Public attitudes towards early childhood in the UK

A report produced by Ipsos on behalf of the Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood in the United Kingdom, entitled Understanding public attitudes towards early childhood was published in August 2025. It is a research report on public perceptions and knowledge of Early Years in the UK. This is the fourth annual report that has been published. When referring to parents in the findings, it is important to note that this refers to parents with children from birth to five years.

Findings
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The importance of early childhood

• 95% of respondents agreed that early childhood is important in shaping a person’s future life, which is an increase in four percentage points from 2022 when the survey was first carried out.
• 27% of the general public believe that all periods of life are equally important for shaping children and young people’s future lives, however, this has seen a drop in two percentage points since 2022. 18% believe the start of pregnancy to five years is the most important, compared with 23% who view the primary school years as the most significant.

Early Years as a priority

• 75% agree that the development of children in early childhood should be more of a priority for wider society, an increase of 2% points from last year. However, only 47% feel this is already a priority.
• Just over half of the general public agreed that the development of children in their early childhood should not be a priority given the other problems facing society in the UK.
• Short term reasoning continues to be more appealing than longer term when it comes to investing in Early Years. The public view the strongest reason to invest in Early Years as supporting children to develop social skills and friendships.
• 25% of parents believe the most important reason for further investment is that it will lead to more children having happy and healthy childhoods while 18% believe creating a happier society in the future is most important.

Knowledge around Early Years

• 65% of the general public feel they know a great deal about how a child’s early experiences affect their later adult life. 34% agree they know little to nothing about how children develop during their early childhood, which has seen a decrease of two percentage points since 2022.
• Reported knowledge of childhood development and its impact on later adult life has increased significantly amongst parents, with now fewer than one in five saying they know just a little or nothing.
• 84% of parents believe they know a great deal or a fair amount about how parents, carers, family and friends can help a child develop during their early childhood.
• Around half of parents report to have some knowledge about physical, social and emotional and cognitive development during early childhood. While parents’ knowledge of all development types has increased over the years, cognitive development is the least well known.

Issues facing families  

• Two in five of the general public mention the “cost of living” as the biggest issue facing parents and guardians of children from birth to five years, closely followed by balancing work and family life. The majority of parents highlighted balancing work and family life as the key issue.
• 29% of parents identify the lack of time spent with parents as the biggest issues facing children from birth to five years followed by the cost of living as well as screen time, both at 24%.
• Over half of the general public believe there is not enough support to help children develop during their early childhood. While 61% of parents believe this, this has decreased by four percentage points since 2024 and by eight percentage points since 2023.

Supports for children’s development

• When parents were asked which type of support was required to help nurture their child’s social and emotional development, the majority selected activities to use at home and guidance from healthcare professionals. Better access to Early Years was the third most wanted support.
• Parents reported they would be most likely to engage in face-to-face conversations with professionals when seeking advice or information about their child’s social and emotional development.

Conclusion

Highlighting the views of the public towards early childhood emphasises its importance to society. It is clear from this report that the public in the UK view early childhood as a critical period in a child’s life. A similar perspective is evident in Ireland, as is reflected in Early Childhood Ireland’s Barometer 2025, which outlines that 76% of the Irish public believe that every child should have access to high quality and accessible Early Years and School Age Care in their community. Therefore, policy making efforts in both countries should focus on children and their families.

You can read the UK report in full here. If you have any questions or queries about our work, please contact [email protected].