probable that any children who are in receipt of additional funding such as EYPP will be in the spotlight during your inspection with interactions between educators and these children being observed to help the inspector to evaluate the quality of education and care these children receive. This is because they believe ‘if you get it right for the most disadvantaged and vulnerable, you get it right for everyone.’
They go further in their explanation by highlighting how they ‘are tasked with finding out what it is like to be a child at their early years setting’ and that this includes children who receive EYPP. These viewpoints are gathered through discussions with educators, leaders and families so that open dialogue on how providers are utilising the EYPP to improve a child’s learning and development is vital.
