Transparency data

Note explaining local authority good level of development targets: 2028

Published 22 October 2026

Applies to England

Purpose of local authority good level of development targets

Children’s earliest years are crucial to their health, development and life chances. Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life sets an ambition for a record 75% of children to achieve a good level of development (GLD) in the early years foundation stage profile assessment by the 2027 to 2028 academic year

It sets a clear ambition that local partners must organise and work together to achieve better outcomes for children in the short and long term.

As leaders of local systems, local authorities have a vital role in driving improvements to early child development in their area. Local authorities have been given specific statutory targets to raise the proportion of children achieving a GLD by 2028. This gives each area clear direction for delivering with partners, including local planning and prioritisation for services across the 0 to 5 system.

Local authorities have published Best Start local plans setting out how they will build capacity, strengthen networks of partner organisations, harness innovation and create sustainable arrangements to achieve their good level of development targets. Implementation is now underway, with local areas connecting and integrating partners to respond to local needs.

Methodology

The Department for Education (DfE) set local authority targets through the statutory process prescribed by the Local Authority Targets (Well-being of Young Children) Regulations 2007. In accordance with section 1(4) Childcare Act 2006, in exercising their functions local authorities must act in the manner that is best calculated to secure that such targets are met.

To calculate local area targets for academic year 2027 to 2028 DfE developed a methodology that asks the majority of local authorities (131 areas) to increase the proportion of children achieving a GLD by 9 percentage points from academic year 2023 to 2024 levels.

7.3 was the average percentage point increase required across England to meet 75%, as the 2023 to 2024 proportion of children with a GLD was 67.7%. DfE increased the average percentage point required to 9% to add a small amount of flexibility and proportionate risk mitigation above 75%. In the event that all local areas achieve their targets exactly, the national score for academic year 2027 to 2028 would be 76.4%. This national figure excludes Rutland, City of London and the Isles of Scilly due to their small population size and the volatility of their data.

Alongside this, DfE set an upper limit and no local authority was set a target greater than 80% by academic year 2027 to 2028. This is a minimum expectation. It means 19 local authorities have a target that is smaller than a 9-percentage point increase by academic year 2027 to 2028. This change has been made to recognise that local authorities starting from a higher position have a smaller cohort of children not achieving GLD and it can be harder to achieve further gains for this group.

Target for children eligible for free school meals

A local GLD target will be considered achieved only if children eligible for free school meals, used here as the measure of disadvantage, have benefited at least equally from the overall improvement in good level of development outcomes by 2028^{[footnote 1]}. This is the minimum expectation. The government believes that all children deserve the best start in life, an ambition shared by local leaders and professionals.

Although targets are set for individual local authorities, achieving them will require coordinated action across the 0 to 5 system. Local authorities should work with partners to target programmes towards tackling financial and other inequalities, improve overall outcomes and ensure that all children benefit from local and national action and investment in early child development.

Accountability and support

Local authorities remain accountable for taking sufficient action to improve good level of development outcomes and work towards their 2028 target. In fulfilling their statutory duties, they should provide visible strategic leadership across the local 0 to 5 system, aligning activity and mobilising partners across health, education, early years, family services, voluntary organisations, community groups and businesses. This collective contribution is essential as no single organisation can achieve the required improvement in children’s outcomes alone.

We recognise that the targets we have set for local authorities are ambitious. We are working closely with local government to monitor the implementation of their Best Start local plans, share effective practice and ensure local areas are appropriately supported to drive improvement to outcomes by 2028.

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1. In November 2025, DfE wrote to local authorities confirming their GLD targets and explaining that it was considering how changes to free school meal (FSM) eligibility would be reflected in the assessment of progress towards those targets. DfE will continue to use the Targeted FSM cohort set out in the FSM guidance. This is equivalent to the definition used when targets were agreed in 2025, allowing progress to be measured consistently over time while maintaining a clear focus on improving school readiness outcomes for children who need the greatest support. ↩