Almost a third of children behind in their development at five, figures show

Department for Education figures show 31 per cent of under-fives were not achieving good levels of development in fields such as communication and language, maths and social skills. This equates to around 200,000 early-years children.

What’s more, pupils from poorer backgrounds are more likely to be lagging in their learning, literacy and numeracy levels, the figures suggest.

The figures show only 54 per cent of children from disadvantaged families reach a good level of development, compared with 72 per cent of the age group overall. It found that boys lag behind girls, with 62 per cent of boys achieving good levels compared with 77 per cent of girls.

Detail of the figures suggests the gap between the lowest 20 per cent of children and the average for all children has narrowed by more than five percentage points in the past four years.