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Early yearsMore from IFS
Understand this issue

Sure Start’s wide-ranging and long-lasting benefits highlight the impact of integrated early years services
Over the long run, Sure Start’s financial benefits could be twice as high as its costs
22 May 2025

Spending Review 2025: What it means and why it matters
We take a closer look at the Spending Review and what the policies mean for public services, investment and the wider economy.
12 June 2025

Rethinking the Education Maintenance Allowance: Lessons from a long-term analysis
This evidence should prompt us to look beyond simple financial incentives for classroom attendance.
10 March 2025
Policy analysis

What does the Spending Review really mean for FE?
The chancellor has pledged an extra £1.2 billion annually for FE by 2028-29. But will this be enough to reverse a decade of cuts?
12 June 2025

Popularity of new childcare entitlements could leave spending much higher than initially forecast
New childcare entitlements have proven popular – meaning spending from 2026 onwards could be £1 billion higher than originally forecast.
12 June 2025

What the spending review really means for schools
The next few years are going to be very tight for school budgets and forecasting anything more than a real-terms freeze is highly optimistic.
12 June 2025
Academic research

The health effects of universal early childhood interventions: evidence from Sure Start
We estimate the health impacts of Sure Start, a universal integrated ECI in England, from infancy to adolescence.
9 May 2025

The short- and long-run effects of paying disadvantaged teenagers to go to school
This working paper studies the long-run effect of a cash transfer to disadvantaged students on educational attainment, earnings and crime.
26 February 2025

The impact of labour demand shocks when occupational labour supplies are heterogeneous
We develop a tractable equilibrium model of the labour market with heterogeneous labour supply elasticities by occupation and across occupation pairs.
8 April 2025