School age childcare delivery framework: executive summary (English version)

Our Action Areas

Building a system of school age childcare involves designing both school age childcare services and the system structures which support and connect the services together.

By ‘Building the system’, we will make sure that the national system structures which support delivery of a funded school age childcare offer meet the needs of those who use school age childcare, and those who provide it. We will:

• Consider any legislative requirements which may be necessary.
• Identify possible options for getting a future funded school age childcare offer to families.
• Continue to scope possible options for delivering a future school age childcare offer to families, looking closely at the benefits of different delivery models and how they fit with what families have told us would work best for them.
• Consider what a robust regulatory framework for school age childcare, that supports quality, innovation and growth within the sector, should look like.
• Ensure the qualification framework for school age childcare is fit for purpose, embeds quality, is responsive to the needs of all school age children, and will ensure a sustainable workforce across the sector over the longer term.
• Conduct an eligibility review to develop a consistent approach to determining eligibility for any future funded school age childcare offer.
• Consider where improvements can be made to the existing system, in particular ensuring that parents, carers and providers can easily access information about school age childcare.

By Testing the change, we are already commissioning and funding work in communities to provide school age childcare to families who need it most to learn from what works at a local level and identify the changes needed at a national level.

• Work has already begun in these areas to understand childcare needs and we have already begun delivering funded school age childcare services for families who would otherwise struggle to afford it. We will:
• Consider how best to design and deliver sustainable services which can support families all year-round.
• Utilise existing research and experience, from those accessing and delivering high quality specialist services, to be clear about the funding, staffing models and high-quality environments required to deliver a school age childcare offer for children, whatever their needs.
• Monitor and evaluate the demand for food and the outcomes for children and families to address food insecurity in a rights-based, dignified and stigma-free way.
• Develop and test solutions that support the sustainability of essential school age childcare services within rural and island communities.