Agenda item

Report of the Director of Community and Children’s Services.

Members noted that the report fulfillled the statutory duty of officers to provide an annual report to Members on the sufficiency of childcare in the City of London.

Under section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, all English local authorities were required

to ensure (as far as is ‘reasonably practicable ’) that working parents in their area were able to access the childcare they need. In order to inform this, local authorities must conduct regular assessments of the childcare provision in their area and the extent to which it meets local demand.

In the City of London, this duty sits with the Education and Early Years Service. An

in-depth Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA) was commissioned by the service

in 2014, and a smaller update of this report was conducted in the winter of 2015/16.

The 2016 update found that there is currently sufficient provision of early years

childcare, although the tendency of parents to move in and out of the City’s borders

to access childcare makes it difficult to pin down a true figure for local demand. The

supply of childcare for over-fives during the school holidays is an area where there

would seem to be an under-supply, and more research is required into how this

sector could be developed.

There is healthy uptake of the various types of financial support offered to parents

towards the cost of childcare. The two-year-old offer of 15 hours is currently being

accessed by 100% of eligible families, and the City’s own Childcare Affordability

Scheme is now offered at five nurseries in and around the City.

Resolved – that the report be received.