Childcare Sufficiency Assessment

What is a Childcare Sufficiency Assessment?

The Childcare Act means that from April 2008 every Local Authority needs to make sure that the childcare available matches the needs of local families. To show that there is sufficient childcare every Local Authority needs to carry out a “sufficiency assessment”. This involves talking to a wide range of people to find out what they want from childcare and then comparing this to what is available. The “sufficiency assessment” is carried out in full every three years but updated in part every year.

This means there should be enough suitable childcare to match families needs in terms of:

  • The location of childcare
  • The affordability of childcare
  • Meet the needs of children with disabilities or Special Educational Needs
  • The times when childcare is available
  • The ages the childcare is available for
  • The different types of childcare (e.g. playgroup, nursery, childminder etc)

The Childcare Act does not grant an individual right to childcare.  Although every possible action will be taken to support people wishing to access childcare some childcare needs may not be met.  If you are having difficulty finding suitable childcare then contact the York Familiy Information Service who will be able to assist you.

What do you mean by childcare?

York has always worked hard to ensure a balance of play, care and education for children and young people. The government has defined ‘childcare’ as including play, care and education (for children other than full time school) in the maintained and community sector. For example this could mean holiday playschemes, private day nurseries, maintained education nurseries, pre-school playgroups, childminders or before and after school clubs.

Baby sucking on thumb

Is there 'sufficient' childcare available in York

A summary of the latest refresh of the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment is shown in the table at the bottom of this page. You can read about this latest refresh and others following the links below.

How is the York Childcare market "managed"?

York takes a partnership approach to try and shape the childcare market to meet local families needs. The lead group for this is the Places and Sufficiency group.

How is the next Childcare Sufficiency Assessment Refresh being planned?

The next full Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA) will take place in 2010. You can find out more about how this is being planned and find supporting materials on the CSA 2010 project management webpage.

How can I give my views on childcare at times when there isn't a public consultation?

It is important for us to know that we are focussing on the right things. If you have the time please give us your thoughts about if we have picked out the right priorities.

Current Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (Refresh April 2010)

The table below gives an at a glance overview of how sufficient childcare in York is. It uses a traffic light system to highlight how well childcare matches up to families needs and if any particular groups or areas are affected. This update reflects the position as at April 2010. It was not immediately published due the general election.

Red A gap exists which will prevent families from accessing childcare
Amber Childcare largely matches needs however a gap exists which will give families difficulties in accessing childcare
Green Childcare largely matches families needs
Measure City Wide Areas/Groups Affected Summary
Overall Places Green Red
  • Childminder levels have continued to drop and are now presenting barriers to families needing to access childcare.
  • Out of school provision from Tang Hall Primary School and Heworth Primary is very limited.
  • There is still some pressure on under and over 5 provision in the Micklegate ward.
Flexibility Green Amber
  • Out of hours childcare (outside of 8am-6pm)
  • Atypical hours and shift workers.
High quality Green Green  
Afforability Amber Amber

This represents a city wide issue but one that particularly affects:

  • Those with children under the age of 3 (2.15% of families affected compared to an overall average of 1.3%).
  • Those who are studying or training (6.7% of families affected compared to 1.3% overall).
  • Those with a household income of £10,001 to £20,000 (4.2% of families affected compared to 1.3% overall).
  • Those with an ethnic origin of “White – Other” (7.1% of families affected compared to 1.3% overall).
Free Early Education Places Green Green Need for better quality information about the ethnic profile of those taking up early education funding.
Inclusive Green Amber

Issues affecting inclusivity are:

  • Capacity - Childcare settings with more than a handful of children with additional needs can quickly become stretched. 
  • Training – There is still a need to train more providers around SEN/Disabilities. Particularly for over 5’s childcare.

 


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The service directory has information about all services that work with families in the York area and across the country.

Downloads
Click here to download the acrobat PDF reader | CSA- Parents Draft (PDF 798.7 KB) 
Download time approx. 4m 54s at 28 Kbps Download time approx. 2m 57s at 56 Kbps Download time approx. 1m 51s at 128 Kbps Download time approx. 0m 12s at 512 Kbps

Click here to download the acrobat PDF reader | Full CSA (PDF 8.6 MB) 
Download time approx. 43m 11s at 28 Kbps Download time approx. 22m 35s at 56 Kbps Download time approx. 10m 30s at 128 Kbps Download time approx. 2m 18s at 512 Kbps

You may need an Acrobat reader to read some of the PDF files above, click here to download the reader from Adobe