A crisis in early years education has emerged with the attainment gap between students widening since the pandemic, a report has revealed.

An annual report from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) found that children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) face the widest attainment gap at 19.9 months in reception year - the largest on record.

Particularly, children with SEND and with Education, Health and Care Plans were found by the EPI to have fallen behind their peers.

Disadvantaged five-year-olds were also found to be up to one month further behind their more affluent peers compared to 2019.

White British pupils have experienced a relative decline in attainment since 2019, the report added, leaving disadvantaged students in this group with some of the lowest achievement levels.

And a decline in post-16 engagement was also found, with more than 20% of 16-year-olds not in education or training compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

Kali Jauncey-Childs, trust lead for early years at Oasis Community Learning and assistant principal at Oasis Academy Warndon in Worcester, told Sky News: "I think a key thing is the early identification of SEND.

"We had the Sure Start centres, which were absolutely brilliant at bringing together lots of different services. We had all of the healthcare professionals, speech and language professionals, education all coming together to provide support to children and their families.

"Those [services] not existing anymore means that there isn't that early identification as much now, even with the health visitor, especially since the pandemic."

Zoe Jackson, assistant headteacher at Woodside Primary School in south London, added: "More children are entering our nursery settings and our reception classes with speech, language delays, difficulties in emotional regulation and emerging needs.

"We have been proactive in trying to ensure that all children have their needs met."

Natalie Perera, chief executive of the EPI, told Sky News: "Our youngest and most vulnerable learners are still paying the price.

"Without swift action, we are baking lifelong disadvantage into the system."

In its report, the EPI called on the government to abolish the two-child benefit cap and extend free school meals to pre-school children.

The thinktank also called for all teachers trained in child development and SEND identification and urged the government to increase disadvantage funding across all education phases, with a focus on persistently disadvantaged pupils.

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A Department for Education spokesperson said in a statement to Sky News: "This report lays bare the widening disadvantage gap this government inherited, and which we are working flat out to solve through the Plan for Change.

"From next year we will be investing £9bn per year in a revitalised early education system that helps get children ready for school - with working parents receiving 30 funded childcare hours per week, an almost 50% increase in early years disadvantage funding, and a strong new focus on improving the quality of reception year education.

"Through our new Best Start in Life strategy, we're rolling out Best Start Family Hubs to every local area, and expect to have up to 1,000 hubs running by 2028, with a trained professional supporting families and children with SEND.

"Alongside our free breakfast clubs, expansion of free school meals to all households on universal credit and investment in early support for children with SEND, we will turn the tide on these ingrained challenges across the education system."

The EPI's annual report compares student attainment in 2024 with pre-pandemic levels in 2019, analysing disparities based on economic disadvantage, gender, ethnicity, English as an additional language, SEND and geography.