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ANNUAL REVIEW 2012

Supporting Paper of Wrexham’s Our Joint Plan 2011-2014 (Children and Young People’s Plan and

Health, Social Care and Well-Being Strategy)Contents

WREXHAMCHILDCARE SUFFICIENCY

ASSESSMENT

Introduction 3

CSA 2011 Key Recommendations and Cordis Bright Advice 5

Review of the Local Area - Updated Contextual Data 6

Supply Analysis: Review of the Local Childcare Market 22

Demand Analysis: Review of Demand, Including Demand for Flying Start Places 39

Specific Provision and Good Practice / Examples of Innovative Projects 59

Update on the Work Carried Out Since CSA 2011 (Action Plan Progress and Updates) 62

Recommendations 95

Appendices 96

IntroductionWrexham County Borough Council has a statutory duty under the Childcare Act 2006 to secure as far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient childcare for 0-15 year olds (and 15-17 years in the case

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of disabled children) to meet the requirements of working parents/carers, or parents/carers undertaking education or training that will lead to work.

Integral to this duty is the requirement to complete a Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA) every three years, which assesses the supply of, and demand for, childcare in the local authority area and identifies gaps in provision. Recommendations from the CSA and subsequent annual reviews are used to develop a three year action plan, which details the actions that will be taken by the local authority and its partners to fulfil their market management obligations.

Two action planning workshops were held during May-July 2011 where a range of key stakeholders followed the Results Based Accountability (RBA) methodology to agree the outcomes, indicators and gaps requiring attention in the action plan, and to work backwards to agree the means (actions) to get there. The three year Action Plan was therefore developed in line with the recommendations and covers the period April 2011-March 2014, with an initial focus on April 2011-March 2012. The Action Plan will be monitored on a quarterly basis by the multi-agency Childcare Task and Finish Group and overseen by the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership (EYDCP) and the Outcome 1 Group of Wrexham’s Our Joint Plan (combined Children and Young People’s Plan and Health, Social Care and Well-Being Strategy).

Within Our Joint Plan, the CSA recommendations fall within the Child Poverty Chapter, known as Outcome 1, which has the Outcome No Child or Young Person is Disadvantaged by Poverty. This is presented below and is also integral to many of the other bullets listed:

7 Core Aims

Wrexham Outcome

What does this look like?

How we will try to achieve it

Are free from disadvantage by poverty

(UN Convention on the Rights of the Child articles 26, 27).

No Child or Young Person is Disadvantaged by Poverty

Fewer families are living in workless households

More parents and young people in low-income families can access training and support to secure well paid employment

Inequalities are reduced for the poorest children so that more children experience good health, education and economic outcomes

More children, young people and their families feel confident and optimistic about their futures and have high aspirations

Work as part of the Families First Northern Consortium to implement an integrated family support model to reduce the impact of poverty on children, young people and their families.

Increase income for households with one or more children by improving their access to benefits, entitlements, tax credit gains and help with managing their finances.

Promote and facilitate access to paid employment for parents. Provide parents with the skills necessary for paid employment. Implement the recommendations of the CSA 2011-14

(sustainability, flexibility, Welsh medium provision, provision for disabled children, before and after school provision; particularly for older children, holiday provision, information)

Reduce inequalities in educational attainment between children. Support parenting of children. Take a whole family approach to improving the health of children

and parents/carers from low income households. Ensure that more children grow up in decent secure housing. Ensure young people are supported to achieve and maintain

secure tenure to enable them to participate in the workforce. Ensure that children grow up in safe and cohesive communities. Improve the level of participation of children and parents in low

income households in cultural, sporting and leisure activities. Help young people to participate effectively in education,

employment or training. Help young people to contribute actively and responsibly in the

life of their communities.

Inclusion of the CSA 2011 recommendations in the Child Poverty Chapter of Our Joint Plan emphasises the significant role that sufficient, affordable and accessible childcare plays in eradicating poverty, through enabling parents and carers to return to employment, training or study and supporting the growth of the economy. The expansion of Flying Start is also integral to this and will impact on the demand for childcare provision in Wrexham. Therefore, this Annual Review will provide an overview of the progress made against the recommendations set out in the 2011 CSA, provide an update of new childcare data and any new demand and gaps uncovered, including those in relation to the expansion of Flying Start.

Sources of data and dates of collection have been acknowledged throughout this Annual Review. Wherever possible, data was either current during November 2011 or the most recently available information was used. As with the 2011 CSA, 2001 Census data has only been used where there is no other recent data source available, and the constraints of using this data are understood and have been supplemented with other proxy indicators where possible.

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As with the 2011 CSA, the geographical areas predominantly used in this Annual Review are local authority (1 area) and ward level (47 areas). Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs) are also used where ward level data is not available. Ward level data was specifically chosen to enable an analysis of the childcare situation in locally recognised areas and allow for childcare development that would specifically meet the needs of each small area. The Middle Layer Super Output Areas (MLSOAs) previously used in 2008 did not account for the differences in some of the areas that were grouped together and did not provide the detailed analysis that would allow childcare to be developed in specific areas. For example, Rhostyllen is an area identified in the 2008 CSA as having high demand and low supply, yet this area covers Esclusham and parts of the Johnstown and Ponciau wards. It is therefore not apparent which of these actual, and often different, areas require additional childcare to meet the parental demand. Subsequently, for the 2011 CSA and ongoing Annual Reviews, ward level data was chosen to enable more accurate comparisons to be made.

Map of Wrexham showing the wards

Map of Wrexham showing the wards and areas of Wrexham

In accordance with the 2011 CSA, the age ranges used throughout this Annual Review adhere to the Welsh Government (WG) guidelines and are 2 and under; 3-4 years; 5-7 years; 8-10 years; 11-14 years; and, for disabled children only, 15-17 years. In the examination of specific data, age groups have in some cases been combined (e.g. children 0 - 4 representing all pre-school children).

CSA 2011 Key Recommendations and Cordis Bright Advice 2011 CSA Recommendations: Sustainability - Take a more pro-active approach in managing the childcare market and

reducing the chances of market failure (sustainability, business support, ensuring systems are in place to identify potential issues early and examine the impact of the economic downturn).

Welsh - Support the development of more Welsh language and bilingual childcare provision that is sustainable and increase the Welsh speaking childcare workforce.

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Flexibility - Encourage more flexible childcare across Wrexham through the recruitment and retention of childminders and encourage all providers (particularly childminders) to examine their opening hours to meet the needs of working parents.

After school provision - Increase after school provision for secondary school aged children.

Holiday provision - Develop holiday provision for the over 8s in areas where it would be sustainable and with limited provision and high demand (Brynyffynnon, Ceiriog Valley, Gwersyllt East & South, Johnstown, Pant and Ponciau) and encourage all provision for the over 8s to register with the new WAG Voluntary Approval Scheme.

Information - Further promote WFIS to parents/carers, employers and organisations working with families across Wrexham to improve access to information about childcare, children and young people’s services, tax credits and information specifically for parents with disabled children.

Provision for disabled children - Improve childcare options for disabled children, including better choice of flexible mainstream provision and support for new developments of specialist childcare.

Quality workforce - Ensure that the childcare workforce continues to have access to relevant and appropriate training, information and opportunities for professional development to improve quality.

Cordis Bright Advice:A review of the Wrexham 2011 CSA identified the following areas that require further detail: Demographics:

- Explore the possibility of providing a small area breakdown for the number of disabled and vulnerable children, population change and ethnicity.

Supply: - Supply data to include crèches.

Demand:- Data: Analysis of the number of places required for which the childcare element of the

Working Tax Credit can be used;- Parents/carers: An analysis of how demand may change in response to changing prices;- Specific groups: A more detailed analysis of differences in demand by all specific groups;- Children and young people: A more explicit reference to age ranges of children and young

people consulted and analysis of all types of gaps and improvements;- Providers: Increased use of quantitative data to improve comparison in terms of gaps and

improvements (to be carried out in subsequent CSAs and consultation in 2012, due to the need for a larger sample size to compare across settings and geographical areas);

- Employers: Examination of differences in gaps between types and sizes of employers (analysis to increase as more employers are contacted through the Sparks Project);

- Partners, community and representative groups: Increased consultation with partners, Health and neighbouring authorities (to be included in subsequent CSAs and consultations).

Gaps: - Examination of the needs of specific groups to identify whether they experience more gaps

than others, or experience gaps more acutely than others, i.e. disabled children, those working or transitioning to work (including those in training), BME groups, lone parents, those working atypical hours, faith groups, those who speak Welsh or are bilingual, and armed forces families.

Review of the Local Area - Updated Contextual DataTo inform this Annual Review key statistics have been updated and reviewed in light of their potential impact on childcare sufficiency in Wrexham. This will help to guide the actions within the Action Plan to ensure that any developments are built on accurate and up to date contextual data.

Birth rateAll local authorities apart from Wrexham, Cardiff and Newport showed a decrease in the number of children aged 0-15 between mid-2009 and mid-2010, and 19 out of the 22 local authorities in Wales showed an increase in the number of children under 5 years. Wales also experienced positive

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natural change (i.e. births exceeded deaths) for the fifth successive year. However, in terms of live births, despite Wrexham showing steady increases in the live birth rate between 2003 and 2008, from 1,317 to 1,793 births, there was then a decrease in 2009 and 2010 to 1,681 live births. This slight decrease in live births in 2009 was also evident in Wales as a whole and in over half of the 22 local authorities. The live births graph below illustrates the changing trend in live birth data over the last 5 years.

Live Births in Wrexham 2006-2010

145015001550160016501700175018001850

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Year

Num

ber o

f birt

hs

Number of Registered Births in Wrexham

2680270027202740276027802800

1/4/2007 -31/3/2008

1/4/2008 -31/3/2009

1/4/2009 -31/3/2010

1/4/2010 -31/3/2011

Year

Num

ber o

f Birt

hs

Reg

iste

red

Additional data from the Wrexham Registry Office provides further detail of registered births in Wrexham over the last five years. The data above reflects the initial rise in the number of registered births between April 1st 2007-March 31st 2009, followed by a slight dip between April 1st 2009-March 31st 2010, before then recovering during the period of April 1st 2010-March 31st 2011 to rates above those in previous years. Data from April 1st 2011-December 31st 2011 continues to show high rates, with 2079 children registered during this period, and a further 3 months remaining in the year.

Population of children and young people aged 0-14 years (and 15-17 years if disabled)There continues to be no single data source that provides the current number of children and young people in Wrexham County Borough, with various data sources providing an indication of total numbers and a breakdown by age cohort and ward, but often presenting a slightly different picture. For the purposes of this report, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) mid-year estimates have been used as the core data source for population figures.

In 2010, the population of Wrexham had continued to grow, with an estimated 133,600, compared to an estimated 133,200 in 2009. The CSA Annual Review focuses on children aged 0-14 years (15-17 years if disabled). Therefore, based on the ONS mid-2010 population estimates, the total number of children within the 0 to 14 cohort that needs consideration in the Annual Review is taken to be 23,390 children aged 0-14, plus a further 239-335 disabled children aged 15 to 17, based on the 5%-7% estimates and ONS 2010 data. Therefore, we can expect that roughly 23,629 - 23,725 children and young people need consideration within this Annual Review.

Looked after Children (LAC) and children on the Child Protection register There has been an increase in the number of LAC in Wrexham over the last two years. At 3 rd

January 2012, there were 46 children aged 4 and under, and 89 aged 5 to 15 who were looked after by the local authority. This compared to 35 children aged 4 and under, and 79 aged 5 to 15 at March 31st 2011, and 26 children aged 4 and under, and 74 aged 5 to 15 at March 2010. At 3rd

January 2012, there were 78 looked after children in foster placements inside the LA boundary, and a further 29 children in foster placements placed out of county.

At 3rd January 2012, there were 58 children aged 4 and under, and 67 children aged 5 to 15 on the child protection register. This compared to 74 children aged 4 and under, and 78 children aged 5 to 15 at March 31st 2011, and 61 children aged 4 and under, and 58 children aged 5 to 15 at March 31st 2010. As with the previous year, at 31st March 2011, there were no Looked after Children who were unaccompanied asylum seekers.

Child population densityChildren are spread across the County Borough fairly evenly in relation to the population as a whole, yet concentrations of children continue to differ across the County Borough, with some wards estimated as having higher proportions of children in the population aged 0-14 than others. There may be a higher demand for childcare in areas with the most children (relative to the whole population), but there is also a link between high numbers of children in the population and higher levels of deprivation. Analysis of population change at ward level using the mid-2009 population estimates, found that the highest proportions of children aged 0-14 in 2010 continue to be found in the Queensway ward, followed by the Plas Madoc, Wynnstay and Gwersyllt North wards.

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Child population density (percentage of children aged 0-14 in the overall population)

Source: ONS Mid 2009 Quinary Estimates

However, when focusing on the number of children aged 0-14 by ward, the largest number of children of this age group can be found in Gwersyllt East and South, Llay and Holt, while the fewest number of children of this age group can be found in Stansty, Offa and Smithfield.

A series of maps have also been provided in Appendix 1 to present the different childcare provision offered across the County Borough for 0-14 year olds, including before and after school clubs, childminders and holiday clubs. However, it is appreciated that certain childcare provision is aimed towards different age groups and as such these maps should not be considered in isolation.

The following graph exemplifies the differences in the proportion of younger and older children in each ward, with the highest proportion of younger children being in the Smithfield, Brynyffynnon, New Broughton and Whitegate wards. However, as with the 2011 CSA, although this suggests a greater demand for services to meet the needs of younger children, there is a need to understand the context of each ward and to develop any additional provision in partnership with other initiatives designed to support parents back into work or training, such as the Genesis 2 and Opening Doors Projects, as well as any other private or third sector initiatives.

