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The Childcare Offer for Wales

Published: 10/02/2017

Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet will review and be asked to approve a report on the Childcare Offer for Wales, following Flintshire’s successful bid to be one of only six Welsh councils to take part in the early implementation phase. The Welsh Government has committed to expanding its offer for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds up to a maximum of up to 30 hours a week of free early education and childcare for 48 weeks of the year. The offer will be piloted from September 2017 in Flintshire, Gwynedd, Anglesey, Swansea, Blaenau Gwent and Rhondda Cynon Taf. Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Social Services, Councillor Christine Jones, said: “I am delighted that Flintshire has been chosen to pilot this scheme which will benefit our hard working parents and help them balance raising their children with their working lives. Being able to offer children 30 hours of Welsh Government funded childcare will make a huge difference to the families who qualify. This also includes holiday child care which will help with the high costs of holiday care.” The Leader of the Council, Councillor Aaron Shotton, said: “Access to free flexible child care will be of significant benefit to working families across Wales and I am pleased that Flintshire will lead the way in delivering this key Welsh Government aim.” The recommendation is to pilot the scheme across Flintshire, up to a maximum of 441 children for the 2017-18 school year.