In York, 1,930 children are taking up their entitlement to 30 hours childcare during the spring term 2017 – that’s 900 more places than City of York Council was asked to deliver by the government.
The council has now exceeded its target set by the Department for Education (DfE) of providing free, additional hours to 1,036 in York. In fact even more children were eligible than was first estimated and, thanks to the council working with local early years providers and the DfE, this demand has been met.
Since September 2016, the council has secured 100 per cent commitment from all of York’s 220 providers of early education places. These include private nurseries, playgroups, childminders, out of school clubs, schools with nurseries as well as the council-run St Paul’s Nursery School. This overwhelming support of the scheme is enabling hundreds of working parents in York to benefit from 30 hours childcare, as the early roll out programme exceeds its targets.
The 30 hours offer – which will be available for working parents of three and four-year-olds across the whole country from September – aims to save families around £5,000 per year and help them get back to work or increase their hours if they choose to.
Confirmation that over 5,400 parents have already been allocated places nationally comes just one week after the government launched its Childcare Choices website: www.childcarechoices.gov.uk.
The site sets out details of all of the childcare support available for parents from across the government and allows them to register for email alerts that will notify them when applications for 30 hours open nationally.
York residents can take control of their money for free ahead of changes to benefit payments in the summer, thanks to City of York Council teaming up with South Yorkshire Credit Union Ltd.