Funding for schools to provide wraparound care
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has announced in his Spring Budget that schools will be funded to increase the supply of wraparound care so all school-age parents can drop their children off between 8am and 6pm.
Treasury documents say that the government will provide £289 million in start-up funding to enable schools and local authorities to test options to increase the availability of wraparound childcare in the longer term, with national roll out over academic years 2024-25 and 2025-26.
Jeremy Hunt said: "Parents of school age children often face barriers to working because of the limited availability of wraparound care.
"One third of primary schools do not offer childcare at both ends of the school day, even though for many people a job requires availability throughout the working day.
"To address this, we will fund schools and local authorities to increase supply of wraparound care so all school-age parents can drop their children off between 8am and 6pm."
The government's aim is that all schools will start to offer a wraparound offer, either on their own or in partnership with other schools, by September 2026.
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