Councils across Wales are to receive £2.3 million of funding to help provide quality, affordable child care out of school hours, the Welsh Government announced today (Mon 24th Feb).
The Out of School Childcare grant helps local authorities to assist families who wish to access childcare before and after the school day. It provides all local authorities with additional funds to coordinate and run wrap around care for children, helping parents and carers to work, train or study for future employment.
As well as childcare, the funding can be used to support holiday clubs and play schemes during the school holidays, supporting working parents.
The money – for the financial year 2014 /15 – can be used for a wide range of activities that support childcare, including:
- Childcare provision for disadvantaged families.
- Specialised one-to-one childcare for disabled children.
- High quality training for childcare providers.
- Start-up grants for childcare providers, especially in rural areas of Wales.
- Support for childcare provision in the medium of Welsh.
Deputy Minister for Tackling Poverty Vaughan Gething said:
“Childcare is a huge issue for many families, especially working parents. This funding will give real support for hard working families by helping to deliver affordable care for children, allowing parents or guardians to work the hours they want or to study to improve their life chances.
“We will expect local authorities to show us how the money will be used to provide childcare provision which meets the needs of parents and carers. We know that many parents and carers work atypical hours, are on low income, have disabled children and there is a need to consider how we meet the demand for Welsh language childcare. I look forward to seeing how this money is used to benefit families across Wales.”
