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Child Care Offer Reintroduced
12/08/20
An announcement from Cabinet Member for Children and Families, Cllr Graham Hinchey:
"At the beginning of lockdown, the Welsh Government responded by repurposing the Childcare Offer grant to provide the Coronavirus Childcare Assistance Scheme (C-CAS). Although some Childcare Offer payments were maintained until June, the Offer was suspended and no new applications could be processed.
"On 3rd August 2020, the Welsh Government advised all Councils' that the suspension of the Offer will shortly be lifted.
"This means that:
- Eligible parents with children who were due to commence their Foundation Phase Nursery education (which forms part of the Offer) in the Spring or Summer terms will be able to apply from Monday 10th August, and funding for the childcare element will be available from the start of the school term on September 1st.
"We envisage that the vast majority of such applications will be processed by the Councils Childcare Offer Team in time for funding to start at the beginning of the term.
- Eligible parents whose children are due to start their Foundation Phase Nursery education in the Autumn term will be able to submit their applications from September 1st. Funding will only commence once an application has been fully processed and checked. The Welsh Government has been clear that it will not be possible to backdate payments prior to the date the application has been approved.
"Reopening of the offer is very good news for many parents, many of whom will be dependent on this funding to support their children to access childcare and to enable them to return to work.
"The phasing back of the offer will mean that some parents will see a slight delay between the submission of their application and final approval. This is because the Childcare Offer Team will need to complete all the necessary eligibility checks.
"It may be the case that you are approached by constituents with Autumn term children who feel that they are not able to receive their full ‘share' of funded childcare, as they could miss out on funding for the period the Childcare Offer Team are processing and approving their application. Under the new guidance issued by the Welsh Government regarding restarting the Offer, we have been advised that the start date for funding cannot be earlier than the date of an approved application. Notwithstanding this, the Childcare Offer Team will do their utmost to process all applications as quickly as possible, based on date of receipt."
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