Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers (SCEYP)
About the study
The Department for Education (DfE) have commissioned the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) to conduct annual surveys of childcare and early years providers in England from 2026 to 2028.
The Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers (SCEYP) is a long-standing study of the early years sector, including nursery provision in schools in England. The evidence it gathers is crucial in providing an accurate picture of the early years sector and has been doing so for the past two decades. The data collected from this major research study will be published as Official Statistics and will be used to develop government policy around childcare.
Frequently asked questions
What will you ask me about?
The survey will cover background information about your provision such as the type of setting, the number of staff and your opening times. Other topics include the number of children attending the setting, funded hours and children with special educational needs. There will also be questions about the make-up of your workforce as well as questions covering financial topics.
To make it easier for you to complete the survey you will be provided with a preparation sheet, which will include information about the topics covered in the survey.
Why take part and what will it involve?
We hope your setting will contribute data to the evidence used by the Government to monitor changes in the early years sector and to develop new policies supporting providers, the early years workforce and families with pre-school children. In the past, SCEYP data has been used by the Department for Education to understand better issues with recruitment and retention of the early years workforce and to justify government spending on workforce growth programmes. SCEYP data has also been used to work out the funding rates for different age groups eligible for funded hours and to monitor how these funded entitlements for families might affect financial sustainability of providers in the early years sector.
Taking part involves completing a 20 to 40-minute long questionnaire either online or over the phone with one of our interviewers at a time convenient for you. The 2026 survey is taking place from April to July 2026, and you will receive letters and emails with details about how to access it.
Do I have to answer all the questions?
Taking part is voluntary, and you don’t have to answer any questions you don’t want to; you can just skip on to the next one. You also do not need to submit your answers in one go – you can pause and return to the questionnaire at any point.
Why have I been invited to take part?
We are inviting all early years group-based providers (day nurseries and pre-schools) in the private and voluntary sector, all childminders registered with Ofsted (but not those registered with childminding agencies), and all schools with nursery provision (state-funded and independent) in England to take part. This is so that we get a truly representative picture of childcare and early years provision across the country. This is not an inspection or assessment; we just want to know more about you as a provider in order to better understand provision across the country.
You may have taken part in SCEYP last year or earlier. We still want you to complete the questionnaire this year so that we can track any changes over time.
Where did you obtain my contact details from?
We obtained your contact details (provider name, postal address, phone number(s) and email address) from DfE, who had this information in their management records or asked for it from Ofsted. Where an email address was not available for any group-based providers in the data from Ofsted, we looked up those email addresses online.
Where can I find out more?
For anything not covered here, please email SCEYP@natcen.ac.uk or call 0800 652 4572. One of our staff will get back to you to answer your query, as soon as possible.
If you would like to contact DfE about this project, you can email EY.analysisandresearch@education.gov.uk.
Who is carrying out the research?
The study has been commissioned by DfE and is being carried out by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen). You can find out more information about NatCen here.
Contact us
Email SCEYP@natcen.ac.uk or call 0800 652 4572.
We guard your privacy
We will treat the information you give us in the strictest confidence under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The data collected are used for research purposes only. Your name and contact details will be stored securely, and only the named members of the research team at NatCen, and other researchers appointed by DfE to carry out the SCEYP in the future, will be able to access it. At the end of the study, all data will be anonymised before being passed on to DfE.
You can see our privacy notice here.