Rutland County Council has launched its latest Childcare Sufficiency Assessment to help determine if early education and childcare is meeting the needs of parents and carers who are working, studying or seeking employment.
Annual Childcare Sufficiency Assessments help councils to gather important information about childcare availability, accessibility and affordability in their area. The aim is to build an accurate and up-to-date picture of the current childcare market, based on the first-hand experiences of local families. This includes their experiences of using financial entitlements like Tax-Free Childcare.
In addition, Rutland County Council will be engaging with local businesses to understand how sufficiency of childcare places impacts their recruitment and retention of staff. This information will then be used to inform the childcare market, to support providers in planning and responding to family requirements.
"Parent’s and carer’s views and experiences of childcare for children aged 0 to 14 (or up to 18 for disabled children) including the use of available financial entitlements such as Tax-Free Childcare and Universal Credit payments are important to us and will be used to plan for and respond more effectively to the areas of identified need.
"With the government announcement of a significant expansion of the funded early education entitlements offer, there is a possibility that parents/carers working hours could change and therefore it is even more important that we understand their childcare needs.
"The more people that fill in the survey, the more information we gather, giving us a true representation of the early education and childcare offer in Rutland as a whole. We are grateful to everyone who takes the time to give us their feedback."
Dawn Godfrey, Strategic Director for Children and Families
Rutland’s Childcare Sufficiency Assessment asks for feedback from parents and carers with children of all ages, as well as early education and childcare providers, providers of wraparound or holiday childcare and local employers.
The consultation runs from Monday 15 April 2024 until Friday 3 May 2024 and can be completed online here
You can also ask questions and find out more by emailing Rutland County Council's Early Education Support Team at: EarlyEducationSupportTeam@rutland.gov.uk
To learn more about the upcoming changes to the funded early education and childcare entitlements following the government announcement please click here