each uni varies when they do thier placements, I would say the vast majority of uni's do start them in the first year....I'm not sure where you heard that about not offering placements until the 3rd year, the only place I know that does that is some of the scottish uni's (the courses here are all 4 years anyway), the reason being they do thier whole 3rd year out on placement.

I think you'll find nearly every (if not all of them) in England will definitley have placements in the first year