Proportion of childcare by age and ward

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Proportion of Children by Age and Ward - Mid-2009

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Acton

Borras Park

Bronington

Brymbo

Brynyffynnon

Bryn Cefn

Cartrefle

Cefn

Dyffryn Ceiriog/Ceiriog Valley

Chirk North

Chirk South

Coedpoeth

Erddig

Esclusham

Garden Village

Gresford East and West

Grosvenor

Gwenfro

Gwersyllt East and South

Gwersyllt North

Gwersyllt West

Hermitage

Holt

Johnstown

Little Acton

Llangollen Rural

Llay

Maesydre

Marchwiel

Marford and Hoseley

Minera

New Broughton

Offa

Overton

Pant

Penycae

Penycae and Ruabon South

Plas Madoc

Ponciau

Queensway

Rhosnesni

Rossett

Ruabon

Smithfield

Stansty

Whitegate

Wynnstay

War

d

0-45-910-14


Between 2007 and 2010, there has been a slight decrease in the number and proportion of children aged 5-9 and 10-14 in the total population of Wrexham. However, over the last 4 years there has been a continuing increase in the number and proportion of children aged 0-4, from 7714 children aged 0-4 making up 5.85% of the population in 2007, to 8272 children aged 0-4 making up 6.19% of the population in 2010. Nevertheless, because live birth rate data for 2009 and 2010 indicated a dip, there is a need to monitor this over the next year rather than assuming a continual increase in future years.

Number of children by age group in Wrexham

Age Range

Number of children and young people by age (figures rounded)2007 2008 2009 2010

0-4 7714 - 5.85% of population

8007 -6.03% of population

8184 - 6.14% of population


5-9 7493 - 5.68% of population




10-14 7883 - 5.98% of population




Number of children in the population by age

Number of Children aged 0-14 in the Population in Wrexham in 2008

0

500

1000

1500

2000

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Age

Num

ber

Number of Children aged 0-14 in the Population in Wrexham in 2010

0

500

1000

1500

2000

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Age

Num

ber

Ethnicity and migration

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It is not possible to accurately report any ethnicity differences, as limited new statistics have been released on ethnicity breakdowns for Wrexham since the 2011 CSA or the 2010 CSA Annual Review. According to Info Base Cymru (ONS-APS, 2010), out of the 131,800 people living in Wrexham in 2009, 4,600 or 3.5% were from a non-white background. This is just under the Wales average of 3.6%. However, population estimates by broad ethnic group provided by Stats Wales indicate that out of the 133,200 people living in Wrexham in 2009, 3,300 people identified themselves as Asian or Asian British, Black or Black British, Mixed, or Other.

According to InfoBase Cymru between 2008 and 2009 there were 3,630 people migrating into Wrexham from within the UK over a one year period, yet the outflow of migrants to the rest of the UK of 3,690 saw a net UK migration flow of -60.

In terms of international migration, data from Wrexham schools detailing the number of children with English as an Additional Language (EAL) may provide an indication of any increase in children moving into Wrexham who do not have English or Welsh as their first language. There has also been a marked increase in the number of children with EAL in Wrexham schools over the last 4 years, with a provisional figure of 943 nursery and school aged children identified as having EAL in 2012, compared with 846 in 2011, 725 in 2010, 680 in 2009 and 590 in 2008. This represents a 59.8% overall increase between 2008 and 2012, with the highest percentage increases in children with EAL again being seen in the Foundation Phase.

Children with EAL in Wrexham Schools % Change 2008 - 2012 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

*provisionalFoundation

PhaseNursery 40 64 70 87 98 145.0%

Reception 33 53 55 91 107 224.2%Year 1 and 2 111 104 114 137 169 52.3%

Key Stage 2 217 223 234 250 248 14.3%Key Stage 3 116 143 160 169 190 63.8%

Key Stage 4 + 5 73 93 92 112 131 79.5%Total Pri & Nursery 401 444 473 565 622 55.1%

Total Secondary 189 236 252 281 321 69.8%Total Wrexham 590 680 725 846 943 59.8%

* Does not include St Christopher's or PRUs

An analysis of the number of primary and secondary school children from non-white minority backgrounds by Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) indicates that in 2012, the LSOAs with the greatest number of children from non-white minority backgrounds were Offa (84), Smithfield (64) and Brynyffynnon 2 (50). These were the same LSOAs with the majority in 2011. Furthermore, analysis showed that in 2012, only 13 out of 85 LSOAs in Wrexham were without any children from non-white minority backgrounds in the population. However, it is important to note that there are 80 entries without postcodes, which could suggest that more LSOAs in Wrexham have children from non-white minority backgrounds in the population.

Disability and Special Educational Needs (SEN)In addition to the detailed research undertaken to inform the 2011 CSA on the number of disabled children and young people in Wrexham, an analysis of the number of children with statements of SEN by LSOA could provide an indication of demand for provision, when used in conjunction with parental consultation. In 2012, the LSOAs with the greatest number of children with statements of SEN were Pant (26) and Wynnstay (24). whilst 35 out of the 85 LSOAs in Wrexham had less than 5 children with a statement of SEN in the population. However, it is important to note that there are 66 entries without postcodes, which could suggest that more LSOAs in Wrexham have children with statements of SEN in the population. This strengthens the importance of using additional local contextual data when looking into developing provision in areas of demand.

Housing

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It is important to consider the impact of the local housing market on current and future demand for childcare. Based on preliminary Joint Housing Land Availability Study (JHLAS) 2011 data prepared by the Local Planning Authority in conjunction with the Welsh Government, housing completions in Wrexham over the last 10 years have generally followed a long term trend, at slightly below or above the average of 470 units per year. However exceptions to this can be seen in 2007 and 2008 when completions totalled 945 and 606 units respectively, due to the boom period when market confidence was high, and also in 2010 where the number of units dropped significantly to 243 as a result of the economic downturn. Although, the number of completed units for the period 2010-2011 has increased to 320 units, any significant increases are unlikely to be seen next year as a result of current economic conditions which are expected to continue into the near future.

The Wrexham Unitary Development Plan (1996-2011) allowed for the development of approximately 5775 residential units between 1996 and 2011 to meet the housing requirements of the County Borough. This is based upon a balanced assessment of population and household forecasts, housing completion rates, the physical and environmental capacity of settlements to absorb growth, and the extent of existing commitments. A total of 6887 units were built during this period, which represents a 19% increase on the number of dwellings predicted to be provided.

The Local Development Plan (2010) (subject to an Examination in Public and likely to be adopted 2012) will guide developments within the County Borough between 2006 and 2021. The Plan provides for 8065 residential units to be built, which equates to 540 per annum. In June 2009, the Welsh Government published household projections which showed a projected increase in the number of households in Wrexham from 55,800 in 2006, to 65,700 in 2021 (i.e. 9900 extra households, or 660 per year). If these projections were translated into a dwelling requirement, they would result in a large increase in the general housing requirement of the Local Development Plan. However, Wrexham County Borough Council disputes that this level of housing is necessary and considers that this scale of development could not be accommodated without having a harmful impact upon the social and environmental character of the County Borough.

As of April 2011, sites with planning permission or allocated sites remaining undeveloped in the Unitary Development Plan came to a total of 3195 units across the County Borough. The highest numbers are in the following communities:

Location TotalChirk 116Rhos 123Cefn 158

Brymbo 183Gwersyllt 186

Esclusham 259Broughton 276Caia Park 279

Offa 1123In addition, taking account of allocated sites included within the LDP (but excluding those already with planning permission), the above table would look like this:

Community Sites with planning permission and remaining

UDP allocations

LDP allocations excluding those with

permission

Overall Total

Brymbo Total 183 0 183Rhos Total 123 99 222Gwersyllt Total 186 47 233Esclusham Total 259 0 259Chirk Total 116 150 266Broughton Total 276 24 300Caia Park Total 279 41 320Cefn Total 158 711 869Offa Total 1123 30 1153

As evidenced in the 2011 CSA, the impact of more recent housing developments on the demand for childcare is expected to be localised to areas where developments are taking place, but will be considered in any plans to expand provision.Welsh language

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The Annual Population Survey (Welsh Local Labour Force Survey/ONS, 2011) found that the percentage of people in Wrexham who speak Welsh in 2010 has decreased since 2006, from 24.9% to 17%, where 22,600 people said they could speak Welsh and 110,000 said they could not. Despite these figures, 10% of pupils in Year 9 access Welsh medium education. Our aspiration is that at least 16% of learners will access Welsh medium education by 2013, increasing to 20% by 2015. However, there has been an increase in take up of Welsh medium places in Wrexham, with a consistent increase in Reception admissions to schools providing Welsh medium education over the last four years, from 128 in 2008, to 195 in 2011.

Primary School Total 2011 Total 2012Plas Coch 315 350Min y Ddol 49 46ID Hooson 270 289Bodhyfryd 342 368Bryn Tabor 230 236Llanarmon 27 27

Total (Primary) 1233 1316Source: Wrexham PLASC 2011 and 2012

We will regularly survey the need for Welsh medium education and childcare across the County Borough and will plan to respond to that need within our 21st Century Schools Programme and CSA Action Plan. We are also introducing an annual survey of parents of new born babies to confirm demand for English, Faith Based or Welsh medium childcare and education. This is being implemented in collaboration with the Wrexham Registry Office and will support the planning of sufficient childcare and schools places in Wrexham County Borough.

There has been a steady increase in the number of children and young people attending Welsh medium provision in Wrexham over recent years, particularly at primary school level. An analysis of the number of children and young people attending Welsh medium schools by LSOA indicates that in 2012 the LSOAs with the highest number were Pant (103), Penycae (68), Coedpoeth 1 (68), 2 (68) and 3 (64), and Ponciau 3 (62). These were the same LSOAs with the majority in 2011. Analysis by age phase shows that the LSOAs with the highest number of primary aged children attending Welsh medium education are Pant (68), Penycae (51), Coedpoeth 2 (45) and Whitegate 1 (45). The LSOAs with the highest number of secondary aged children attending Welsh medium education are Coedpoeth 3(38), Pant (35) and Ponciau 3 (34). Overall, only 4 out of the 85 LSOAs in Wrexham had no children and young people in the population that attended a Welsh medium school. These were Bronington 2, Chirk South, Holt 2 and Overton 1. However, it is important to note that there were 206 entries without postcodes, which could suggest that more LSOAs in Wrexham have children attending Welsh medium schools. Analysis of the number of primary and secondary aged children registered as having Welsh as a first language indicates a slight overall decrease between 2011-2012 from 569, to 561, yet despite this there has been an increase in the number of primary aged pupils with Welsh as a first language from 230, to 243. The LSOAs with the highest majority continue to be Pant (34), Ponciau 3 (34), Ponciau 1 (24) and Gwersyllt West 2 (20).

Currently, Welsh medium education is provided at 5 primary schools. This is supplemented by provision in a primary school where Welsh is the natural medium of communication and a Welsh medium stream in another school. Both of these schools are located in the Ceiriog Valley, which has a strong history of Welsh language and culture. Learners from these 7 schools transfer at a rate of 99% to the county’s Welsh medium secondary school, which is located in Wrexham town centre.

In response to a survey of need conducted in 2007, plans are currently underway to establish an additional Welsh medium primary school catering for 210 pupils in the North of the County. This will reflect a growth in available Welsh-medium school places by September 2013. The planning of sufficient Welsh medium childcare will also be considered alongside all developments and in partnership with Mudiad Meithrin.

The remaining 52 primary and 8 secondary schools all provide bilingual education, with learners being taught Welsh as a Second Language. Increasingly, secondary schools are ensuring that

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pupils are gaining recognised qualifications in Welsh as a Second language, with the figure standing at 79% in 2011. All secondary schools now offer GCSE Welsh as a full course, with 25% of the cohort sitting the full course examination. Additional support is currently provided for latecomers to Welsh-medium education, with specific support available for learners transferring during KS2 and a very successful Immersion Course operating at the Welsh-medium secondary school for Year 7 pupils. Standards achieved by learners in Welsh as a First Language, as measured by Teacher Assessment at KS2 and 3, are 86% and 83% respectively. At KS4 standards have been consistent over the last 3 years, ranging from 71% to 79%. In Welsh as a Second Language 76% of pupils achieve Level 4 at the end of KS2, whilst 64% achieve Level 5 at the end of KS3. At KS4 72% of pupils achieve A*-C at Full Course, and 50% at Short Course. To meet the demand for Welsh medium after school and holiday provision, Clybiau Plant Cymru Kids Clubs (CPCKC) supports the development and sustainability of Welsh medium out of school care for school age children. Supporting the development of Welsh and bilingual childcare continues to be a main focus of the Childcare Action Plan, with key actions to promote the recruitment and training of Welsh speaking childcare workers across all sectors, increase the availability of Welsh language training and training courses through the medium of Welsh, and increase accessibility and sustainability of Welsh medium provision.

Household composition Over the last decade there has been a continual decrease in the average household size in Wrexham, from 2.54 persons in 1991 to 2.26 in 2010, yet there has been an increase in the total number of households in Wrexham from 48,000 in 1991 to 58,200 in 2010; an increase of 21.25%.

The Annual Population Survey (2011) found that the percentage of families containing lone parents in Wrexham between 2008-10 was 8.3%, with the number of lone parent families estimated to be 3,900. 54.4% of lone parents in Wrexham were in employment in 2008-10, which is below the Wales average of 56%. To support more lone parents back into work or training there is a need to improve access to childcare provision, as this can be a significant barrier to lone parents in returning to work. Initiatives such as GENESIS and Opening Doors are crucial in supporting parents in making the first steps into employment or training, through financial assistance with travel, equipment and childcare that meets the needs of the child and parent, and advice on training and employment opportunities.

