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Funding to sustain current
and create, where needed, new childcare provision.
In
particular, continuation of the Out of School Childcare Grant post
April 2017. This would also allow continued support to help
childcare clubs become registered to support quality, affordability
and sustainability.
The provision of funding
through the Out of School Childcare Grant has seen the sector
develop and grow over the last seven years, enabling parents and
carers to return to work, extend working hours or return to
training knowing their children are cared for in quality Out of
School Childcare Clubs. The provision of the grant has also enabled
the support of the childcare sector in what has been both a
difficult financial period and a period of change. Ideally
continued support via this grant should be on a three year
cycle to enable a structured plan to be developed to maximise
the use of this grant fund and enable it to maintain the
sustainability of the current childcare settings and enable
development where gaps have been identified in the Childcare
Sufficiency Audits. Providing parents and carers with choice and
flexibility in quality Out of School childcare settings and quality
and safe play and learning opportunities for children.
This would
also allow
continued support to ensure
all childcare clubs become registered. Currently there
are 243 unregistered and 38 non-registerable out of school settings
across Wales (18% of all clubs). Such clubs are currently
unable to access Playwork Apprenticeships and parents using them
will not be able to access Tax Free Childcare or Working
Tax/Universal Credits, which means affordability (and
sustainability) and quality, is compromised. Ongoing support
is required to encourage and provide practical help to register
with CSSIW. A mechanism to set standards within
non-registered settings would also drive quality in the transition
period.
Additionally continuation
of the Children and Families Delivery Grant for a further 3
year term, to allow the CWLWM consortium to build on the
excellent strategic work done so far. Cwlwm, brings together
the five leading childcare organisations in Wales, to deliver a
bilingual integrated service that ensures the best possible
outcomes for children and families across Wales, within the Welsh
Government's 'whole-system' approach.
Improved access to
childcare for families in deprived communities and areas of high
unemployment to enable people to take up training/returning to
work
Out of School Childcare
Clubs are particularly important for lone parent/low income
families as they provide convenient, affordable, childcare,
enabling parents to work and train, driving economic growth,
tackling poverty and reducing inequalities in communities. In
addition, attending a high quality childcare setting has a
significant influence on a child’s development, especially
those children who come from disadvantaged
backgrounds. However, it is a struggle
to open and maintain clubs in disadvantaged areas as they need to
be affordable to families in the community and therefore need more
resources and support from umbrella organisations to build and
maintain management capacity.
In 2010/11, Clybiau Plant
Cymru Kids’ Clubs distributed £52,987 in
‘Assisted Places’ grants in Anglesey, Conwy,
Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouth,
Newport and Wrexham (Community Focussed Schools, Cymorth, RSG and
Childcare Core grants). The ‘Assisted
Places’ grant scheme aims to enable children from families in
need of financial support to attend an out of school childcare club
so that their parents/carers can continue or return to work or
training, for respite care, social inclusion or other
reasons. The grant is paid directly to the childcare club to
subsidise fees. Financial need from
parents and to ensure it does not replace childcare assistance of
WTC is evidenced.
The Assisted Places grant
scheme also works to sustain childcare clubs – particularly
in disadvantaged areas – as attendance figures and income are
increased for the club and fees are subsidised for the low income
families who would otherwise be unable to attend (or would have to
reduce the number of sessions).
In 2016/17, we only have
Assisted Places grant schemes in Newport and Gwynedd and any
support provided by local authorities for low income families is
not consistent across Wales.
More funding for children
with additional needs to access childcare and play
opportunities.
If children with
additional needs need additional support to access a childcare
setting, through a one to one worker, the cost often has to be met
by childcare providers, who often struggle to remain sustainable
anyway, or the child is unable to attend.
In 2010/11, Clybiau Plant
Cymru Kids’ Clubs distributed £60,351.51
in Conwy,
Flintshire, Gwynedd, Newport, Pembrokeshire, Torfaen and Wrexham in
‘Extra Hands’ grants (Community Focussed
Schools, Cymorth, Carers’ grants). These support
children with additional needs and their families who would
otherwise be unable to attend club. It also supports the
sustainability of clubs, which struggle financially to employ
additional one to one staff. The ‘Extra
Hands’ grant is paid directly to the club to pay for a one to
one support worker for the specific child.
The grants allowed
children with additional needs to attend clubs of their choice and
within their communities and are particularly important for clubs
set up specifically to support children with additional
needs.
However in 2016/17, we now
only have funding from Newport, Conwy and Gwynedd. There are
some local authority schemes, but there is not a consistent level
of support across Wales and information can sometimes be difficult
to access. There should be sufficient resources in place to
ensure that families can access quality childcare across Wales,
regardless of any additional needs.
Continued
availability of Playwork training for staff in childcare settings
(both registered and unregistered)
The provision of
work-based learning in the sector is fundamental to ensuring that
quality and standards are not purely maintained but also improve.
Changes in childcare legislation and registration of childcare
settings mean that childcare settings will need to access Playwork
training in order to obtain and keep their registration with Care
and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW). Currently there is
limited Playwork training available for unregistered settings, so
unless childcare settings can fund training themselves, Out Of
School Childcare settings have limited or no access to training.
Childcare settings are able to access Welsh government training
through programmes such as WBL Apprenticeships and Progress for
Success. These programmes of learning have eligibility requirements
which mean a lot of Out of School Childcare settings can not access
these programmes. Apprentices must be 16-24 year olds and some
restrictions apply as to how long they have been in post. Progress
for Success is for 25+ but learners have to be working 16 hours and
be in a registered setting. This means that the nature of Out of
School Childcare Clubs puts Playworkers at a disadvantage and
unable to access these programmes, leaving them with no access to
the qualifications they need in order to register their
setting. The new government Tax Free Childcare scheme is only
accessible to settings registered with CSSIW therefore putting the
sustainability of unregistered settings at risk if they are unable
to access these schemes. Post exiting Europe, we are uncertain of
the impact on the work based learning.
Support the transitional
stage between primary and secondary school by offering childcare
for older children.
Across Wales, there is
unmet demand for childcare for secondary school children
(particularly years 7 and 8) and this remains a major challenge for
parents. Resources to develop childcare for children
attending secondary schools are needed. Families have been
dependant on using childcare services within their local primary
schools and then have no continuity of the care service when their
11 year old child enters secondary school. The new
regulations for CSSIW now mean that staff need to be appropriately
qualified in Playwork when caring for children up to 12 years and
so a lack of qualified staff will be a barrier to setting up and
registering services for this age group.
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