Toddlers in Oldham were far behind others across England on developing key life skills last year, figures suggest, with fears Covid has made the problem worse.

Nursery nurses and health visitors examine thousands of children aged between two and two-and-a-half years old nationally to check their mental and physical development, as part of the Healthy Child Programme.

The assessment gives parents an insight into how well their child is progressing and is used to help plan and improve local services.

Figures published this month show in 2019-20, just 69.6 per cent of children in Oldham met expected standards across the five areas of communication, problem solving, social interaction, using fine motor skills such as holding a pencil, and gross motor skills including kicking a ball. The national average was 83.3 per cent and across the North West, 82.2 per cent of children reached the expected level.

The charity Action for Children said it was “deeply worrying” to see so many toddlers falling behind. “Sadly what is not reflected in these latest statistics is that the situation has become much worse over the last 12 months,” said its director of policy and campaigns Imran Hussain.

He added: "We know how critical the first few years are to children as they develop at a whirlwind pace, unmatched at any other time in their lives, yet over the last year our frontline staff have seen children of all ages regress in speech, behaviour, education and social skills.”

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said the sector has been “severely underfunded” for years, adding: “This is especially detrimental in disadvantaged areas, where parents have limited funds to pay for additional hours or optional extras, and many children have additional needs.

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “We want every child to have the best start in life.

"We have kept nurseries and childminders open during lockdown to ensure the continuation of the care and education of our youngest children, and we continue to fund settings as usual.”

The department has provided £9m for a programme to support children in reception to catch up on lost learning, more than £4m for early years charities, and committed £14m to help family hubs, the spokeswoman added.