Children living in lone parent households

Children in Lone Parent Households

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0

ActonBorras ParkBronington

BrymboBryn Cefn

BrynyffynnonCartrefle

CefnChirk NorthChirk SouthCoedpoeth

Ceiriog ValleyErddig

EsclushamGarden Village

Gresford East & WestGrosvenor

GwenfroGwersyllt East & Sth

Gwersyllt NorthGwersyllt West

HermitageHolt

JohnstownLittle Acton

Llangollen RuralLlay

MaesydreMarchwiel

Marford & HoseleyMinera

New BroughtonOffa

OvertonPant

PenycaePenycae & Ruabon Sth

Plas MadocPonciau

QueenswayRhosnesni

RossettRuabon

SmithfieldStansty

WhitegateWynnstay

Source: HMRC, 2009

Children living in lone parent households in work

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Children in Lone Parent Households in Work

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0 100.0


BrymboBryn Cefn








HermitageHolt



MaesydreMarchwiel


New BroughtonOffa

OvertonPant


Plas MadocPonciau

QueenswayRhosnesni

RossettRuabon

SmithfieldStansty

WhitegateWynnstay

Source: HMRC, 2009

The percentage of lone parent families in employment in Wrexham remained steady in 2009 and slightly above the Wales average at 56.9%, against 55.7% (HMRC,2009). Further data on lone parent households from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC, 2009) shows the proportion of children living in lone parent households both in work and out of work. Of the 8300 children living in lone parent households in Wrexham, 50.6% live in households where the parent works, compared to 2007 data where 7665 children were living in lone parent households in Wrexham and 51.8% living in households where the parent works. However, the proportion of lone parents in work is lower in areas of deprivation and range from 28.9% in Wynnstay, to 75% in Erddig and Bronington, and nearly 85% in Marford and Hoseley.

The number and percentage of parents claiming lone parent benefits has slightly decreased over recent years from 1450 or 1.7% in February 2008, to 1370 or 1.6% in February 2011, which is slightly below the Wales average of 1.7% (NOMIS – DWP benefit claimants,2011). At ward level the highest rates of lone parent benefit uptake were in Queensway (125), Wynnstay (80), Plas Madoc (70) and Whitegate (65) and the lowest rates in Marford and Hoseley and Borras Park at 0.

Year Lone Parent Claimant Rate and %Feb 2007 1480 / 1.7%Feb 2008 1450 / 1.7%Feb 2009 1540 / 1.8%Feb 2010 1470 / 1.7%Feb 2011 1370 / 1.6%

Economic activity

13

Since the 2008 CSA, there has been a slight decrease in the number of working age people (aged 16-64 years) in Wrexham from 85,700 in 2008 (64.6%) to 85,500 in 2010 (64%) (NOMIS-ONS APS, 2011). However, this still remains above the Wales average of 63.2% in 2010.

Although a different source has been used for this Annual Review, levels of economic activity amongst 16-64 year olds in Wrexham remain high at 78.2% during the period April 2010-March 2011, compared with Wales at 72.5% and Great Britain at 76.2% (NOMIS-ONS APS, 2011). This is an increase on the previous year where Wrexham had 76.8% of economically active people. However, in two years from 64,500 in April 09-March 09, to 63,200 in April 09-March 10, fluctuations have occurred and employment rates remain above the Wales average. Between April 2010 and March 2011 the proportion aged 16-64 in employment in Wrexham stood at 72.9%, compared to Wales at 66.3% and Great Britain at 70.3% (NOMIS-ONS APS, 2011).

Despite fluctuations, there is a downward trend in the proportion of economically inactive 16-64 year olds in Wrexham from 23.2% in April 2009-March 2010, to 21.8% in April 2010-March 2011. This rate remains below the Wales and Great Britain figures of 27.5% and 23.8% respectively (NOMIS – ONS APS, 2011). Of these people, there has been an overall increase in the number wanting jobs, from 3,800 in April 2007-March 2008, to 4,900 in April 2010-March 2011, which could have an impact on demand for flexible childcare to cover appointments, interviews, training, or part-time or atypical hours.

Using the ONS model-based unemployment data, despite an increase in unemployment over the last 3 years, taking the percentage as a proportion of economically active, the approximate rate in Wrexham of unemployed over 16 year olds at 7.5% still remains below the averages for Wales and Great Britain between April 2010 and March 2011, at 8.5% and 7.6% respectively

Wrexham Economic Activity People (aged 16 and over) 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11

Economically active 68,700 66,800 68,100In employment 64,500 63,200 63,500

Employees 58,200 57,000 57,100Self employed 5,700 5,800 6,100

Unemployed (model-based) 4,200 4,900 5,200Source: NOMIS-ONS APS, 2011

Despite fluctuations in 2010, Wrexham has an increasing proportion of people working as managers, senior officials, in associate professional or technical employment, or with professional occupation, at 23,800, compared to 22,300 during the same time period the year before. However, as a proportion of all persons in employment, Wrexham had 37.6% in these occupations during the period of April 2010-March 11, which remains below the percentages for Wales and Great Britain, at 40.6% and 44.8% respectively. Despite fluctuations over the last few months, the proportion of people with administrative, secretarial or skilled trade occupations has actually remained rather stable in 2010-11, yet the rate of 24.9% remains above those of Wales and Great Britain at 22.2% and 20.9% respectively. A decrease in the proportion of people with personal service, or sales and customer service occupations is evident in Wrexham, from 11,300 in April 2008-March 2009, to 9,500 during the same time period in 2010-11. Again, the rate of 14.9% is below those of Wales and Great Britain at 18.1% and 16.3% respectively.

Wrexham continues to have a higher than average proportion of people working in the process plant and machine operatives, and elementary occupations, at 22.6% compared with Wales and Great Britain at 19.1% and 17.9%. However, despite fluctuations, Wrexham has seen a gradual downward trend in the number and percentage of people in these occupations since 2007-08 when the CSA 2008 was written, from 16,400 (25.3%) in June 2007-June 08, to 13,700 in October 2009-September 2010, and a subsequent recovery in the following period to a current figure of 14,300 (22.6%) (NOMIS – ONS APS, 2011).

Although the decrease in process plant and machine operatives employment may be reducing and thus appearing to impact on the demand for flexible childcare to cover shifts, the increase in employment in management and professional occupations, may result in an increased demand for longer opening hours across all childcare sectors. The introduction of a flexibility survey and accompanying funding to pilot additional hours is supporting settings to trial additional hours to assess the potential demand for extended hours before committing to it on a permanent basis.

14

The Sparks Project is also supporting employers and employees to consider flexible working options, which is particularly helping to improve recruitment and retention in Wrexham.

Key out of work benefits claimant data consists of benefit recipients who are not in full-time employment e.g. Job Seekers, ESA and incapacity benefits, lone parents and others on income related benefits (NOMIS – DWP benefit claimants,2011). Approximately 11,680 (13.7%) of people of working age in Wrexham claimed the key out of work benefits in February 2011, compared to the Wales average of 15.7%. This was a decrease on the 2010 Wrexham figure of 12,430 (14.5%), despite a previous steady increase from 10,840 (12.6%) in February 2008.

In terms of out of work benefits, Jobseeker's Allowance (JSA) is payable to people under pensionable age who are available for, and actively seeking, work of at least 40 hours a week (NOMIS - ONS claimant count with rates and proportions). The table below presents an overall slight increase in the number of JSA claimants over a twelve month period. The total number of JSA claimants in September 2011 was 3,378, or 4%. This indicates a slight increase since September 2010, which stood at 3.5%, or 3,033 people.

Total JSA Claimants in Wrexham September 2010-September 2011Claimants JSA Wrexham

Sept 2010JSA Wrexham

Dec 2010JSA Wrexham

March 2011JSA Wrexham

June 2011JSA Wrexham

Sept 2011All people 3033 3063 3000 2937 3378Males 2153 2253 2130 2045 2277Females 880 810 870 892 1101Source: NOMIS 2011 - ONS claimant count with rates and proportionsNote: % is a proportion of resident population of area aged 16-64 and gender

18-64 JSA Claimants in Wrexham by Duration (combined 18-64 years) Duration JSA Wrexham

Sept 2010JSA Wrexham

Dec 2010JSA Wrexham

March 2011JSA Wrexham

June 2011JSA Wrexham

Sept 2011Up to 6 months

1860 2045 1985 1860 2195

Over 6 and up to 12 months

560 435 430 540 605

Over 12 months

610 575 570 535 570

Source: ONS claimant count - age duration with proportionsNote: % is number of persons claiming JSA as a proportion of resident population of the same age

The tables above and the graph below all illustrate an overall increase in the number of JSA claimants in Wrexham over a twelve month period. However, despite an increase in the number of short term claimants, which could impact on the demand for childcare in the interim while parents look for work, there has been a slight decrease in the number of long term claimants (over 12 months) between September 2010 and 2011.

JSA Claimants in Wrexham by Duration (combined 18-64 years)

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Up to 6 months Over 6 and up to 12months

Over 12 months

Duration

Num

ber

Sep-10Dec-10Mar-11Jun-11Sep-11

The highest claimants of JSA were the 25-49 age group across all time periods from less than 6 months to over 12 months, followed by the 18-24 age group in all time periods, except over 12 months where the 50+ age group were the second highest claimants.

According to DWP (2011) ward level data, the highest rates of Job Seeker benefit uptake were in the Queensway (155), Cefn (150), Plas Madoc (130), Smithfield (115) and Wynnstay (115) wards, and the lowest rates were in the Borras Park (20) and Garden Village (20) wards.

DWP data (2010) also shows that in May 2010 the number of children aged 0-15 living in out of work benefit claimant households in Wrexham began to increase between 2008-09, from 4850 in 2008 to 5450 in 2009, before slightly decreasing in 2010 to 5,370.

15

The number and percentage of children aged 0-16 living in workless households in Wrexham had been decreasing between 2005 and 2009, from 5,000 or 19%, to 3,000 or 13.3%. However, although remaining below the Wales average of 18.8%, in 2010 the rate increased in Wrexham to 14.1% (ONS - APS Household Data Sets,2010).

Percentage of children living in workless households (2004-2010) in Wrexham 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Wrexham 14.5% 19% 17.6% 16.2% 14.1% 13.3% 14.1%Wales 18.7% 17.5% 17% 18.4% 17.2% 20% 18.8%

Source: Annual Population Survey (2011)

According to HMRC 2011 data, 20.4% of children aged 0-19 in Wrexham were living in poverty in 2009, or 21.1% of children under age 16. These both remain below the Wales averages of 22.7% 23.5% respectively, and the Great Britain averages of 21.2% and 21.8%. Broken down by ward level showed that the highest rates of children living in poverty were in Plas Madoc (54.2%), Queensway (53%) and Wynnstay (52.2%), and the lowest rates were in Borras Park (3.5%) and Marford and Hoseley (4.4%).

EarningsThe average income for Wrexham residents working full time in 2010 was £460 per week, which is a very slight increase at £459.40 per week in 2009. This weekly pay remains above the Wales average of £456.40, but is lower than the average for Great Britain of £501.80. A gender pay gap still exists in Wrexham, as weekly wages for men in 2010 continue to be higher than those for women, at £501.1 compared to £388.9 (NOMIS 2011 - ONS ASHE 2010).

People 2008 2009 2010Gross weekly pay:

Full time workers £453 £459.4 £460Male full time workers £498.3 £500.5 £501.1

Female full time workers £359.6 £378.5 £388.9Source: NOMIS 2011 - ONS ASHE 2010.

Hourly paid full time workers living in Wrexham in 2010 earn an average of £11.58. This is slightly above the Wales average of £11.52, but still below the UK average of £12.65. However, hourly paid male workers in Wrexham again earn more than female workers, at £12.07 per hour against £10.46 for women. This represents that men in Wrexham are earning 15% more than females (NOMIS 2011 - ONS ASHE 2010).

People 2008 2009 2010Hourly pay:

Full time workers £11.17 £11.32 £11.58Male full time workers £12.00 £12.23 £12.07

Female full time workers £9.54 £10.29 £10.46Source: NOMIS 2011 - ONS ASHE 2010.

Family incomesNo comparison with the income domain of the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) 2008 has been carried out, as the 2008 income indicator values are not comparable with the WIMD 2011 income indicator. This is because the dependent children of claimants of income related DWP benefits were erroneously omitted from the WIMD indicator in 2008. This was only discovered during the production of WIMD 2011 and at the time of publication the WIMD 2008 indicators and ranks had not been revised. Significant changes to the income domain and index ranks in the WIMD 2008 are not expected as a result of correcting this error. The most deprived local authorities in the income domain are Blaenau Gwent, with 21.3% of its LSOAs in the most deprived 10% in Wales, Cardiff with 21.2% and Merthyr Tydfil with 19.4%. Again in the income domain, Wrexham has 5.9% of its LSOAs in the most deprived 10% in Wales, while Powys, Ceredigion and Monmouthshire have none of their LSOAs in the most deprived 10%. The LSOAs in Wrexham with the lowest scores in relation to income and therefore the most income deprived are Queensway 1 (2), Plas Madoc (29) and Wynnstay (36), followed by Queensway 2 (109) and Cartrefle 2 (133). This emphasises the need for a continued and increased focus on raising awareness of the financial entitlements for out of work or low income families, in order to improve the affordability of childcare and to remove this as a barrier to accessing work or training.

16

Wrexham LSOAs in the top 50% - Income Domain (WIMD 2011)

0 200 400 600 800 1000

Queensway 1

Plas Madoc

Wynnstay

Queensway 2

Cartrefle 2

Hermitage 2

Gwersyllt West 1

Penycae

Gwenfro

Smithfield

Llay 3

Gwersyllt North 2

Pant

Brymbo 2

Whitegate 1

Cefn 3

Cefn 2

Coedpoeth 1

Ponciau 2

Cartrefle 1

Ruabon 1

Grosvenor 2

Acton 2

Johnstown 2

Chirk North 2

Esclusham 1

Penycae & Ruabon South 2

Brynyffynnon 2

Whitegate 2

New Broughton 2

Gwersyllt East and South 1

Maesydre

Wre

xham

LSO

As

Ranking

Inland Revenue data for 2009 showed that Child Tax Credits (or equivalent paid in benefits- Income Support or Job Seekers Allowance- to those parents not in work) were received on behalf of 94.5% of all children living in Wrexham (95% in Wales). The current take up of the Childcare Element of the Working Tax Credit in Wrexham is 28% of families, which is an increase from 26% between 2008-09.

