Greening announces childcare funding boost

Education Secretary Justine Greening has announced a £50 million grant scheme to provide thousands of new childcare places.

In a bid to deliver the government’s landmark 30 hours free childcare offer, a list of successful projects will benefit from the grants, creating almost 9,000 free places for eligible three- and four-year-olds. When it is rolled out next September, it is expected to save parents around £5,000 per year.

The Department for Education’s six opportunity areas, announced in October 2016, will gain more than £2 million of this funding. Blackpool, Derby, Norwich, Oldham, Scarborough and West Somerset will all use the additional funding to help children in their regions reach their full potential.

Families in Hertfordshire, Newham, Northumberland, Portsmouth, Staffordshire, Swindon, Wigan and York are already financially benefitting from the scheme.

Greening said: “We want Britain to be a country that works for everyone, not just the privileged few. That means removing the barriers facing parents who are struggling to balance their jobs with the cost of childcare, and spreading the opportunities available to hard-working families across the country.

“This funding, backed by our record £6 billion investment in childcare per year by 2020, means we can make more free places available to more families across the country, helping us to deliver our childcare offer to thousands more children.”