The Education Secretary has today (10 January
2017) announced a £50 million grant scheme to provide thousands
of new childcare places.
The government has confirmed a list of successful projects
benefitting from grants worth £50 million, which will help to
deliver the government’s landmark 30 hours free childcare offer.
Today’s confirmed projects will create almost 9,000 free places
for eligible 3- and 4-year-olds, saving parents around £5,000 per
year when it is rolled out from next September.
Almost 200 nurseries and pre-schools will receive a share of this
funding to invest in new buildings, convert old ones and upgrade
facilities.
More than £2 million of this funding will be invested in the
Education Secretary’s first 6 opportunity
areas of:
- Blackpool
- Derby
- Norwich
- Oldham
- Scarborough
- west Somerset
These areas have been identified as social mobility ‘coldspots’
and are benefiting from additional funding to help all children
to reach their full potential.
Education Secretary said:
We want Britain to be a country that works for everyone, not
just the privileged few. That means removing the barriers
facing parents who are struggling to balance their jobs with
the cost of childcare, and spreading the opportunities
available to hard-working families across the country.
This funding, backed by our record £6 billion investment in
childcare per year by 2020, means we can make more free places
available to more families across the country, helping us to
deliver our childcare offer to thousands more children.
It builds on the work of 8 areas that are already delivering, a
year early, the 30 hour offer to hardworking parents.
Families in:
- Hertfordshire
- Newham
- Northumberland
- Portsmouth
- Staffordshire
- Swindon
- Wigan
- York
are already benefitting from the scheme, with parents saying it
has helped them to go back to work or take on more hours, as well
as helping them financially.
The announcement is on top of the government’s record £6 billion
per year investment for childcare by 2020 and follows the recent
publication of a new fairer funding
system for early years education.
This formula will see the minimum hourly rate for councils
increased to £4.30 per hour, ensuring the 30 hours free offer is
sustainable for providers.