Incomes of Households with Dependent Children (2009)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100


BrymboBryn CefnBrynyffynnon

CartrefleCefn

Chirk NorthChirk SouthCoedpoeth






HermitageHolt

JohnstownLittle ActonLlangollen Rural

LlayMaesydreMarchwiel


New BroughtonOffa

OvertonPant


Plas MadocPonciau

QueenswayRhosnesni

RossettRuabon

SmithfieldStansty

WhitegateWynnstay

Children in Out of WorkHouseholds

Children in Low IncomeWorking Households

Children in ModerateIncome WorkingHouseholds

Children in High IncomeWorking Households

Source: HMRC (2009)

The wards with the highest percentage of children living in high income working households were Little Acton, Gresford East and West, Borras Park, and Marford and Hoseley while the wards with the highest percentage of children living in lower income working households were Erddig, Offa, Grosvenor, Smithfield and Ceiriog Valley. The wards with the highest number of children in out of work households were Queensway, Plas Madoc and Wynnstay.

In total, 27% of children in Wrexham live in high incomes households (claim just the basic family element of the CTC), 32% live in low income households (claim WTC and CTC), 16% live in a moderate income households (claim the CTC above the family element) and out of all those that are claiming, 25% live in households where no one works (HMRC,2009). Tax credit data (HMRC,2009) also found that 31% of families in Wrexham have high incomes (claim just the basic family element of the CTC), 32% of families have a low income (claim WTC and CTC), 13% have a moderate income (claim the CTC above the family element) and 23% of families do not work.

17

HMRC data also provides specific data on the number of children in families in receipt of WTC and CTC whose incomes are less than 60% of the median threshold. This therefore excludes some children in out of work households whose benefit related incomes take them over the 60% median. This specific HMRC data found that in 2009-10, the proportion of dependent children living in either out-of work or in-work 'low income' families in Wrexham was 47% ('low income' families are those claiming either workless benefits or both Working and Child Tax Credits). This was 1.5 percentage points higher than the figure for the UK and 2.5 percentage points lower than that for Wales. Children in families receiving out-of-work benefits made up 43.8% of children classified as living on low incomes by this measure (compared to 45.7% in the UK) (Source: Child and Working Tax Credit Statistics, HMRC; Child Benefit Statistics, HMRC; Inclusion calculations).

In February 2011, the proportion of dependent children in families receiving out-of-work benefits in Wrexham was 15.2%. This was 0.2 percentage points lower than the proportion for Great Britain, and 1.5 percentage points lower than the proportion for Wales. In February 2011, the proportion of children in Wrexham living in workless families was 0.2% higher than it was four years previously (compared to a fall of 1.3% in Great Britain) (Source: Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study, DWP; Child Benefit Statistics, HMRC, Inclusion Calculations). Therefore there is a continued need to promote schemes, such as Opening Doors, Genesis and Sparks, alongside the provision of high quality and accessible childcare, to support parents in developing their skills and confidence to access training or employment.

Tax creditsThe chart below suggests potential demand for childcare in areas with high numbers of children in working families claiming tax credits. Using HMRC (2009) data the proportion of lone parent working families claiming WTC is highest in the Borras Park, Bronington, Gresford East and West, Marford and Hoseley and Rhosnesni wards, and lowest in the Hermitage, Penycae, Plas Madoc, Queensway and Wynnstay wards.

Families claiming Working Tax Credits (HMRC, 2009)

0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0 100.0


BrymboBryn Cefn








HermitageHolt



MaesydreMarchwiel


New BroughtonOffa

OvertonPant


Plas MadocPonciau

QueenswayRhosnesni

RossettRuabon

SmithfieldStansty

WhitegateWynnstay

Proportion of childrenin families claimingWTC

Proportion of LPworking familiesclaiming WTC

DeprivationThe Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) not only provides a proxy indicator for the ability to pay for childcare, but also includes indicators regarding access to a broad range of public services. It is produced at Lower Super Output Area (LSOA) level and is derived from a broad range of factors.

The latest WIMD was released by the Welsh Government in August 2011. According to the 2011 WIMD, Wrexham now only has one LSOA in the top 10 most deprived in Wales (Queensway 1).

18

Compared with the Wales average of 10%, Wrexham has 6% of its LSOAs in the 10% most deprived in Wales. This is a slight decrease from 7% in 2008. The areas with the lowest scores overall, and therefore categorised as the most deprived in Wrexham, are Queensway 1 (9), Plas Madoc (24) and Wynnstay (26).

Wrexham LSOAs in the top 50% - Overall WIMD (WIMD 2011)

0 200 400 600 800 1000

Queensway 1

Plas Madoc

Wynnstay

Queensway 2

Cartrefle 2

Hermitage 2

Gwersyllt West 1

Penycae

Gwenfro

Smithfield

Llay 3

Gwersyllt North 2

Pant

Brymbo 2

Whitegate 1

Cefn 3

Cefn 2

Coedpoeth 1

Ponciau 2

Cartrefle 1

Ruabon 1

Grosvenor 2

Acton 2

Johnstown 2

Chirk North 2

Esclusham 1

Penycae and Ruabon South 2

Brynyffynnon 2

Whitegate 2

New Broughton 2

Gwersyllt East and South 1

Maesydre

Bryn Cefn

Hermitage 1

Cefn 1

Ponciau 3

Ruabon 2

Wre

xham

LSO

As

Ranking

The WIMD (2011) data above correlates with HMRC (2009) data, which also shows that the highest proportion of children living in out of work families or in families on low incomes are from the Queensway, Plas Madoc and Wynnstay wards. In relation to childcare, the indicators used to identify deprivation will broadly show where childcare is likely to be needed to tackle child poverty. However, childcare in these areas is least likely to be sustainable in the short-term, but nevertheless necessary to enable parents to return to work. It is therefore vital to continue work closely with Community Well-Being and Development and with key initiatives, such as Families First, Genesis and Opening Doors, to ensure that childcare is factored into any new developments to stimulate the area and enable people to use childcare in order to access work or training.

Female workingAlthough a different source has been used for this 2011 Annual Review, which showed an increase in economic activity overall in Wrexham between April 2010 and March 2011, levels of economic activity amongst women have only marginally increased from 72% in April 2009-March 2010 to 72.6% in April 2010-March 2011 (NOMIS-ONS APS, 2011). However, the proportion of women in employment has slightly decreased over the last 12 months, from 68.7% between April 2009 and March 2010, to 68.2% between April 2010 and March 2011. Nevertheless, these figures are both above the Wales average. Of the women in Wrexham who work, 55% work full-time (54% in Wales), 43% work part-time (39% in Wales) and 5% of women are self-employed (6% in Wales).

County / LSOA 2011 rankDenbighshire – Rhyl West 2 1Caerphilly – St James 3 2Caerphilly – Twyn Carno 1 3Merthyr Tydfil – Penydarren 1 4Rhonda CT - Penrhiwceiber 1 5Swansea – Townhill 1 6Denbighshire – Rhyl West 1 7Bridgend – Caereau 1 8Wrexham – Queensway 1 9Rhondda Cynon Taff- Tylorstown 1 10

Wrexham LOSA 2011 rankQueensway 1 9Plas Madoc 24Wynnstay 26Queensway 2 88Cartrefle 2 123Hermitage 2 229Gwersyllt West 1 313Penycae 315Gwenfro 333Smithfield 353

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Travel to workTrends in commuting patterns for individuals in employment in Wales over recent years demonstrate the net commuting outflow in Wrexham as a proportion of working residents in 2010.

Commuting flows per 1,000 working residents in 2010

Source: (Welsh Government, 2012)

Summary of statistics by local authority, 2010Commuting Flows

Area of residence

Total no of working residents (000s)

% of residents working in Wales

% of residents working in home authority

Total no working in the authority (000s)

No commuting out of the authority(000s)

No commuting into the authority (000s)

Net Inflow (000s)

Anglesey 29.7 97 67 23.5 9.8 3.7 -6.2Gwynedd 52.5 97 89 60.4 5.6 13.5 8.0Conwy 46.1 96 73 39.0 12.3 5.1 -7.2Denbighshire 41.1 92 73 43.7 11.1 13.7 2.6Flintshire 70.3 69 56 59.1 30.7 19.5 -11.2Wrexham 62.8 83 74 59.8 16.6 13.5 -3.1

Source: (Welsh Government, 2012)

In 2010, there were 1,285,200 Welsh residents working either in Wales or elsewhere, compared with 1,252,700 people working within Wales. This demonstrates that Wales had a net outflow of 32,400 people in 2010, which is an increase from 31,500 in 2009. 94% of all working Welsh residents worked in Wales and a large majority worked within the local authority in which they lived. However, there was wide variation in this pattern by local authority, with Wrexham nearer the English Border having 83% of residents working in Wales, compared with Conwy at 96% and Gwynedd at 97%. However, Wrexham still had nearly three quarters of its resident population working in the County Borough, compared with Flintshire where only just over half of residents worked within their authority of residence. In terms of commuting flows into and out of each unitary authority in 2010, there were 46,300 people who lived in Wrexham that also worked there. The majority of people commuting out of Wrexham were to other unitary authorities, followed by commuters to Chester and to Flintshire. However, in terms of commuters into Wrexham, the majority were from other unitary authorities, followed by Flintshire.

Commuting flows by unitary authority, 2010

Source: (Welsh Government, 2012)20

Statistics on commuting methods and times in 2009 identified that 82% of the working residents of Wrexham commute to work by car, with an average commuting time of 20 minutes. This could suggest that an extra half an hour at the start or end of a childcare session may be crucial for working parents to commute the average 20 minutes to and from work.

Usual method of travel to work and average travel time, 2009Car/van/minibus/

works van

Bike Bus/coach/private bus/taxi

Railway train/underground

train/light railway/tram

Walk Mean Travel Time -mins

Isle of Anglesey

86 * 3 * 8 21

Gwynedd 76 * 6 * 15 18Conwy 81 * 5 * 11 19Denbighshire 80 2 3 * 12 22Flintshire 84 2 5 * 8 21Wrexham 82 * 6 * 9 20

Source: Annual Population Survey 2009

Travel to Work and Average Travel Time, 2009

2118 19

22 21 20

0

5

10

15

20

25

Isle ofAnglsey

Gwynedd Conwy Denbighshire Flintshire Wrexham

Local Authority

Mins

Mean travel time (Mins)

Source: Annual Population Survey 2009

Average travel to work time for those using car/minibus/van/works van, 20091 to 15

minutes16 to 30 minutes

31 to 45 minutes

46 to 60 minutes

Greater than 60 minutes

Isle of Anglesey

52 37 8 * 2

Gwynedd 57 32 6 3 *Conwy 57 33 4 3 3Denbighshire 49 31 13 3 4Flintshire 50 37 8 4 2Wrexham 58 29 6 4 2

Source: Annual Population Survey

Wrexham Industrial Estate is home to 300 companies, with over 7000 employees. The investment in a dual carriageway link to the estate and an easing of the pinch point at Cross Lanes is key to the future development and expansion of one of North East Wales and the UK’s largest and most strategic business parks. This may have a subsequent positive impact on the demand for, and sustainability of, childcare around this major commuter belt. The new access road should be completed and fully open to traffic during Summer 2012, with modest growth anticipated on the Industrial Estate over the next two years in terms of Distribution and Support Services. Possible new developments at the Western Gateway, Technology Park Phase 3, could also increase employment opportunities in the next three-five years should the site be developed. Close links with the Community Well-Being and Development Department will enable childcare supply and demand issues to be considered in all areas of growth across the County Borough.

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0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Childminders

Full Daycare

Playgroups

Before School Clubs

After School Clubs

Holiday Clubs

Supply Analysis: Review of the Local Childcare Market

The Childcare Act (2006) defines childcare for which the CSA must take account, as that for which the childcare element of the Working Tax Credit is payable. This includes full daycare, sessional care (playgroups), out of school care (before and after school clubs and holiday clubs) and childminders registered with Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW). In addition, childcare operated by schools is eligible for tax credit payments, even if they are unregistered. Play schemes are registered by CSSIW and provide a vital local resource. However, play schemes have not been included in this 2011 Annual Review due to their open access nature and short session lengths not always being suitable for parents wishing to use childcare to enable them to work or train.

This chapter draws on data collected by Wrexham Family Information Service (WFIS) and to ensure clarity, the term ‘childcare place’ has been defined as meaning a place that is available for the entire time that a childcare service is available e.g. 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday.

Childcare totalsThere has been an increase in the number of childcare settings recorded by WFIS and registered by CSSIW over the last year. In October 2011 there were 336 childcare settings recorded by WFIS, which included both registered and unregistered provision. In September 2011 there were 227 registrations recorded by CSSIW. The difference between the amount of childcare recorded by WFIS and that registered by CSSIW is accounted for by different methods of categorisation. CSSIW register individual settings e.g. an out of school club is counted as one setting. However, the club may provide three different services i.e. before school, after school and holiday services. As these services often cater for different children and differing parental needs, they need to be counted separately to provide an accurate assessment of childcare supply across the County Borough. Therefore to ensure a consistent approach in this review of the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment, the term settings is used to refer to individual services rather than individual settings, as this best represents the sufficiency of childcare available across the County Borough.

There has been an increase in the number of recorded childcare places in Wrexham over the last year. In total, the 336 settings in Wrexham provide 8555 recorded childcare places, and of these 1455 were recorded as unregistered. However, the actual number of unregistered settings and places may be higher, as there will still be some that remain unknown.

Number of recorded childcare settings (services)

Source: WFIS database (2011)

The maximum number of registered childcare places available across all care types in Wrexham recorded by CSSIW in September 2011 was 5143, which is an increase from 4869 in May 2010.

22

0 5 10 15 20 25

Blaenau GwentBridgend

CaerphillyCardiff

CarmarthenshireCeredigion

ConwyDenbighshire

FlintshireGwynedd

Merthyr TydfilMonmouthshire

Nearth Port TalbotNewport

PembrokeshirePowys

Rhondda Cynon TaffSwansea

TorfaenVale of Glamorgan

WrexhamYnys Mon

Registered childcare places in each local authority in Wales per 100 children

Source: Stats Wales (2011)

The total number of childcare places in Wrexham for which the childcare element of the Working Tax Credit could be claimed in 2011 was 7154. This was based on all settings requiring fees, and is a large increase on the previous year, where 6545 places were available for which the childcare element of the Working Tax Credit could be claimed.

