Childcare and Childcare Brokerage

York Family Information Service (FIS) are specialists in providing information and support to help find childcare solutions for families. The service holds details of all Ofsted registered childcare providers in York (432 active providers). We can send detailed up to date information about all of these settings direct to parents and carers, tailored by distance, age range, availability, special needs and more.

Search for childcare online

You can use the Family Information Directory to search for childcare online. We also have developed a dedicated childcare section on this site to help people understand the different types of childcare, choose good quality childcare and also reduced their childcare bill.

Childcare Brokerage

If someone is facing difficulty in finding childcare for any reason York FIS can offer more support. Key reaons for needing to access brokerage are:

• Complex needs (unusal hours or times)
• Short notice (e.g. short notice job offer, court appearence etc)
• Childcare to allow families to access support groups/training (e.g. parenting programme)
• Family needing additional supprot to understand their options

This additional support can include us contacting all local childcare providers and brokering a solution to meet families’ needs. It could also be more in depth support to help mums, dads or carers to understand their options. If you know of a family that would like information or support to access childcare then get in touch with York Family Information Service.

Childcare Sufficiency

The Childcare Act (2006) requires local authorities to carry out a Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA). This process involves consulting a range of groups as to their childcare needs and comparing this to the available provision.

Sufficient childcare, in section 6 of the 2006 Act, is defined as:

‘sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in [the local authorities] area who require childcare in order to enable them-

• To take up, or remain in, work or
• To undertake education or training which could reasonably be expected to assist them to obtain work'

The Childcare Sufficiency Assessment is then used by the council and its partners to try to address any gaps identified. A summary of the current childcare sufficiency position for York is available online.