Childcare sufficiency

Information about the sufficiency of childcare within Worcestershire.

Section 6 of the Education Act 2006 sets out the duty of local authorities of securing, as far as is reasonably possible, sufficient places for children aged 9 months to 4 years of age to access their entitlement to funded nursery education.

In addition, local authorities should secure sufficient childcare to support parents to go back to work or to undertake education or training leading to work.

District based childcare sufficiency maps

Based on the take-up of Nursery Education Funding during the Summer Term 2024, and included the estimated take-up of the expanded entitlement for children under the age of 2 (which beings in September 2024), the following district maps highlight areas of potential insufficiency of funded provision.

Definitions:

childminder: early years provision delivery by an Ofsted or childminder agency registered childminder
group-based: early years provision delivered by private, voluntary and independent organisations
school-run: early years provision delivered by a school, including academy, free, LA maintained and independent schools
insufficient: the estimated supply of funded early years provision is less than the estimated demand for funded early years provision
sufficient: the estimated supply of funded early years provision is greater than the estimated demand for funded early years provision
within local community: supply and demand estimations take into account levels within the surrounding wards

See the district maps below:

Bromsgrove district (PDF)

Malvern district (PDF)

Redditch district (PDF)

Worcester district (PDF)

Wychavon district (PDF)

Wyre Forest district (PDF)

For those with a visual impairment, a written version is available here: Summer Term 2024 Worcestershire County (PDF)

Childcare sufficiency assessment

As part of the LA duty, a Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA) report is produced to set out and consider places available (supply) and potential demand for early years and childcare provision from families in Worcestershire.

Childcare Sufficiency Assessment 2024 (PDF)

A revised assessment is currently underway.

Childcare surveys

To inform the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment, surveys are conducted to provide qualitative information to support our understanding of the childcare market within Worcestershire.

There are two surveys currently taking place, and are available until Friday 15 November:

Parental survey: for all parents and carers of children aged 0 to 11 years

Provider survey: for all childcare providers (childminders, group-based and school-run settings) operating within Worcestershire

Expanding childcare provision

In 2023 the government announced an expansion of the childcare programme to provide access to funded childcare for younger children and babies for working families and extend 2-year-old funded provision.

In addition, and by September 2026, all parents and carers of primary school-aged children who need it should be able to access term time childcare in their local area, so that parents can access employment and improve labour market participation.

To support the expansion, funding may be available for settings who are interested in expanding their provision to support the sufficiency of provision within their local area.

Early Years Capital Funding

Worcestershire has been awarded approximately £850,000 of capital funding to support the expansion of funded Early Years provision. Applications will open on Friday 18 October and will remain open until Friday 29 November.

Criteria

To be considered for capital funding, projects must:

create additional funded early years places
be in areas of Worcestershire where WCC have identified sufficiency risk/issue or provide places for families from an area with a sufficiency risk/issue, demonstrated through previous take-up of places
evidence high quality Early Years provision
evidence ongoing viability/sustainability
evidence good value for money

All applications will be assessed before any decisions are made with consideration given to a variety of factors, including local sufficiency risk/issues, total cost of the project and the cost per place.

As part of the applications, the following information must be supplied:

minimum of 3 quotes for projects under £20,000 or 4 quotes for projects over £20,000
Cash-Flow Forecast for the next 3 years (2024/25, 2025/26 and 2026/27)

All successful applications will be subject to a clawback agreement, the length of which will depend on the total funding awarded. Use the link below to apply.

Apply for Early Years Capital Funding

Funding for school-based early years provision

State-funded primary-phase schools are able to apply for up to £150,000 of capital funding to upgrade spare space to create or expand on-site early years provision. The new or expanded provision can be school-run or delivered by early years settings (PVI providers including childminders), offering places for any early years age-group in areas where there is local demand.

Guidance on the scheme is available here:

To apply for the funding, schools must have LA support. If you are intending to apply for the School-Based Nurseries Capital Grant 2024 to 2025, please complete an Expression of Interest form to enable the local authority to assess:

if there is a sufficiency need for additional early years provision in your location
if there are any accommodation or lease considerations

Expression of Interest Form

Applications from schools will be open from Thursday 17 October until Thursday 19 December.

Schools that are interested in opening provision in the future but are not intending to apply yet, may register their interest with the DfE.

Wraparound Programme Funding

Wraparound refers to childcare provision operating directly before and after the school day, during the school term, for primary aged children (Reception to Year 6). The provision can be offered by schools and/or private, voluntary and independent (PVI) providers (including childminders) and can be run on a school site or in the local area. It must not require parent/carers to pick children up from school and drop them off at another location.

Wraparound childcare does not include extra-curricular activities/clubs that are offered before and/or after the school day, although they may be offered to complement the available wraparound childcare.

By September 2026, the aim is that all parents and carers of primary school-aged children who need it, will be able to access childcare in their local area from 8:00am to 6:00pm, or equivalent hours, Monday to Friday, during term-time.

The wraparound childcare must be sustainable, accessible, affordable and high quality.

Capital and revenue funding is available to:

create new wraparound provision (8am to 6pm, or equivalent, term-time)
expand existing wraparound provision, creating additional places and/or increasing offer to meet the 8:00am to 6:00pm requirement
remove identified delivery barriers

Applications will be considered by an evaluation panel, with the outcome communications as soon as possible.

Information about the application process is available here: Wraparound Programme Funding Application Autumn 2024

Apply for Wraparound Funding