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Dear Childcare Offer providers,
We have received some queries regarding the number of hours that parents can claim via the new National Childcare Offer for Wales system which we want to clarify with you.
As you are aware, the Childcare Offer for Wales allows parents to claim up to 30 hours of combined Foundation Phase Early Years Education and Childcare per week.
In the Caerphilly county borough, under the previous Childcare Offer process, parents were able to claim up to 20 hours of childcare on top of a standard 10 hours of Early Years Education provision. This was despite the fact that some providers were actually providing more than 10 hours of Early Years Education. In fact, following an evaluation of Early Years Education provision in the county borough, it was found that providers offer on average 13.5 hours of Early Years Education. This means that some parents were actually receiving more than the 30 hours in total. For example, 15 hours of Early Years Education plus 20 hours of Childcare = 35 hours.
The new Childcare Offer National Digital System does not allow for this and parents will only be able to claim the maximum of 30 hours as follows:
- If the child is not taking up an Early Years Education place, the average of 13.5 hours of Early Years Education offered across the county borough will be applied and the child can claim up to 16.5 hours of childcare per week.
- If the child is taking up an Early Years Education place, funding will be available for the number of Early Years Education hours offered by that provider (this will vary as explained above), plus Childcare hours that make it up to 30 hours. E.g. 15 hours of Early Years Education and 15 hours of Childcare. We have provided the Welsh Government with the data for the number of Early Years Education hours provided by each of our providers. Therefore, when the parent applies and selects the provider/school their child will be attending, the system will automatically calculate the number of Childcare hours they can claim.
Please note:
- If the parent has not yet received confirmation from school admissions of a school placement and therefore is not able to select the school when they apply, they will automatically be allocated 16.5 hours of childcare. When that school place has been confirmed, the parent can log back into their account and update the school details. The Childcare hours will then be adjusted accordingly.
- Those children already accessing the Offer through the previous system will continue to receive the 20 hours childcare until their entitlement ends, regardless of whether they are taking up their Early Years Education place or the number of hours being provided.
We hope this clarifies the position. If you have any further question, please contact the Early Years Hub on 01443 863232 or email earlyyearshub@caerphilly.gov.uk.
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