According to CSSIW data, in 2010 there were 21.1 childcare places per 100 children, which equated to more than one registered childcare place for every 4.7 children across Wrexham County Borough. However, there was an increase in Wrexham in 2011, where there were 22 childcare places per 100 children, which equates to more than one registered childcare place for every 4.5 children across Wrexham County Borough. Compared with other local authorities, Wrexham continues to have the second highest amount of childcare in Wales, just behind Denbighshire where the rate was 23.3 places per 100 children. The Wales average in 2011 was 13.9 places per 100 children aged 0-14.

Geographical spread This section outlines the main supply issues in Wrexham for each childcare sector. To ensure an accurate picture of the childcare situation across Wrexham County Borough, the supply data has not consistently been broken down by the specific age ranges. This is because childcare providers do not allocate a specific number of places to each range, as this depends on current demand. Even the specified age range ‘2 and under’ is difficult to measure accurately, as settings are allocated a certain number of places for children under 18 months and have different allocations for children over 18 months.

Across Wrexham County Borough, childcare is not distributed evenly either by the range of settings available in each area (providing choice); by the number of settings of each (providing accessibility); or by the number of places (providing availability). The following tables and graphs present a wealth of data to show the distribution of recorded childcare across Wrexham.

23

As of October 2011, Wrexham had the following mix of early years and childcare provision.

WARD

Chi

ld-

min

ders

No.

Pla

ces

Full

Day

care

No.

Pla

ces

Play

grou

ps

No.

Pla

ces

Bef

ore

Scho

ol

No.

Pla

ces

Afte

r Sc

hool

N

o. P

lace

s

Hol

iday

C

lubs

No.

Pla

ces

Tota

l Se

tting

sTo

tal N

o.

Plac

es

Acton 0 0 1 30 2 55 1 47 1 47 2 90 7 269Borras Park 2 9 1 60 0 0 1 12 1 12 1 12 6 105Bronington 1 5 1 34 4 128 2 64 2 81 1 24 11 336Brymbo 2 9 2 67 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 76Bryn Cefn 1 4 0 0 2 32 1 30 1 24 1 24 6 114Brynyffynnon 2 11 3 213 3 77 1 16 1 16 1 16 11 349Cartrefle 0 0 2 70 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 70Cefn 3 16 0 0 5 124 2 55 3 69 0 0 13 264Chirk North 3 18 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 24 0 0 4 42Chirk South 0 0 1 20 2 50 2 75 1 26 1 12 7 183Coedpoeth 8 44 1 20 4 98 2 65 1 25 0 0 16 252Ceiriog Valley 1 6 0 0 1 17 1 22 1 24 2 40 6 109Erddig 2 6 0 0 2 32 1 40 2 55 1 15 8 148Esclusham 1 6 0 0 2 60 0 0 1 40 1 40 5 146Garden Village 2 12 0 0 2 42 1 40 1 40 1 26 7 160Gresford East & West 1 6 2 104 3 79 2 92 1 92 2 55 11 428Grosvenor 1 6 3 157 1 24 3 110 2 22 3 65 13 384Gwenfro 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Gwersyllt East & Sth 4 18 0 0 2 50 1 32 1 60 0 0 8 160Gwersyllt North 0 0 0 0 3 62 1 140 1 32 2 35 7 269Gwersyllt West 1 6 1 36 1 16 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 58Hermitage 2 17 0 0 3 98 1 38 2 88 1 30 9 271Holt 2 7 2 142 1 26 3 59 4 78 2 38 14 350Johnstown 1 6 0 0 1 26 2 70 1 35 0 0 5 137Little Acton 2 9 0 0 1 20 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 29Llangollen Rural 2 8 1 24 2 22 1 22 2 56 1 32 9 164Llay 1 5 1 29 2 76 1 32 1 32 1 19 7 193Maesydre 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 40 1 30 0 0 2 70Marchwiel 3 15 0 0 1 24 2 76 2 80 0 0 8 195Marford & Hoseley 5 28 0 0 2 52 1 62 1 62 1 62 10 266Minera 2 12 0 0 3 91 2 75 2 56 1 40 10 274New Broughton 2 10 2 69 1 26 1 45 2 60 2 60 10 270Offa 1 6 0 0 2 44 2 66 3 110 2 92 10 318Overton 4 20 2 61 2 35 4 82 4 115 2 40 18 353Pant 2 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 9Penycae 2 9 0 0 2 28 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 37Penycae & Ruabon Sth 0 0 0 0 1 25 0 0 2 36 0 0 3 61Plas Madoc 0 0 0 0 4 102 1 70 1 16 1 16 7 204Ponciau 2 8 0 0 4 98 1 50 1 25 1 24 9 205Queensway 0 0 0 0 1 20 1 24 1 16 1 16 4 76Rhosnesni 2 10 0 0 3 58 2 160 1 48 1 16 9 292Rossett 1 6 1 61 2 52 1 56 2 71 1 40 8 286Ruabon 2 10 1 23 2 42 1 56 1 56 1 56 8 243Smithfield 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Stansty 1 5 0 0 2 42 1 50 1 50 0 0 5 147Whitegate 0 0 0 0 2 44 1 29 0 0 0 0 3 73Wynnstay 1 4 0 0 2 36 1 70 0 0 0 0 4 110Total 75 386 28 1220 85 2033 53 2072 57 1809 38 1035 336 8555

Since the 2011 CSA, the number of settings and places has increased by 5.6% and 7.3% respectively. The biggest increase was seen in the holiday club sector, with a 31% increase in the number of settings and a 27.8% increase in the number of places (27.8%). This demonstrates the

24

success of our Childcare Action Plan and use of the Community Focused Schools (CFS) grant in helping to address the identified demand and key recommendation arising from the 2011 CSA, to develop holiday provision across the County Borough in areas of low supply and high demand.

Choice and accessibility of childcare settings – Number of settings

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20


BrymboBryn Cefn








HermitageHolt



MaesydreMarchwiel


New BroughtonOffa

OvertonPant


Plas MadocPonciau

QueenswayRhosnesni

RossettRuabon

SmithfieldStansty

WhitegateWynnstay

ChildmindersFull DaycarePlaygroupsBefore School ClubsAfter School ClubsHoliday Clubs

Availability of childcare places – Number of places

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450


BrymboBryn Cefn








HermitageHolt



MaesydreMarchwiel


New BroughtonOffa

OvertonPant


Plas MadocPonciau

QueenswayRhosnesni

RossettRuabon

SmithfieldStansty

WhitegateWynnstay

ChildmindersFull DaycarePlaygroupsBefore School ClubsAfter School ClubsHoliday Clubs

The graphs above show the volume and variety of childcare provision, yet a more accurate assessment can be obtained by relating the number of registered childcare places to the population of children aged 0-14 years. This uses the following formula to obtain a common unit of assessment:

Number of childcare places / Population of childrenX 100

= Childcare rate

WFIS data shows that Wrexham has a total of 336 settings with 7043 registered childcare places and 1512 unregistered childcare places (a total of 8555 places). This equates to 30.8 childcare places for every 100 children, or 37.1 places for every 100 children including unregistered places. However this rate varies across the County Borough between 0 places per 100 in the Gwenfro and Smithfield wards, to 126.7 places per 100 children in the Grosvenor ward. This pattern remains unchanged from the 2011 CSA, but does demonstrate an increased number of settings and places overall. However, it is important to note that in areas with over 100 places per 100 children, supply may be outstripping demand.

Recorded childcare places per 100 children in the population by ward

25

Supply of places by age range and typeIn analysing childcare sufficiency, breaking the different provision into sector and early years or school aged childcare is useful to assess the number of places available, the times and session lengths offered, the costs, and the places in each sector provided through the medium of Welsh. However, analysing provision by age range catered for is difficult due to childcare providers not allocating a specific number of places to each age range, as this depends on current demand. As all places could be available for the majority of the age groups, supplying the number of places by age range would result in double counting and an inaccurate picture of provision.

Early years childcare - Places for 0-4 year oldsIn Wrexham, early years childcare (full daycare as defined by CSSIW registration) for children under 5 is provided by childminders and day nurseries. Sessional care (pre-school playgroups and Cylchoedd Meithrin) requires ‘plus’ settings in order to meet the childcare needs of working parents, as this provides wrap-around care that matches the school day and school terms.

Across Wrexham County Borough, there were 1606 places available for children under 5 in 28 group daycare settings (1220 places) and 75 registered childminder settings (386 places). Although, this is an increase in the number of places for children under 5, based on an increase in the 0-4 population in Wrexham of approximately 8272, there are now 19.4 daycare places available for every 100 children aged 0-4 in the County Borough, or one place for every five children aged 0-4. This is a slight decrease from the 2011 CSA where there were 20.4 daycare places available for every 100 children aged 0-4 in the County Borough, or just over one place for every five children.

There is no consistent level of early years childcare in Wrexham, with rates ranging from none in the Gwenfro, Gwersyllt North, Maesydre, Penycae and Ruabon South, Plas Madoc, Queensway, Smithfield and Whitegate wards, to over 40 places in the Borras Park, Brynyffynnon, Cartrefle, Coedpoeth, Gresford East and West, Grosvenor, Holt and Overton wards. There is more early years provision in the north and east of the County Borough, yet disparity of local provision in some areas may prove a barrier to parents wishing to use childcare to work or train.

Daycare for babiesThere are currently an estimated 467 places across Wrexham County Borough to care for children under age one, which is an increase from 455 in the 2011 CSA. Of these 467 places, 32.1% are in childminding settings and 67.8% are in day nursery settings. The high staffing ratios and space requirements needed to care for children under one mean that caring for these children can cost families considerably more and can often deter parents from using formal childcare for their babies.

CrèchesThere are currently two registered crèches in Wrexham County Borough. They both have very specific purposes and are not available to the general public. One enables school aged mums to continue in education and the other enables parents to access support through a voluntary organisation. A number of ad hoc crèches are also run across the County Borough to enable parents to access short courses or parenting support. As these do not have to register and operate in different locations for short periods of time, it is not practical to include these. Therefore no further analysis into these types of crèches has been included in this Annual Review.Full daycare – private day nurseriesDay nurseries often provide care for children aged 0-4 years and also children of school age. Since the 2011 CSA, the number of full daycare settings has slightly decreased from 29 to 28 settings, yet

26

the number of full daycare places has slightly increased from 1213 to 1220 places. By ward, the total number of full daycare settings and places available overall and by ward are provided in the childcare table on p24.

However, it is important to recognise that a number of groups which previously provided sessional care have changed their registration to full daycare and are now able to care for the same child for the full day. This disguises the fact that in the last twelve months, two day nurseries have closed and a further one closed in February 2012.

The highest number of full day care settings and places continue to be in the Grosvenor and Brynyffynnon wards, with 157 and 213 places respectively. However, there are still 29 wards in Wrexham with no full day care settings.

Term-time or holiday provision: 96.4% of day nurseries are open during term-time and school holidays, whilst 3.6% open term-time only. However, a number of day nurseries do not open every school holiday e.g. 74% of day nurseries close for some or all of the Christmas holiday period.

Times and session lengths full day care is provided: Full daycare can be provided for anything between 7 hours to 11 hours per day. A number of settings have increased their opening hours since the 2011 CSA, where previously the minimum number of opening hours was 5 ¾ hours. The majority of settings are open for 10 hours (25%) or 10 ½ hours per day (28.6%) and provide care usually between 8:00am and 6:00pm. Only 6 day nurseries provide care earlier than 7:30am, whilst none provide care later than 6:00pm. All full daycare settings in Wrexham are open during weekdays only. Full daycare settings are usually available for full or half day sessions, with additional hours purchased in addition to the half day session.

Number of hours full daycare settings are open – Number of settings

0 1 2 3 4 5


BrymboBrynyffynnon

CartrefleChirk SouthCoedpoeth


Gwersyllt WestHolt

Llangollen RralLlay

New BroughtonOvertonRossettRuabon

6

7

8

9

9.5

10

10.5

11

The graph above presents the wards with full daycare provision and identifies that the longest hours are found in the Brynyffynnon ward and the shortest hours are found in the Grosvenor ward.

Flexibility: Full day care settings are rather rigid in the opening hours provided and do not offer the same degree of flexibility as childminders. This may impact on the demand for childcare from shift workers and those working weekends, as no full daycare settings in Wrexham County Borough offer care after 6pm during the weekday, and no full daycare settings are open at weekends. However, to address the recommendation within the 2011 CSA to support settings to increase the flexibility of their provision by offering longer opening hours, sustainability grant funding has been offered to settings to pilot additional hours and gauge parental demand before committing to extended hours on a permanent basis. However, it is acknowledged that flexibility in childcare provision needs to be addressed at the same time as flexibility in working hours for parents.

Number of full daycare places available in Welsh:Welsh Medium Setting - 0 placesWelsh Medium and English Medium Setting - 0 placesBilingual Setting - 0 placesPredominantly English Medium Setting with some Welsh - 1220 placesEnglish Medium Setting Only - 0 placesTherefore, it is evident that 100% of full day care places in Wrexham are predominantly English medium settings with some use of Welsh.

27

Fees: The average fees for full daycare provision range from £31.99 per day to £157.66 per week across the County Borough, with an average hourly fee of £3.43. This is a small increase from the 2011 CSA. The highest daily fee for full daycare provision is in the Brynyffynnon ward at £40.00, while the lowest daily fee is in the Brymbo ward at £25.00.

Working Tax Credits: 1220 places in 28 day nurseries (100%) are eligible for parents to claim the Childcare Element of the Working Tax Credit.

Quality: All full daycare settings in Wrexham are registered and are meeting the National Minimum Standards as set by CSSIW. 9 out of the 28 full daycare settings in Wrexham have also completed a Quality Assurance Scheme, whilst a further 9 are working towards accreditation.

ChildmindersThis type of childcare is important in providing parents with a choice of setting between home-based care and group care. Childminders provide an option for parents working atypical or flexible hours, evenings, nights or shifts and can be categorised as early years and school aged childcare.

Since the 2011 CSA, there has been an increase in the number of childminder settings, from 71 to 75, and an increase in the number of places, from 360 to 386. By ward, the total number of childminding settings and places available overall and by ward are provided in the childcare table on p24.

