In today’s blog we look at the extension of the 30 hours free childcare scheme so that it includes foster carers.
30 hours’ entitlement for foster carers
Yesterday, Tuesday 19 December, the Minister for Children and Families, Robert Goodwill announced that the Department will be extending the entitlement to 30 hours’ free childcare to foster carers.
Foster carers offer a safe and secure home for children or young people. This announcement is an important step to ensure that as many families as possible have access to high-quality, affordable childcare.
This year, we have already seen that 30 hours is transforming families’ lives. Parents up and down the country are enjoying more time with their children, more money in their pockets and less stress because the 30 hours programme is cutting the cost of their childcare. Now foster carers can benefit from this as well.
This was reported in the Guardian and a number of other media outlets with campaigners including the Pre-School Learning Alliance and the Fostering Network welcoming the move.
Children and Families Minister Robert Goodwill said:
Our 30 hours childcare offer is proving popular with parents - in its first term around 202,800 children were in a 30 hours place, with over 305,000 already signed up to access the offer in January.
We want to build on this great start, which is why I’m pleased to announce today that we will be extending our 30 hours offer to foster carers. We will set out more detail about how we will deliver this shortly.
Apply now to get the childcare offer code to use for the term starting in January. You must apply by 31 December 2017.