Childcare Act 2006

The Childcare Act 2006 is a truly pioneering piece of legislation and is the first ever exclusively concerned with early years and childcare.

The Act is helping to transform childcare and early years services, taking forward some of the key commitments from the Government's Ten Year Childcare Strategy published in December 2004.

The Act sets out duties which require local authorities to improve outcomes for all children and reduce inequalities, secure sufficient childcare for working parents, and provide a better parental information service.

The main headlines of these duties are set out below.

Improving the outcomes of all children

Our aim is for every child, whatever their background, to have the support they need to achieve the 'Every Child Matters - outcomes for children', which are to:

• be healthy
• stay safe
• enjoy and achieve
• make a positive contribution
• achieve economic well-being.

We work together with our key partners to ensure children are protected from harm and help them to achieve what they want in life.

Assessing the local childcare market and to secure sufficient childcare

We are dedicated to ensuring that there is enough flexible, affordable, quality, inclusive childcare in all of our localities for children and families to access. This includes providing sufficient children's centres to work with families and the community.

A city wide assessment of childcare in Plymouth is carried out and published every three years. This includes information regarding pre-schools, day nurseries, before and after school clubs, holiday clubs and holiday activities for children aged 0 to 16 years. This report is known as a Childcare Sufficiency Assessment.

Providing early learning and childcare for three and four year olds

All children are eligible for 15 hours of free early learning and childcare per week, starting from the term after their third birthday until they start school.

For further information on this funding please visit the early learning and childcare places page.

Providing information to parents, to ensure parents and prospective parents can access the full range of information they may need for their children

We work very closely with the Plymouth Family Information Service and Plymouth Parent Partnership to ensure that all parents and families can access information on childcare, free early learning and childcare places, support services for families, sport and leisure activities and benefits and tax credits.

Introducing the Early Years Foundation Stage

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is a single framework for children from birth to five years. The main aim of the EYFS is for children to achieve the five Every Child Matters outcomes.

We support, advise, and train early years practitioners in the implementation of the EYFS.

Early Years and Childcare Registers

All early years providers who work with children from birth to five years must be registered with Ofsted on the Early Years Register (subject to exemptions).

The Childcare Register has two parts: a compulsory part and a voluntary part.

A childcare provider must register on the compulsory part of the Childcare Register if they care for children from the age of five to eight years (subject to exemptions).

Some childcare providers can choose to register with Ofsted on the voluntary part of the Childcare Register if they provide care that does not need to be formally registered with Ofsted, such as nannies and short term crèches.

We support and advise all early years and childcare providers on the Ofsted registers ensuring they are able to meet their registration requirements.

Collecting information about young children to inform funding and support the Local Authority duties under the Childcare Act 2006

We work with our key partners to collect information and data in order to ensure we can offer the relevant support and funding, and provide children with the best possible opportunities in their early years. This information is also used to inform the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment. We ensure that all data protection guidelines are adhered to when collecting and storing all information about children and young people.

Childcare Act 2006 - (link to Office of Public Sector Information website) [369KB]

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