The number of children going to after-school clubs has dropped in the past year, new figures have revealed.

The Department for Education statistics show that the proportion of school-age children going to after-school clubs fell from 41 per cent in 2017 to 35 per cent in 2018.

They also reveal that the fall in numbers has been more significant in deprived areas than other places.

Formal childcare for school-aged children includes breakfast clubs, after-school clubs and holiday clubs.

The statistics show that while the use of breakfast clubs by school-aged children has stayed at 8 per cent of children, and the use of formal childcare in the school holidays has dropped slightly from 22 per cent in 2017 to 21 per cent in 2018, there was a more significant drop in the use of after-school clubs across all age ranges.

And the decline was steepest in the most deprived areas of the country, where 21 per cent of pupils used after-school clubs in 2018, compared with 29 per cent in 2017.

The use of after-school clubs also fell for school-aged children in relatively less-deprived areas, but these falls were not statistically significant, the release states.

Across all areas, the figures show that in 2017, 42 per cent of 5- to 7-year-olds went to after-school clubs; in 2018, this had dropped to 37 per cent. For 8- to 11-year-olds, there was a fall from 54 per cent to 41 per cent, and for children aged 12-14, there was a fall from 34 per cent to 26 per cent.

The statistics show that the proportion of pre-school children receiving formal childcare has stayed stable.

The statistics are based on a survey of 5,922 parents with children up to the age of 14 in England.