London: Sufficiency and beyond
Daycare Trust and Firstcare Consultancy are delighted to announce that they have been commissioned by Government Office for London (GOL) to assist London's local authorities by providing additional support they might need to secure sufficiency of childcare in their area. The work will run to the end of March 2008. Isabelle Gregory of Firstcare will be managing the project.
This work is focused specifically on London, but local authorities in other regions are welcome to share these resources.
The work will be delivered by a specialised team of experienced consultants who will focus on three identified key areas:
- Targeted sufficiency
In this strand of the work the team will work in partnership with local authorities to develop strategies and action plans to achieve sufficient childcare for particular groups such as older children, children with additional needs and those who have English as an additional language.
- Free and flexible offer
Here the team will support local authorities to develop robust plans for the delivery of the extended, more flexible, free early education entitlement.
- Increasing take-up and improving links
This project will develop strategies to help local authorities increase the take up of formal childcare by low-income families and to improve the links between high quality childcare and other objectives such as reducing child poverty.
What next?
Isabelle Gregory will be contacting London's local authorities with further details of the support programme in the near future.
It is likely that the support will be offered in the following main ways
- The development of user friendly toolkits and other useful web based resources and materials
- Shared learning - with pathfinders, local and national research and examples of good practice
- Interactive workshops to develop specific action plans on the areas requiring further support
- Individual support and facilitation of action planning at local level where required
Watch this website for more information as the project progresses!
Daycare Trust's Joint Chief Executive Emma Knight noted "Sufficiency of childcare is now a statutory duty and we are pleased to be supporting London's local authorities to deliver high quality childcare for London's children and their families."
Contact Esther Burridge for further information about the project.