The highest number of childminder settings and places remains in the Coedpoeth and Marford and Hoseley wards, with 44 and 28 places respectively. However, there has been a decrease in the number of wards without any childminders operating in the area, from 12 wards in 2011, to 11 wards in 2012, thus demonstrating work towards addressing gaps in provision.

Term-time or holiday provision: Since the 2011 CSA, there has been an increase in the number of childminders opening for the full year, rather than just term-time. Currently, the majority of childminders (64) in Wrexham are open the full year (85.3%), while 11 open term-time only (14.7%). This demonstrates improvements on previous years when just 58 settings opened the full year and 13 opened term-time only.

Number of childminders open term-time, holidays or both

0 2 4 6 8 10

Borras ParkBronington

BrymboBryn Cefn

BrynyffynnonCefn

Chirk NorthCoedpoeth




Gwersyllt East & SouthGwersyllt West

HermitageHolt



MarchwielMarford & Hoseley

MineraNew Broughton

OffaOverton

PantPenycaePonciau

RhosnesniRossettRuabonStansty

Wynnstay

BothTerm Time

School Holidays

Times and session lengths childminder provision is provided: Childminders are flexible in the childcare that they can provide. However, the majority still offer a standard five day week, with 14 childminders saying that they will provide care at the weekends. This is an increase from 12 in the 2011 CSA. Due to the flexibility of childminders, they are able to offer a range of session lengths, such as a few hours before or after school, occasional childminding for a couple of hours, or half day or full day sessions. A full day can vary between 8 ½ hours and 14 hours, yet the majority of childminders in Wrexham provide care for between 9 and 10 ½ hours per day. There are 6 childminders in Wrexham that provide very flexible opening hours and discuss requirements with parents, including 1 childminder that provides care for up to 14 hours per day and 6 that provide care for up to 12 hours per day. This demonstrates the range of hours now offered by childminders in Wrexham following the 2011 CSA, with the longer opening hours and flexible provision being beneficial to parents working shifts or atypical hours.

Childminder opening hours

28

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9


BrymboBryn Cefn

BrynyffynnonCefn

Chirk NorthCoedpoeth



Gresford E & WGrosvenor

Gwersyllt E & SGwersyllt West

HermitageHolt



MarchwielMarford &

MineraNew Broughton

OffaOverton

PantPenycaePonciau


Wynnstay

8

8.599.5

1010.511

11.512

1314Flexi

Flexibility: Childminders offer working parents the greatest amount of flexible provision, with the majority of childminders operating throughout the standard working week (84%) and 16% opening at the weekend as part of their standard opening hours. Again, this increased provision of weekend care demonstrates progress towards addressing parental demand and gaps in provision for atypical hours. These extended hours tend to operate in the Hermitage and Little Acton wards and could provide a vital resource for parents requiring childcare at weekends in order to work.

Flexibility by ward – Number of places

0 10 20 30 40 50

Brymbo

Chirk North

Esclusham

Gw ersyllt East & South

Hermitage

Little Acton

Llay

Marchw iel

Marford & Hoseley

Minera

New Broughton

Rossett

Weekend

Evening

Overnight

Number of childminder places available in Welsh:Welsh Medium Setting - 0 placesWelsh Medium and English Medium Setting - 9 placesBilingual Setting - 12 placesPredominantly English Medium Setting with some Welsh - 158 placesEnglish Medium Setting - 207 places

Therefore, it is evident that the majority of childminding places are still available through the medium of English (94.6%). However, there has been a slight increase in the number and percentage of places available through the medium of Welsh, from 4.7% to 5.4%, with the majority of these being found in the Bryn Cefn, Coedpoeth, Minera and Rhosnesni wards. However, despite this increase, there remain no childminders that categorise themselves as Welsh medium only, as settings either operate a bilingual or a Welsh medium and English medium service.

Fees: Childminder fees range from £2.50 to £5.00 per hour across the County Borough, with an average hourly fee of £4.36. This is an increase of 21.6% since the 2011 CSA. Daily costs range from £20.00 to £48.00 across the County Borough, with an average daily fee of £38.35. This is an increase of 27% since the 2011 CSA. Weekly costs range from £100.00 to £240.00 across the County Borough, with an average weekly fee of £189.12. This is an increase of 26.5% since the 2011 CSA.

Working Tax Credits: In Wrexham, 386 childminder places are eligible for parents to claim the Childcare Element of the Working Tax Credit (100%).

Quality: All childminder settings are registered and are meeting the National Minimum Standards as set by CSSIW. 16 out of the 75 childminders in Wrexham are NCMA Community Childminders.Sessional care– combined analysis of playgroups, playgroup plus and combined groups

29

Since the 2011 CSA, there has been an increase in the number of sessional care settings (including wrap around) from 81 to 85 and an increase in the number of registered places from 1801 to 1976. This also demonstrates a significant continual increase in the number of sessional care providers and places over the last 4 years since the 2008 CSA. By ward, the total number of sessional care settings (playgroups) and places available overall and by ward are provided in the childcare table on p24.

The highest number of sessional care settings and places are in the Bronington and Cefn wards, with 128 places and 124 places respectively. There has also been a decrease in the number of wards without sessional care settings since the 2011 CSA, from 8 to 6 wards, which again demonstrates our move towards addressing gaps in provision.

Set against the population of 3-4 year old children in Wrexham, there are 62.7 sessional / sessional wrap-around places available for every 100 children. This demonstrates a large increase over the last 4 years, with just 56 places per 100 children in the 2008 CSA, and 58.6 places per 100 children in the 2011 CSA.

In Flying Start areas the number of available sessional care places is important in fulfilling the programme’s aims to provide early learning opportunities for 2 year olds. In Wrexham there are 10 sessional care providers operating in Flying Start areas, which offer a total of 218 places, compared to 172 places in the 2011 CSA. However, the expansion of Flying Start from 2012 will help to increase the provision of childcare places, and is broken down into more detail on p39.

Term-time or holiday provision: Sessional care groups are predominantly open term-time only. However, the exception to this are the Flying Start groups, which open for 42 weeks per year, including two weeks at Easter and two weeks in the summer holidays. Therefore, 88.2% of groups in Wrexham open term-time only and 11.8% open for part of the school holidays.

Times and session lengths sessional care is provided: The majority of sessional care groups are open for 5 days per week (64.7%), with a proportion opening 4 days (14.1%) or 3 days (14.1%). A total of 6 groups open for less than 3 days, with 2 groups opening for just 1 day per week. The majority of groups run their sessions in the morning (55.3%), with 12.9% running sessions in both the morning and afternoon. Session lengths vary from 2 hours to 4 ½ hours, with 42.4% running for 2 ½ hours and 30.6% of groups running for 3 ½ hours. Only a small minority of groups run for more than 3 ½ hours (3.5%).

Sessional care places in English and Welsh

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

ActonBroningtonBryn Cefn

BrynyffynnonCefn

Chirk SouthCoedpoeth


EsclushamGarden VillageGresford East

GrosvenorGw ersyllt East

Gw ersyllt NorthGw ersyllt West

HermitageHolt

Johnstow nLittle Acton


Marchw ielMarford &

MineraNew Broughton

OffaOvertonPenycae

Penycae &Plas Madoc

PonciauQueensw ay


WhitegateWynnstay

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

5.5

The graph above presents the wards with sessional care provision and identifies that the longest hours provided by sessional care groups are in the Overton and Ponciau wards, while 11 wards in Wrexham operate for the shortest hours.Flexibility: Sessional care is not a flexible form of childcare for working parents and cannot be used by itself by parents wishing to work or train. Playgroup/Nursery Plus or combined

30

Playgroup/Playgroup Plus groups provide the best option for working parents, as they offer wrap-around care for nursery aged children.

Number of sessional places available in Welsh:Welsh Medium Setting - 305 placesWelsh Medium and English Medium Setting - 0 placesBilingual Setting - 0 placesPredominantly English Medium Setting with some Welsh - 1613 placesEnglish Medium Setting - 115 places

There has been an increase in the number of places available through the medium of Welsh, from 295 in the 2011 CSA, to 305. The majority of sessional care settings in Wrexham (79.3%) are predominantly English with some use of Welsh, which is virtually unchanged since the 2011 CSA (79.5%). However, the number of Welsh medium settings remains unchanged at 12.

Welsh medium settings continue to be available in 8 wards across Wrexham, with Hermitage having the largest number of Welsh medium sessional care places (98 places).

Fees: Sessional care fees range from £1.50 to £13.50 per session, with an average sessional fee of £6.54. This is a 26% increase from the 2011 CSA.

Working Tax Credits: 72 out of 85 (84.7%) sessional care providers are eligible for parents to claim the Childcare Element of the Working Tax Credit. This excludes those groups that are not registered and those that are Flying Start groups.

Quality: In Wrexham, 96.5% of sessional care settings are registered and are meeting the National Minimum Standards set by CSSIW. Furthermore, 26 out of the 85 sessional care settings have completed a Quality Assurance Scheme, whilst an additional 6 are working towards accreditation.

School aged childcare – Out of school care (before school, after school and holiday provision)School aged childcare is defined in this report as care that is provided before school, after school and during school holidays for children of school age, and can include out of school clubs, day nurseries and childminders, which were presented earlier in the report. In most cases school aged childcare caters for children aged 4 years and over. For registration purposes, only out of school care that includes children under 8 comes within the National Minimum Standards. Settings catering exclusively for older children cannot register under the Children Act (1989).

In October 2011, there were 4916 out of school childcare places in Wrexham (counting each type of place, i.e. before school, after school and holiday care, separately). This is an increase from 4539 in the 2011 CSA (8.3%). The total number of registered places (CSSIW count) was 1454. Set against the population of children and young people, there were 32.4 out of school places (counting places separately) for every 100 children aged 5-14 years (and up to 17 for disabled children) in 2011 in Wrexham, compared to 27.1 places per 100 children aged 5-14 years in the previous year. This demonstrates our progress in addressing identified parental demand and gaps in the childcare market to increase the provision of out of school care across Wrexham.

Using CSSIW total registered numbers, the rate of out of school places was 9.6 places per 100 children in 2011, against 4.8 places per 100 children in the previous year. The 2011 rate of 9.6 places per 100 children compares with 20.4 places per 100 children in daycare settings for children under age 5. Across Wales, the rate of out of school childcare (CSSIW count) was 4.6 places per 100 children. Wrexham therefore has over twice the amount of out of school care than the averages across the whole country.

Accessibility and availability of out of school places

31

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

WARDActon


BrymboBryn Cefn








HermitageHolt



MaesydreMarchwiel


New BroughtonOffa

OvertonPant

PenycaePenycae & Ruabon

Plas MadocPonciau

QueenswayRhosnesni

RossettRuabon

SmithfieldStansty

WhitegateWynnstay

Holiday Places

After School Places

Before School Places

The distribution of out of school care above shows the disparity between areas, with a number of areas having more limited access to out of school care compared to others. The ward with the highest number of out of school care places continues to be Offa, with 268 places, and the wards with the least are Brymbo, Cartrefle, Gwenfro, Gwersyllt West, Little Acton, Pant, Penycae, and Smithfield with 0 places. However, the proximity of out of school care to the child’s home is less relevant, as for school aged care during term time the most important factor is the proximity of out of school care to the child’s school.

The number of before school clubs remains unchanged since the 2011 CSA at 53, with a small increase evident in the number of places, from 2062 to 2072.

The number of after school clubs has increased since the 2011 CSA from 53 to 57, with an increase also evident in the number of places, from 1667 to 2072.

There has also been a similar increase in the number of holiday clubs in Wrexham, from 29 to 38 settings, and further increases in the number of places, from 810 to 1035. This demonstrates our commitment to improving access to holiday provision across the County Borough in areas of low supply and high demand.

Term-time or holiday provision: Before school and after school clubs are available during term-time (74.3%) and holiday clubs are open during school holidays only (25.7%).

Times and session lengths out of school clubs are provided: 99.3% of out school clubs are open 5 days per week. Session lengths vary from 25 minutes to 2 hours for before school clubs, 1 ¾ hours to 3 ½ hours for after school clubs, and 5 hours to 11 hours for holiday clubs.

Flexibility: By using the complete childcare package of before school, after school and holiday clubs, the full day that working parents require is covered throughout the year. However, there is a continuing need to increase access to holiday provision across the County Borough.

Number of out of school places available in Welsh:Welsh Medium Setting - 281 placesWelsh Medium and English Medium Setting - 70 placesBilingual Setting - 0 placesPredominantly English Medium Setting with some Welsh - 2901 placesEnglish Medium Setting - 1604 places

The majority of settings in Wrexham are predominantly English medium with some use Welsh (59%). However, 5.7% are Welsh medium settings, which is an increase from the 2011 CSA (3.2%).

32

Fees: Before school club fees range from £2.00 to £33.00 per session, with an average sessional fee of £4.21. This is over double the average fee reported in the 2011 CSA. Weekly fees range from £10.00 to £165.00, with an average of £21.06 across the County Borough, which again represents a 50% increase since the 2011 CSA. This huge increase in before school club fees can be explained by some day nurseries providing before school provision but charging full day prices to ensure that the place is kept open. A total of 26 clubs provide free provision through the Free Breakfast Club Initiative.

After school club fees range from £0.50 to £33.00 per session across the County Borough, with average fees of £7.13 per session. This represents a 16.9% increase since the 2011 CSA. Weekly fees range from £2.50 to £165.00 across the County Borough, with average weekly fees of £40.55. This is a 35% increase from the 2011 CSA. Therefore, there is a continuing need to focus on affordability and the provision of information for parents regarding financial entitlements to support childcare costs.

Holiday club fees range from £13.00 to £33.00 per day across the County Borough., with an average daily fee of £19.40. This represents a 69.7% increase since the 2011 CSA. Weekly fees for holiday clubs range from £62.50 to £165.00 across the County Borough, with an average weekly fee of £55.05, which is a decrease of 38% since the 2011 CSA.

Working Tax Credits: 82.4% of out school settings are eligible for parents to claim the Childcare Element of the Working Tax Credit.

