Purpose of the Report
The Childcare Act became law in July 2006 to transform the provision and delivery of Childcare and Early Years services. The Act formalises the strategic role of Local Authorities to improve outcomes for all children (Be Healthy, Stay Safe, Enjoy and Achieve, Make a Positive Contribution, and Achieve Economic Well-being).[1]
Section 6 of the 2006 Act gives local authorities a new duty of securing, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient childcare to meet the requirements of parents in their area in order to enable them to work or undertake education or training leading to work.
Section 7 gives them a related duty to secure free early years provision for pre-school children of a prescribed age.
A detailed assessment of the sufficiency of all Early Years and Childcare provision within the Local Authority area must be completed by April 2008, reviewed at least annually, and renewed every three years.
This report constitutes the first assessment of the extent to which parents within Bath & North East Somerset are able to access childcare to allow them to work outside the home. It attempts to identify any shortfalls regarding the availability, affordability or quality of childcare places and Early Years Education places.
[1] The Childcare Act 2006, passed 11 July 2006
Conclusions and Recommendations from the 2011 report
Key findings of this report are summarised below but they must be considered alongside the following facts:
Key Findings
· there has been a notable increase in childcare provision since the last report with relatively stable population growth
· newly established provision may not always provide places where they are needed the most
· the Bath area has seen an influx of baby and very young age provision, however working families with pre school age children may experience difficulties finding provision which is totally flexible, although some providers offer holiday/breakfast/after-school provision alongside the provision for very young children
· the majority of providers are happy with the level of childcare in their local area, with the exception of Paulton and Chew Valley. The completion of the Children’s Centres at Chew Valley and Paulton will help to alleviate the shortage in provision experienced by some families
· families with disabled children report encountering significantly greater difficulty in finding childcare across the whole of Bath and North East Somerset.
Recommendations
- the reports on the levels of provision contained within the childcare sufficiency assessment to be refreshed every 6 months, and the results published on the Bath and North East Somerset website
- the majority of providers are confident that their business is sustainable over the next two years. However, 42% of providers had seen a negative effect on their business from the current economic climate. Bath and North East Somerset should continue to monitor the impact of the economy on provision and provide strategies for market management in order to sustain existing quality provision, or in areas of shortfall to encourage new entrants into the childcare market
- to plan the expansion of the two year old funding from 10 hours per week to 15 hours per week term time only, to be implemented from 2013
- to evaluate the DCATCH initiative during 2011 and implement the recommended actions to improve the sufficiency of childcare for disabled children
- to publish an action plan in line with the childcare sufficiency report and will be reviewed every 6 months with an update on progress made and outcomes achieved
Context
Conclusions from this sufficiency report must be considered within the following context/facts:
- the local area has a larger than national average number of private and voluntary providers over which Bath and North East Somerset Council has limited influence
- the choice of childcare provider is a personal decision and there will always be some provision which is more popular than others
- the number of children requiring childcare and the number of childcare places being provided is in a constant state of flux
- the most popular form of childcare continues to be family members as demonstrated in the last sufficiency report.