Families with two-year-olds in 19 of Wales’s 22 council areas are expected to be covered by an offer of up to 12.5 hours of funded childcare a week by the end of November, the Welsh Government has said.
The government says three local authorities offered funded childcare to all two-year-olds in May. It expects the remaining three areas to be delivering the offer by the end of March 2027.
The 19-area figure is a forecast for the end of November, not confirmation that the offer was already available across all of those areas when the announcement was made. Eligibility and the availability of a place at a particular setting are also separate questions.
Where the expansion is expected
The 19 areas expected to have the offer by the end of November are Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, the Isle of Anglesey, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire, Newport, Pembrokeshire, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Swansea, Torfaen, the Vale of Glamorgan and Wrexham.
The Welsh Government says families across Rhondda Cynon Taf have been able to access the offer since September. The Vale of Glamorgan Council said families across the county could apply from 2 November. Gwynedd also says funded childcare became available across its area from that date, while Ceredigion planned a county-wide expansion in November.
In Gwynedd, the council says a child can receive the funded childcare from the term after their second birthday until the end of the term in which they turn three. Families must apply, provide evidence of their child’s age and their address, and check that a registered provider has a place available. Those are Gwynedd’s arrangements; families elsewhere should check the rules and timetable with their own council.
How the hours work
The current offer is for term-time childcare. The Welsh Government says Flying Start childcare involves sessions of two and a half hours a day, five days a week, with some flexibility in how sessions are used when that is in the child’s best interests. Parents can arrange additional childcare if they need it.
The government also advises that not every childcare setting is registered to provide funded Flying Start places. A family already using a setting that is not registered may need to change provider to use the funded hours, unless the existing provider joins the scheme. Local Family Information Services can help parents check what is available in their area.
Flying Start includes other support for some families in disadvantaged areas, such as enhanced health visiting, parenting support and help with speech and language. The expansion of funded childcare for two-year-olds should not be taken to mean that every family automatically receives the whole package of additional services.
Further changes planned
The government says the 12.5-hour offer is the first phase of a wider programme. Its plan is to increase provision for two-year-olds to 20 funded hours a week for 48 weeks a year, before extending the offer to younger children. Ministers aim to make funded childcare available to all children aged nine months to four years by the end of the current Senedd term. Those later changes are plans, not the current offer.
There is a separate existing offer for three- and four-year-olds. It combines early education and childcare, with up to 20 hours of childcare available to most working parents and some parents in education or training. Families should check the eligibility conditions rather than assume that the same number of childcare hours applies to everyone.
The Welsh Government says £55 million of childcare investment this year has helped accelerate the rollout. The supplementary budget proposals included £20 million in revenue funding to expand childcare for two-year-olds, £25 million to meet demand under the existing childcare offer and £10 million in capital funding. The full £55 million was not solely a fund for new two-year-old places.
Ministers also expect to publish a workforce plan this month, with measures involving training and retaining staff and bringing providers, including childminders, into the scheme. The council-area forecast does not itself state how many funded places are available or how much an individual family will save.
Featured image: AI-generated illustration.