Quality: In Wrexham County Borough, 70.9% of out school settings are registered and are meeting the National Minimum Standards set by CSSIW. Furthermore, 21 of the out of school settings in Wrexham have completed a Quality Assurance Scheme.

Flying StartInformation about Flying Start supply and roll out plans are provided in the Demand Section on p39.

Early Education (EE)Part-time funded Early Education remains available for all children from the term following their third birthday. Early Education is based around school catchment areas and as of January 2012 was delivered in 71 settings across Wrexham via a mixture of schools and approved settings. Of these, 51 were approved non-maintained providers funded by the local authority to provide free Early Education places for 3 year olds. In 2011 no childminders were designated as approved settings to provide Early Education.

As of January 2012, Wrexham had the following mix of Early Education provision:Ward Playgroup

SettingsDay Nursery

SettingsSchool

SettingsTotal No of

SettingsActon 1 0 0 1Borras Park 0 0 0 0Bronington 3 0 1 4Brymbo 0 1 1 2Bryn Cefn 0 0 2 2Brynyffynnon 3 2 0 5Cartrefle 0 1 1 2Cefn 2 0 1 3Ceiriog Valley 0 0 3 3Chirk North 0 0 1 1Chirk South 1 0 0 1Coedpoeth 2 0 0 2Erddig 1 0 0 1Esclusham 1 0 0 1Garden Village 1 0 0 1Gresford East & West 1 0 0 1Grosvenor 0 2 0 2Gwenfro 0 0 0 0Gwersyllt East & Sth 1 0 0 1Gwersyllt North 2 0 0 2

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Gwersyllt West 0 1 0 1Hermitage 0 0 1 1Holt 1 1 1 3Johnstown 1 0 0 1Little Acton 1 0 0 1Llangollen Rural 1 0 1 2Llay 1 0 0 1Maesydre 0 0 1 1Marchwiel 1 0 1 2Marford & Hoseley 1 0 0 1Minera 0 0 2 2New Broughton 0 1 0 1Offa 1 0 0 1Overton 2 1 1 4Pant 0 0 0 0Penycae 0 0 0 0Pant 0 0 0 0Penycae 0 0 0 0Penycae & Ruabon Sth 1 0 0 1Plas Madoc 1 0 0 1Ponciau 2 0 0 2Queensway 1 0 1 2Rhosnesni 2 0 0 2Rossett 1 1 0 2Ruabon 1 0 1 2Smithfield 0 0 0 0Stansty 1 0 0 1Whitegate 1 0 0 1Wynnstay 0 0 0 0Total 40 11 20 71

From the data above, the distribution of Early Education settings across Wrexham is as follows: The highest number of playgroup settings offering Early Education is in Bronington and

Brynyffynnon, with 3 settings each; The highest number of day nurseries offering Early Education is in Brynyffynnon and

Grosvenor with 2 settings each; The highest number of schools offering Early Education continues to be in the Ceiriog Valley

with 3 settings; The highest number of overall settings offering Early Education continues to be in

Brynyffynnon with 5 settings.

Spread of Early Education provision (maintained, playgroup, nursery) by ward

0 1 2 3 4 5 6


BrymboBryn Cefn


CefnCeiriog Valley

Chirk NorthChirk SouthCoedpoeth

ErddigEsclusham

Garden VillageGresford East & West

GrosvenorGwenfro

Gwersyllt East & SthGwersyllt NorthGwersyllt West

HermitageHolt



MaesydreMarchwiel


New BroughtonOffa

OvertonPant


Plas MadocPonciau

QueenswayRhosnesni

RossettRuabon

SmithfieldStansty

WhitegateWynnstay

Sessional Care

Day Nursery

Schools

Term-time or holiday provision: 100% of Early Education settings are available term-time during the Spring and Summer terms.

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Times and session lengths Early Education is provided: Early Education is provided for a total of 10 hours per week, which can be either for four sessions of 2 ½ hours or five sessions of 2 hours.

Flexibility: Early Education cannot be used by itself to enable parents to work or train and Early Education is not intended as a form of childcare. Parents have a choice of stand-alone sessions (in schools or playgroups/Cylchoedd Meithrin), wrap around sessions or fully integrated care and Early Education, as provided by day nurseries. However, despite sufficient provision for all eligible 3 year olds in Wrexham, some children may miss out on Early Education because parents do not want to move their children from their current day nursery or childminder, as they may still have to pay their childcare setting to keep the child’s place open for those Early Education hours.

Number of Early Education settings available in Welsh:Welsh Medium Setting - 7 settingsWelsh Medium and English Medium Setting - 1 settingBilingual Setting - 0 settings Predominantly English Medium Setting with some use of Welsh - 63 settingsEnglish Medium Setting - 0 settings

There are 8 settings offering statutory Early Education through the medium of Welsh in Wrexham. All funded Early Education settings use some Welsh during their sessions as part of the Foundation Phase curriculum. Early Education settings through the medium of Welsh can be found in Brynyffynnon, Cefn, Ceiriog Valley, Coedpoeth, Gwersyllt North, Hermitage and Ponciau.

Working Tax Credits: As all sessions are free parents cannot use the Childcare Element of the Working Tax Credit.

Quality: All non-maintained settings providing Early Education are registered by CSSIW and all Early Education settings are inspected by Estyn.

Welsh Medium and Bilingual ChildcareChildcare in Wrexham has been analysed by the number of places available via Welsh medium settings, Welsh medium and English medium settings, bilingual settings, predominantly English medium setting with some use of Welsh, and English medium settings.

In Wrexham, the majority of childcare providers identify themselves as predominantly English medium settings with some use of Welsh (63.1%), with only 0.6% bilingual and a further 1.5% Welsh medium and English medium settings. Of the 336 childcare providers in Wrexham, 18 provide Welsh medium childcare, 5 provide Welsh medium and English medium childcare and 2 provide bilingual childcare. The overwhelming majority provide English medium childcare but use Welsh within the setting.

Overall childcare settings by language medium

English

English/Welsh

Bilingual

Welsh/English

Welsh

In total, 665 out of the 8555 childcare places (7.8%) in Wrexham are available through the medium of Welsh or in both Welsh and English. This is an increase from the previous years figures of 647 places available in Welsh and a further 12 places available bilingually. Nevertheless, there are less than 8% of childcare places available through the medium of Welsh or bilingually. This is set against a Welsh-speaking population of around 17% of all Wrexham residents in 2010, which could suggest additional demand for more Welsh medium childcare places in some areas or pockets of Wrexham.

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The largest proportion of Welsh medium childcare continues to be delivered by Cylchoedd Meithrin, which provide sessional and wrap around care. A small number of childminders deliver their services bilingually, yet no childminders in Wrexham deliver solely through the medium of Welsh. Increasing the recruitment of Welsh medium childminders could prove a viable and sustainable option to filling the Welsh medium demand gaps in some areas of Wrexham with pockets of parental demand.

Settings by language and type (%) – Places

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

English

English / Welsh

Bilingual

Welsh / English

Welsh

Full Day Care

Before School

After School

Holiday

Childminder

Playgroup

Playgroup Plus

Playgroup/ Plus

Most Welsh medium provision in Wrexham is located in the Ceiriog Valley, Coedpoeth, Grosvenor, Hermitage and Ponciau wards, but is also available in Bryn Cefn, Brynyffynnon, Cefn, Gwersyllt North, Minera and Rhosnesni.

The rate of children transferring from funded non-maintained Welsh medium settings to Welsh medium/bilingual schools remains high at 95%, with two settings (Clych Meithrin Maes y Gomel and Cylch Meithrin Coedpoeth) having a transfer rate of 100%, followed by 90% at Cylch Meithrin Hill Street (9/10 children) and 88% in Cylch Meithrin Summerhill (15/17 children).

Childcare for disabled childrenAll childcare settings have a legal responsibility under the Equality Act (2010) to provide an inclusive service. Provision for disabled children in Wrexham is via mainstream childcare settings and a small number of specialist settings. These specialist settings include Dynamic, which operates unregistered provision for children over the age of eight, St Christopher’s School, which provides out of school care, and Acton Children and Family Centre, which provides sessional, wrap-around and holiday places for children with additional needs. Furthermore, Blythswood Childcare Services (a childminding service), Little Scholars Day Nursery (based at the new Centre for the Child, Family and Society at Glyndŵr University), Ysgol Heulfan out of school club, and Jumping Jacks at Ysgol Maes Y Llan, all provide inclusive settings that are reflected in the number of disabled children that use the settings. However, there is a need for the Voluntary Approval Scheme to be developed to enable disabled children to be cared for in their own home.

During consultation with parents for the 2011 CSA, limited access to information about suitable childcare for disabled children was a barrier for some parents. Wrexham Family Information Service (WFIS) has been working to improve the information held on childcare for these parents. A list of special needs/disabilities was compiled across Family Information Services in Wales, in conjunction with organisations working with parents of disabled children. This exercise is not yet complete, but a full picture will be available for the next Annual Review in 2013. The categories of special needs/disabilities include the following: Autistic Spectrum Disorder; Behavioural, Emotional and Social Difficulties; Chronic Illness; Downs Syndrome; Global Learning Difficulties; Medical Needs; Mental Health; Physical Disability; Speech, Language and Communication Difficulty; Sensory Impairment - Visual & Hearing; and Specific Learning Difficulties - Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia.

In total, 597 places are provided by the settings mentioned above as providing specialist or highly inclusive settings. Of these, 11 places are provided in a childminding setting, 91 in a day nursery setting, 30 in a sessional care setting, 196 in a before school club, 153 in an after school club and 115 in a holiday club.

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The following table presents the location of the settings and the number of places provided.

Location and places provided by specialist and highly inclusive settingsWard No of PlacesActon 60Erddig 30Gresford East & West 15Grosvenor 91Gwersyllt North 172Hermitage 61Ruabon 168Total 597

Term-time or holiday provision: In total, 2 (15.4%) settings are open for the full year, 7 (53.8%) are open during term-time only and the remaining 4 (30.8%) are open during the school holidays only.

Times and session lengths specialist care is provided: In Wrexham County Borough, 100% of term-time and full year provision is open for 5 days per week. Session lengths in term-time and full year provision vary from half an hour in a before school club, to 10 ½ hours in a childminding setting. 75% of holiday provision is open 5 days per week and session lengths vary from 5 hours to 10 hours.

Flexibility: These settings can be used together to provide full year care, yet 92.3% of these settings have strict opening hours and may not be open for the full length of time required. One childminder setting provides flexibility for parents by providing evening, weekend and overnight care. However, parental consultation identified a potential need for more flexible provision with longer opening hours to enable parents to use childcare to enable them to work or train outside the typical 9-5pm working day.

Fees: Fees vary considerably depending upon the type of provision. Fees range from an average of £2.00 per session for before school care, £6.25 per session for after school care, £6.25 per session for sessional care, £17.50 per session for holiday care and £4.00 per hour/£40.00 per day in a childminding setting. Weekly fees range from an average of £10.00 for before school care, £30.50 for after school care, £31.25 for sessional care, £87.50 for holiday care and £200.00 per week in a childminding setting.

Quality: In Wrexham County Borough 69.2% of these settings are registered and are meeting the National Minimum Standards set by CSSIW. These settings provide 502 places. The remaining settings do not have to register with CSSIW as they cater for the over 8s only.

However, it is important to note the difficulties in planning for childcare places for disabled children, due to limited information on the number of disabled children and the needs of their parents at an early stage. Therefore we will continue to work with the Complex Needs Task and Finish Group to support the promotion of the Disability Database, which if used more consistently could support the planning of childcare places for disabled children in Wrexham.

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Childcare costsChildcare settings in Wrexham have a range of services for which they charge differing amounts e.g. according to age group in many day nurseries. A range of charging structures also exists across the County Borough, including hourly, daily and weekly fees. For the purpose of this CSA Annual Review, rates have been converted into a common unit and averages have been taken across all settings.

Childcare costs by provision typeSetting and Charge Minimum Costs Maximum Costs Average Costs

Full daycare fees per week £122.00 £200.00 £157.66Full daycare fees per day £25.00 £40.00 £31.99

Full daycare fees per hour £2.50 £6.00 £3.43Before school care fees per session £0.00 £33.00 £4.21Before school care fees per hour £0.00 £11.00 £3.19After school care fees per session £0.50 £33.00 £7.13After school care fees per hour £0.25 £11.00 £2.82

Holiday fees per session £13.00 £33.00 £19.40Holiday fees per hour £1.40 £6.00 £2.28

Childminder fees per hour £3.00 £5.00 £3.63Pre-school provision fees per session £0.00 £13.50 £6.54Pre-school provision fees per hour £0.00 £3.60 £2.23

The average (median) hourly amount that parents paid for childcare in 2011 was £2.86 per hour, compared to £2.42 in 2010. The most expensive form of childcare in 2011 is provided by childminders, who charge an average of £3.63 per hour, followed by full daycare which charges an average of £3.43 per hour. The cheapest form of childcare is pre-school provision, with an average of £2.23 per hour.

Comparing the average costs of childcare in Wales and Wrexham demonstrate that prices in Wrexham are above average for childminders and below average for day nurseries. Out of school club fees in Wrexham are now just above the Wales average.

Cost comparison with Wrexham, Wales and England for childcare provision per week** based on 25 hours care for childminders and day nurseries and 15 hours care for out of school clubs

Region Childminder Day Nursery Out of School ClubWrexham £98.86 £91.27 £40.92

Wales Average £92.96 £92.35 £40.05England Average £103.19 £92.61 £45.81

Source: Daycare Trust Childcare Costs Survey 2012

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Demand Analysis: Review of Demand, Including Demand for Flying Start Places

Flying Start Flying Start childcare is available for eligible children in the term following their second birthday until the term after their third birthday when they are eligible for Early Education. All 14 Flying Start settings (100%) in Wrexham are funded for 2 ½ hours per day, five days per week, and are open term-time and for an additional three weeks of the school holidays. This equates to 42 weeks overall.

