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- You are here : Resource Centre : Early Years and Childhood 0-13
Early Years and Childhood 0-13
Marking the first ever piece of legislation specifically on early years and childcare, the Childcare Act 2006 places responsibility for childcare provision with local authorities, charging them with raising quality, improving delivery, and achieving better results. GOL is working with local authorities and other partners to develop better services for families, children and young people. We offer support and challenge to London's local authorities, monitoring their progress and that of other agencies working on this agenda. We also work with partners throughout the region to help put into practice the aims of the Childcare Act 2006.
The Childcare Act 2006 set in legislation some of the key aims of the government's Ten Year Strategy, the Children’s Plan and the Next Steps for Early Learning and Childcare Strategy builds upon these aims:
• Choice and flexibility - parents to have greater choice about balancing work and family life
• Availability - for all families with children aged up to 14 who need it, an affordable, flexible, high quality childcare place that meets their circumstances
• Quality - high-quality provision with a highly skilled childcare and early years workforce, among the best in the world
• Affordability - families to be able to afford flexible, high-quality childcare that is appropriate for their needs. CAP
GOL is working in partnership with regional Training Development Agency, 4 Children and ContinYou colleagues on Extended Schools and Together for Children colleagues on Children's Centres to improve multi agency service delivery in local areas.
Provisions in the Act, under the strategic leadership of Local Authorities, will ensure all working parents will have access to a wide range of childcare, enabling them to have greater choice about balancing work and family life. This will be achieved through a duty on Local Authorities to secure sufficient childcare so that parents can exercise choice and ensure it meets the needs of working parents and those making the transition to work, in particular those on low incomes or with disabled children. In GOL we are working closely with Local Authorities, through the Childcare Regional Network, on the implementation of these duties.
Under section 12 of the Childcare Act 2006 Local Authorities are required to deliver information, advice and guidance on childcare and other local services for parents of children and young people up to age 20. Local Authorities will be delivering their duty through Families Information Services (FIS). FISs should provide comprehensive, accurate and up to date information that is easy to access from a choice of locations visited by parents and in different media and formats. Information should be delivered in a way that allows parents to exercise choice and to become informed consumers of local services. GOL is currently working in partnership with DCSF and Opportunity Links on this agenda.
By 2010, all families will have access to a Sure Start Children’s Centre offering a range of children’s activities, information for parents about childcare options and access to other family services. Children’s Centres will be the focus of services for all communities but will provide support in the most disadvantaged areas. Currently there are 475 designated Children’s Centres in London with a further 132 to be delivered in Phase 3 (2008-11).
Extended schools are playing a similar role for families with older children. All schools will be expected to be extended schools by 2010 and either providing or signposting the full core offer.
The Act places a duty on local authorities to secure – in partnership with the private and voluntary sector – sufficient childcare for all parents who choose to work or are in training in preparation for work.
The Childcare Act 2006 gave all local authorities a new duty to prepare, by 31 March 2008, assessments of the sufficiency of childcare in their locality. These assessments map the supply of, and demand for, childcare, and aim to identify gaps between the two to secure sufficient childcare for working parents from 1 April 2008.
Each Local Authority published a Childcare Sufficiency Assessment in 2008 on their website and has now developed an action plan to secure sufficient childcare in their local area. GOL will continue to work with Local Authorities to ensure that individual assessments are robust so that authorities can respond to emerging childcare demands.
All children under five will have access to high quality early learning and care and better access to early childhood services by the free offer of care and learning which will increase and become more flexible for parents of three and four year olds that want it. Interim guidance on the flexible extension to the free entitlement published by DCSF in July specifies that Local Authorities will need to deliver to 25% of their 3 & 4 year olds from September 2009. In addition to this DCSF’s Next Steps for Early Learning and Childcare published in January announced free learning and childcare places for the 15% most disadvantaged in every local authority through a phased roll out beginning in April 2009. GOL, through the Childcare Regional Network, will be working with Local Authority Heads of Early Years to drive this work forward
The Early Years Foundation Stage which will establish a framework to support children’s development and learning from birth to five; and a duty on local authorities to improve the outcomes of young children by providing better joined up and accessible early childhood services through children’s centers. GOL is working closely with National Strategies and Together for Children on this agenda.
The Graduate Leader Fund is the Government’s main investment in improving the quality of the early years workforce. It is central to raising standards and will help embed the culture of continuous quality improvement that is necessary to meet the Childcare Act duty to improve outcomes for all young children and reduce inequalities between them. It is also key to the Government’s drive for a world class early years system as set out in the Children’s Plan. In London there is an active Early Years Training Co-ordinators Network which is attended by LAs and is used as a platform for discussing emerging practice in this area.
We support and promote activity to increase take up of childcare by low income families and work in partnership with GOL’s Child Poverty Lead. We will support the new London Childcare Affordability Pilots when they begin in April 2009. and disseminate information about CAP to key partners.
Further Information
Links
Downloads
- 10 Year Childcare Strategy
- 10 Year Childcare Strategy Implementation Plan
- Next Steps for Early Learning and Childcare
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