New early years hubs for disadvantaged children will be launched in the borough.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has confirmed Barnet will be one of three locations where his Early Years Hubs scheme will be based, providing affordable early years education to disadvantaged children.

According to the Mayor's office, only 58 per cent of eligible two-year-olds take up a free early education place in London, compared with 71 per cent nationally.

The aim is to boost the take up in early years education among those with children in lower income households.

Justine Roberts, Mumsnet Founder and CEO: "It can take time for new parents to become accustomed to the array of childcare, health and educational services that apply to pre-schoolers - especially those with additional needs - and in the past we've seen strong support on Mumsnet for the principle of bringing services together.

"If these hubs prove to be effective in providing affordable childcare and early education, as well as extra support for those who need it, they will be very welcome."

City Hall will provide funding of £175,000 for each hub as well as a toolkit to share learning across the capital.

Led by Barnet Early Years Alliance, four new hubs will be established in Barnet, with micro-hub champions developing a range of initiatives, including setting up a new live feed to provide information to parents on the available childcare places in the area.

The hubs will also will bring family support practitioners together with early years professionals.

Barnet Labour's children's services spokesperson, Cllr Pauline Coakley Webb, said: "It's great news that the Mayor has announced these early years hubs in Barnet.

"Early education is crucial for children to get the best start in life, and access to affordable child care helps those parents wanting to return to work or training.

"The Barnet Conservatives closed eight of the children's centres introduced under the last Labour government, and this has meant fewer families get access to the support they need in those important early years of a child's life."

Children's centres in Barnet were closed after funding from the government was reduced during the coalition.

Leader of the Council Cllr Richard Cornelius said: "We always welcome funding for early years support, and I’m pleased to see Mayor Khan’s budget is not as tight as I had imagined.

"However, this makes it all the more disappointing that he abandoned his pledge to maintain police numbers at 32,000 this week, despite raising council tax bills for that purpose."

The other hubs are based in Newham, Wandsworth and Merton.