 August 2024
 Find childcare in Devon
We want to make finding suitable childcare for your child as easy as possible.
However old your child or young person is, from babies to older children, you can search for nurseries, after school clubs, childminders, holiday clubs and more on our 'Find Childcare in Devon' website.
You can also use Ofsted’s ‘Find an inspection report’ facility to find childcare providers and childminders in your area and see how they are performing.
If you are unable to find suitable childcare, please let us know as we may be able to help. We can advise, search and sometimes liaise with childcare providers on your behalf, to help you find the childcare you need.
You can get in touch by completing our online form, by calling 01392 383000 and asking for Early Years and Childcare Service or by emailing eycs@devon.gov.uk.
 Wraparound childcare is expanding
Lots of families in Devon need childcare before and after school so that parents and carers can work the hours that they need to. This is known as wraparound care, and many schools in Devon have breakfast clubs and after school clubs on offer as part of this.
Earlier this year we received £3.5 million funding from the Government for this financial year to make wraparound childcare for primary school-aged children in Devon more widely available and ensure that it is regular and dependable for working parents, operates for longer hours, and is inclusive with appropriate support for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
We've been working with schools and local childcare providers to increase the number of wraparound childcare places available in areas where demand is highest from this September, and it is our ambition that cost-effective childcare from 8am to 6pm will be available for every primary school pupil that needs it by September 2026.
You can find out more from the story on our news page, or visit the Government's website for more information about the programme. Or visit our website for further information.
Did you know?
Many families employed in our Armed Forces are also eligible for 20 hours of wraparound childcare, paid for through their service employer. It applies to service families with children aged between four and 11 years old. Service personnel must register and claim for the allowance through their employer.
 Save money on your childcare costs
The cost of childcare can take up a large chunk of the family budget. Whether you have babies, toddlers or teens, you could get support.
There are several Government schemes to help families with childcare costs, each one tailored to different needs, incomes and children’s ages. They're not just to help pay for nurseries and childminders during term time, they can also cover wraparound childcare before and after school as well as help during the holidays.
To find out about all the schemes, visit the Government's Child Care Choices website and enter your details to see how you can save money on your childcare.
We have a duty to ensure there is enough childcare to meet parents’ needs. Use our online form to tell us if you haven’t been able to find the childcare you need.
 Get a healthy start this autumn
If you receive certain benefits and are more than ten weeks pregnant, or have at least one child under four years old, you may be entitled to get help to buy healthy food and milk.
If you’re eligible, you’ll be sent a Healthy Start card, with money added every four weeks to buy cow’s milk, fresh, frozen, and tinned fruit and vegetables, fresh, dried, and tinned pulses and infant formula milk based on cow’s milk.
You can also use your card to collect Healthy Start vitamins to support you during pregnancy and breastfeeding and vitamin drops for babies and young children suitable from birth to four years old.
We've been contacted recently by a few parents whose children are about to move from pre-school into their Reception year at primary school.
It had been suggested to them that their child's introduction should be phased in, building up to attending primary school full time, rather than begin full time on day one.
Our expectation, dependent upon circumstances, and appreciating that every family is different, is for children to begin in Reception full time, from day one.
We heard from one parent who had followed advice given to them to gradually phase in their child's introduction. For work reasons, they'd needed to keep their child in childcare for some hours each week until their child was able to begin their new school full time.
They'd been surprised to find out that funding for childcare stops when a child is accepted at primary school and term starts. They'd unexpectedly had to pay the additional cost of childcare during that transition.
You can read the full story on our news page.
 Support is available for households in Devon who are struggling
The financial challenges facing some households in Devon can be intensified over the school summer holidays.
Increased costs such as food and activities, particularly with the current cost of living, and reduced incomes due to childcare, mean that this year’s break may have been especially difficult. And now, with the new school year just around the corner, and new uniform and supplies to buy, budgets are being squeezed.
That’s why we are reminding people of the support available through the Government’s Household Support Fund, which is planned to run until Monday 30 September.
Earlier this year we were allocated a little over £5 million from the Government to help households struggling to pay higher bills for energy, food, water, and other essential items.
Visit the news page of our website to find out more about how you can access the support.
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