Childcare Act 2006

First ever Early Years and Childcare Act

The Childcare Act, passed into law on 11 July 2006, is truly pioneering legislation and is the first ever exclusively concerned with Early Years and childcare. The Act will help transform childcare and Early Years services in England for generations to come, taking forward some of the key commitments from the Ten Year Childcare Strategy published in December 2004.

Measures in the Act formalise the important strategic role LAs play through a set of new duties. These duties will require authorities to improve the five Every Child Matters (ECM) outcomes for all pre-school children and reduce inequalities in these outcomes; secure sufficient childcare for working parents; and provide a better parental information service. The Act also reforms and simplifies Early Years regulation and inspection arrangements providing for a new integrated education and care quality framework (for pre-school children) and the new Ofsted Childcare Register. The sufficiency, information and outcomes duties came into effect from 1 April 2008 and the remaining provisions from September 2008. For further information please follow the links below.

Download a summary of the Childcare Act.
Download the text of the Childcare Act from the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website.
Download the Regulatory Impact Assessment for the Childcare Bill.

New duties introduced under the Childcare Act 2006

Since 1 April 2008, LAs have had a duty to provide information, advice and assistance to parents and prospective parents of children and young people up to age 20. You can read more about this duty, introduced in Section 12 of the Childcare Act 2006, on the 'Working with mothers, fathers, carers and families' page. The guidance can also be downloaded.

From 1 October 2007, LAs have had a duty to provide information, advice and training for childcare providers. You can read more about this duty, introduced in Section 13 of the Childcare Act 2006, in the Childcare Providers (Information, Advice and Training) Regulations 2007 and the Securing sufficient childcare statutory guidance, which sets out the required content of information, advice and training.

From 1 April 2008, under provisions introduced under Sections 1-4 of the Childcare Act 2006, LAs will be under a landmark duty to improve the five ECM outcomes for all young children in their area and reduce inequalities between them. The Childcare Act 2006 sets out clear expectations about what local partnerships should focus on to improve children's outcomes, while providing the flexibility for local solutions and encouraging local innovation. To support LAs and their partners to fulfil their duties, the Department for Children, Schools and Familes (DCSF), Department of Health (DH) and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have published the statutory guidance, Raising Standards - Improving Outcomes.

Other regulations passed under the Childcare Act 2006

Here are links to other regulations that have passed under the Childcare Act. Although this list is not comprehensive, it does cover the main areas of the Act. Links to the related explanatory memoranda are also shown below: