Childcare expansion capital funding for childcare providers

The government announced in the Spring Budget of March 2023 - the introduction of 30 hours of free childcare for children over the age of nine months.

This will be introduced in phases giving:

• qualifying working parents of 2-year-olds access to 15 hours a week of free childcare, from April 2024
• qualifying working parents of children aged 9 months up to 3-years-olds access to 15 hours a week from September 2024
• and qualifying working parents from 9 months to 3 -years-olds access to 30 hours a week from September 2025.

National wraparound childcare

The government also announced a national wraparound programme to support access to childcare from 8am to 6pm. ‘Wraparound childcare’ refers to provision directly before and after the school day, during school term time for school age children.

This provision can be offered by schools and private, voluntary and independent (PVI) providers (including childminders and early years settings) and can be run on a school site or at another setting in the area. It should not require parents to pick their children up from school and drop them off at another location.

Increased availability of wraparound care to be available from September 2024.

• Childcare Sufficiency Assessment
• Cheshire East Wrapround Childcare Sufficiency Assessment February 2024 (PDF, 4.2MB)

Capital grant funding

The programme is designed to support the expansion of childcare places, including 30 hours early years entitlement for working families and wraparound childcare for primary school aged children.

Capital grant funding may be awarded to childcare providers to create additional capacity for childcare places where there is clear demand, by extending existing or creating new provision. The funding is intended to create new places and not to be used for improving the quality of existing provision.

Capital grant funding may also be used for the initial setup or expansion of wraparound provision where there is clear demand and remove the financial risk of setting up or expanding wraparound provision where sufficient demand is not guaranteed to sustain provision from the start but where sufficient demand may be built over time as parents are assured of the supply of places. The funding is intended to create new places and not to sustain existing provision.

Levels of funding and grant criteria were confirmed at the Childcare Grants Briefing on Wednesday 25 September. Funding will be targeted to areas of undersupply and to projects that demonstrate they will be self-sustaining (wraparound childcare programme).

• Childcare expansion capital grant - allocations guidance
• Wraparound childcare: guidance for schools
• Wraparound childcare: guidance for local authorities
• National-wraparound childcare programme page

Application process for capital grant funding

The application process for Round 1 for the Capital Funding Grant launches on Friday 27 September. 

To apply, please complete the forms below and return to earlyyearsandchildcareteam@cheshireeast.gov.uk by Noon on Monday 21 October:

• Capital funding application form (MS Word, 90KB)
• Revenue and capital application forms guidance notes (PDF, 175KB)
• Business plan for revenue and capital grants (MS Word, 165KB)
• Business plan guidance notes for revenue and capital grants (PDF, 200KB)
• Income expenditure forecast (MS Excel, 55KB)

Refer to the policies and the sample grant agreements below when completing your applications:

• Wraparound childcare revenue grant policy (PDF, 225KB)
• Childcare expansion capital policy (PDF, 270KB)
• Sample grant agreement childcare expansion capital (PDF, 515KB)
• Sample grant agreement wraparound revenue (PDF, 505KB)

Timescales

Important dates to remember

Monitor this page for updates or email earlyyearsandchildcareteam@cheshireeast.gov.uk if you would like any further information.

Childcare Works HUB

The Childcare Works HUB is a one-stop shop hosting a wealth of resources to support childcare providers in the expansion of the Early Year’s Entitlements and the implementation of the Wraparound Programme.

On the Childcare Works HUB you will find a comprehensive library of resources which have been developed to support the roll-out of the early years and wraparound childcare expansion projects.

Resources are continually being developed and new content will be shared throughout the year.

You can access the site at: HUB for Providers.

Page last reviewed: 19 September 2024