Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework (EYFS) update

Posted on 13 July 2023 in News and updates

From 4 July 2022 to 16 September 2022, the Department for Education (DfE) consulted on the following proposed amendments to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework:

  • a change to the current statutory minimum staff:child ratios in England for 2-year-olds from 1:4 to 1:5;
  • clarifying that childminders can care for more than the currently-specified maximum of three young children, when caring for siblings of children they already care for, or when caring for their own child; and
  • clarifying that “adequate supervision” while children are eating means that children must be within sight and hearing of an adult (rather than the current wording of “sight or hearing”).

Alongside the consultation, the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) and Frontier Economics (commissioned by DfE) conducted a study with early years providers to assess the impact of the proposed changes.

In the government response to the consultation, published in March 2023, we announced we would be proceeding with the proposed changes to ratios, childminder flexibilities and supervision while eating.

Today, on 12 July 2023, we have laid a Statutory Instrument (SI) in Parliament to amend the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework (EYFS) to make the changes referenced above. These changes will come into force from 4 September 2023.

The updated version of the EYFS (which will apply from 4 September 2023) is available on GOV.UK alongside the current version of the EYFS (which still applies until 4 September 2023).

We will be issuing more preparatory comms to the sector in August before the changes come into effect in September.

To note, this announcement on the laying of the SI is separate to the EYFS consultation launched on 31 May 2023. The live consultation, which is open until 26 July 2023, explores possible flexibilities that could be introduced to the EYFS while protecting the quality and safety of settings. We envisage any changes made, taking into account the outcome of that consultation, would be implemented in early 2024, subject to the parliamentary process.

The Early Years Entitlements Team