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Related content

• Early Years and Childcare - Pilots for 2-Year-Olds: Guidance for Local Authorities Part 1
• Early Years and Childcare - Pilots for 2-Year-Olds: Guidance for Local Authorities Part 2
• Implementing the flexible free entitlement
• Local Authority developing practice

The extended offer for two-year-olds: Free early learning and childcare

In 2008 the Prime Minister committed to rolling out, stage by stage, an offer of free early learning to all two-year-olds across the country. The next step towards this aim sees all 152 local authorities across the country delivering a targeted offer from September 2009. This builds on the success of the original pilot that DCSF has been running since 2006.

Extending the offer

£137m over the next two years will provide funding for 15% of the most disadvantaged two-year-olds and their families in every LA across the country.

The extended offer will provide:

• 10 or 15 hours of free, high-quality childcare a week*
• family support offering the parent access to a range of activities, such as structured play with their child, parenting classes and wider support such as signposting to other services and training
• effective partnership-working and outreach activity to engage families into childcare through a network of local delivery agents and direct outreach.

* The initial 63 pilots will continue to deliver a model of 15 hours a week of provision, over 38 weeks of the year, while the new 89 will deliver a ten-hour model. This will allow the Department to continue to test and evaluate differing models of delivery to inform wider roll-out. 

Resources

Guidance for LAs: Part 1: Support, FAQs and monitoring and Guidance for LAs: Part 2: Good practice (November 2008)
A two-part toolkit of guidance to aid LAs in rolling out the extended offer of free childcare provision for disadvantaged two-year-olds.
 

 

 

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Last updated on 25/06/2009