Flying Start is a top ‘Five for a Fairer Future’ Government commitment, with the expansion of Flying Start expected to have a significant impact on the demand for childcare places. Understanding the workforce is integral to understanding supply and demand and although not originally included in CSAs, it is important that Flying Start is considered, particularly in the light of the new demand created by the expansion of Flying Start. In addition, to meet the new demand it is necessary to consider the availability of suitable quality space to establish any new childcare setting. Information included in the Flying Start Outline Plan (2012-13) is presented below and was submitted to the Welsh Government in January 2012. Further work is now underway to complete the full Flying Start 3 Year Expansion Plan (2012-15) by the Welsh Government deadline of May 31st 2012, which is now a longer term plan that will cover all requirements and include a workforce and buildings analysis.

The Welsh Government proposed allocations for 2012-13 were based on the proportion of Income Benefit Households and identified that in addition to the current cap of 704 children in Wrexham in receipt of Flying Start services, the first tranche of the expansion required Flying Start places for a further 43 children. This is followed by an additional cap of 407 children in 2013-14, 619 children in 2014-15, and a cumulative total cap of 1,323 children in receipt of Flying Start services by 2015.

The Flying Start Outline Plan (2012-13), submitted to Welsh Government in January 2012, provided the detail of the initial expansion and assessed the level of planned provision in relation to the number of eligible children in the target area. The LSOAs to be targeted for inclusion in the expansion were identified using the analysis of income benefit households across LSOAs in Wrexham. Using this data, it was proposed that the first tranche of the expansion would cover Pant, Rhos in Wrexham (LSOA W01000405 / Wrexham 015B). This would involve setting up a new Flying Start childcare provision, as there is currently no other childcare provision in the area able to accommodate the new places. An audit of local provision was undertaken, with a focus on surplus capacity and unused buildings. A Council owned community centre in Heol Eifion, Gardden Road, Pant was identified which could accommodate 12 children aged 2-3 years. Additional places are also available in the neighbouring LSOA of Penycae and at the Welsh medium provision at Min-y-Ddol. As this would be a new setting it would involve recruiting 3 additional qualified childcare practitioners, which would be recruited from existing Flying Start settings and supported by the Flying Start team to train up to Level 4. New practitioners would also be supported to access Level 2 and 3 training via Wrexham ITEC.

Should Pant be approved as an LSOA for the initial roll out, further work would include: Meeting with community residents, members and Councillors; Forming a Childcare Committee; Registering with CSSIW; Working with WPPA and MM; Creating storage space indoors; Adapting the existing disabled toilet to be suitable for 2-3 year olds with nappy changing

facilities; Making improvements to be kitchen; Purchasing equipment and resources; Developing an outdoor play area; Creating space and facilities for a meeting room for parents, health visitors and LAP provision,

and storage for equipment to be packed away at the end of each session to enable other community groups to use the room.

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There are currently 14 Flying Start childcare settings in Wrexham, with the majority being predominantly English medium settings with some use of Welsh. Of these 14 settings, there are 3 settings for children with additional needs and disabilities and 2 Welsh medium settings, all 5 of which have transport provided. There are a total of 207 places in current Flying Start areas with all current identified children able to be accommodated within this provision. Training and advisory support for settings is provided by 4 full time equivalent teachers, including a Lead Advisory Teacher, and 1 full time equivalent teaching assistant.

A full Flying Start 3 Year Expansion Plan for 2012-15 is now required and is currently being drafted for submission to Welsh Government by May 31st 2012. This Plan will consider the whole childcare sector, the settings within the target areas that are able to accommodate the additional Flying Start places and any surplus capacity within the areas. New settings will have to be established and the Plan will scope out the number of childcare places and practitioners that are required. The Flying Start and Foundation Phase teams both sit within the 0-8 Service of Wrexham Children and Young People Service, and as such are integral to all planning and development to ensure that the number of available places provides continuity of provision from the new Flying Start settings into the Foundation Phase. Once the Plan is finalised and submitted to the Welsh Government in May, any changes or additional information regarding Flying Start childcare will be available to feed into our CSA analysis of supply and demand, and the subsequent Childcare Action Plan.

The quality of the Flying Start workforce is monitored by the Flying Start and Early Education teams and support is provided by the qualified teacher attached to each setting who provides weekly visits to support settings and improve the quality of delivery and provision. Spot checks are also undertaken by the Flying Start Advisory Teacher and monitored by the Head of Service (0-8). The Flying Start and Early Education teams also respond to the identified training needs of practitioners through the provision of a broad training programme and additional specific training to meet the needs of the workforce.

Across childcare settings in Wrexham there are 72 (21.2%) with quality assurance (QA) schemes in place and 144 (42.9%) signed up to membership of a national organisation. Broken down by sector, this equates to 26 (30.6%) playgroups with QA, 9 (32.1%) day nurseries with QA, 16 (21.3%) childminders with QA and 21 (36.8%) out of school clubs with QA. Wrexham commissions a number of national organisations to support settings in Wrexham, including Mudiad Meithrin (MM) to support Welsh medium Ti a Fi and Cylch Meithrin groups, National Childminding Association (NCMA) to support childminders, Clybiau Plant Cymru Kids’ Clubs (CPCKC) to support out of school clubs, and a playgroup support officer within Wrexham Family Information Service to support English medium toddler groups and playgroups and provide support to cover the costs of quality assurance schemes. Welsh medium Flying Start settings are also supported by Mudiad Meithrin to delivery quality provision.

WorkforceThe Flying Start 2012-13 Plan submitted to Welsh Government in January 2012, identified that the proposed new setting for the initial Flying Start childcare expansion would need to recruit 3 qualified practitioners. There is also the possibility of using present expertise and encouraging applications from practitioners with a Level 3 qualification who are currently working in a Flying Start setting and are ready to develop professionally by taking on more responsibility as a Supervisor. Free access to training for new practitioners to access Level 2 and 3 qualifications is offered via the Wrexham Council run training facility ITEC, and ongoing training is provided for all Flying Start childcare practitioners by the Flying Start team in the 0-8 Service of the Wrexham Children and Young People Service. Training is also accessed via the Wrexham Family Information Service.

For the initial proposed expansion that was outlined in the January submission of the Flying Start Plan 2012-13, there were plans to recruit an additional 0.5 teacher to support childcare and an additional 2 x 0.5 teaching assistant support to staff the centre for additional learning/physical needs at Caia Nursery. Staff within the specific provision at Caia Nursery and the 2 Family Centres, are trained in working with children with additional needs and disabilities, and a qualified teacher visits each Flying Start setting weekly to offer support and advice to the practitioners on provision and supporting the needs of the children. Provision for Welsh medium Flying Start is considered throughout every planning stage, and would be sufficiently available for the Tranche 1 expansion via the spare capacity within the Min-y-Ddol setting. Welsh medium provision and provision for children with additional needs and disabilities will be integral to the planning of the full expansion of Flying Start 2012-15, in order to meet identified need within the target areas.

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Following a recent meeting with Welsh Government, there is now a requirement to re-analyse and plan the full Flying Start expansion for 2012-15. Therefore, it is important to note that the information provided in this section may change in the light of the re-examination and planning that is currently underway to inform the longer term Flying Start 3 Year Expansion Plan (2012-15) that is currently required. However, any further information regarding the Flying Start childcare expansion will feed into the subsequent Childcare Action Plan and reflected in 2013 CSA Annual Review.

In addition to utilising and skilling up existing practitioners within Flying Start and Early Education settings to minimise any shortfall in qualified workers, the provision of training for new practitioners to gain Level 2 and 3 qualifications is provided by the Wrexham Council ITEC, where practitioners receive training within the setting, whilst gaining first hand experiences and enhanced skills from working alongside more qualified practitioners. We are also working closely with the local Sixth Form College to raise the profile of working in childcare and offer a potential source of recruitment.

An expanded Annual Workforce Audit was distributed to all settings in January 2012, with a response rate of 135, which represents 40.2% of settings in Wrexham. From those that responded to the Audit, there are currently 453 childcare workers in the profession (186 full-time and 267 part-time), with many staff working in more than one setting.

Total Staff

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

Childminder Day Nursery Out of School Club Sessional Care

Type of Setting

No. S

taff

The Audit found that 21% of staff working in childcare settings are able to communicate through the medium of Welsh, with the level of Welsh spoken ranging from basic to conversational and fluent. The mixed category includes settings where they have a mixture of staff at all levels. The Audit also identified that a further 49 settings will be able to use basic Welsh in their settings, but did not include the number of staff who can speak Welsh.

Level of Welsh spoken

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Basic Conversational Fluent Mixed

Level of Welsh

No o

f Sta

ff Childminder

Day Nursery

Out of School Club

Sessional Care

To begin to address the gap within the 2011 CSA of staff having the qualifications and confidence to care for disabled children, the Annual Workforce Audit sought to identify how many staff are qualified or feel confident to care for disabled children or children with additional needs. A total of 43.9% of staff in settings indicated that they were qualified and confident to work with these children, which suggests a training need within Wrexham to improve the skills and confidence of the remaining workforce. The majority of childcare workers who are qualified and confident in working with disabled children or children with additional needs are in the day nursery sector (48%). However, only 10 out of the 32 childminders who responded stated that they had this level of confidence.

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Qualifications of existing workforceWFIS holds electronic information about the qualifications of staff in the childcare workforce in Wrexham, yet acknowledge that this picture is not complete. The recent Annual Workforce Audit has filled some of the gaps but further work is required to gather outstanding information.

Data is currently held on 173 childcare settings in Wrexham (51.5%), yet it is important to note that because some staff may work for more than one setting, double counting may occur. Of those 173 childcare settings that responded to the audit, 435 qualifications were held by childcare workers. Analysis found that 23.9% of these qualifications are Level 2 qualifications, 66.7% are Level 3 qualifications and 9.4% are Level 4 or above qualifications. In the 14 Flying Start settings specifically, there are 7 qualified Level 4 staff, 34 qualified Level 3 staff (with an additional 2 working towards Level 3), and 11 qualified Level 2 staff (with an additional 2 working towards Level 2). There are also a number of staff with further qualifications, including 1 with a BA (Hons) degree in Childhood Studies, 1 with a B.Ed degree and 2 with BTEC Early Years qualifications. Further detail regarding the qualifications of the workforce at leader and support worker level will inform the Flying Start Expansion Plan 2012-15, which will be submitted to Welsh Government by May 31st 2012.

No of childcare workers with qualifications

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Childminder Day Nursery Out of SchoolClub

Sessional Care

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4 or above

The Annual Workforce Audit also enables WFIS to identify the training needs and requirements of the workforce, both in terms of course type and preferred times. This information is then used to inform the training programme for the forthcoming year, in order to meet the training needs of the workforce, support continuous professional development and improve quality across Wrexham. The preferred time to attend training was evenings (75%), followed by day time (18%) and then weekends (7%), yet the majority of providers were not able to release staff for weekday training. The reported impact of training was positive, with comments demonstrating that training had helped to improve the quality of care provided due to increased knowledge, reflective practice and confidence to apply new skills and ideas. Providers also reported that training had helped to improve the sharing of practice across settings and to enable staff to maintain an up to date knowledge of current legislation and guidelines.

The training needs identified in the recent Audit mainly include statutory training that all settings have to undertake, such as Child Protection, First Aid and Food Hygiene. The remaining topics raised included child behaviour, the use of Welsh in settings and disabilities training, such as Downs Syndrome, Children with Additional Needs, Makaton/British Sign Language, and Eating and Drinking Difficulties. All disability training courses are included in the WFIS training programme for childcare workers and will be continually evaluated to improve provision and ultimately improve quality across the childcare workforce in appropriately addressing the needs of children. Since April 1st 2011, there have been a total of 1,072 attendees at WFIS training courses, with a further 26 booked on training next week before the end of the financial year.

Information about the range of courses offered locally can be found in the C View guide embedded below: ‘Working with Children - A Guide to Qualifications Training & Career Opportunities’.

QCF Level 2-5 courses in Children’s Care, Learning and Development (CCLD) qualifications are available in the local college Yale. However, in addition to Yale College in Wrexham, potential Wrexham childcare practitioners may also study for these qualifications in local colleges outside the County Borough, such as Deeside College, Walford and North Shropshire College or via a range of private providers that provide these qualifications.

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There have been the following enrolments and attainments in CCLD qualifications through Yale College since January 2009, which shows that the majority of students complete Level 3.

Yale Starts 2009 2010 2011 2012 to dateCCLD L2 12 6 13 2CCLD L3 19 23 17 1

CCLD L4/5 9 14 8 0

Yale Attainments 2009 2010 2011 2012 to dateCCLD L2 12 7 9 1CCLD L3 29 12 16 2

CCLD L4/5 7 2 7 1

Yale CCLD L2 CCLD L3 CCLD L4/5 Starts 33 60 31

Attainments 29 59 17Currently in learning 14 25 20

Wrexham ITEC has provided Level 2 and 3 courses in Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools for the last 4 years. However, ITEC has recently started to provide QCF Level 2 courses in CCLD, particularly for our Flying Start and Early Education staff. However, as this is the first year of the course and students are still in study, attainments have yet to be achieved. This information will now be routinely collected and used to inform future developments and Annual Reviews.

ITEC CCLD L2 CCLD L3 CCLD L4/5Starts 7 N/A N/A

Attainments 0 - in progress N/A N/ACurrently in-learning 3 N/A N/A

Additional related qualifications are offered by Yale and local colleges, such as Deeside and Walford and North Shropshire, including the QCF Diploma in Playwork and the QCF Diploma in Supporting Teaching and Learning in Schools. Furthermore, distance learning courses, modern apprenticeships and national traineeships offer a range of childcare related courses that could support access into the childcare workforce.

Glyndŵr University offers a range of Early Childhood Studies and Education Courses to students; some of which may apply to some students wishing to progress into a career in childcare in future:

BA (Hons) Education and Childhood Studies BA (Hons) Families and Childhood Studies FdA Early Childhood Care and Education FdA The Learning and Development of Babies and Young Children BA (Hons) Play and Play work Studies BA (Hons) Post-compulsory Education and Training BA (Hons) Professional Education and Training FdA Learning Support: Learning and Teaching FdA Learning Support: SEN

Additionally, training is provided for childcare practitioners via Wrexham Family Information Service, which offers a broad range of courses covering both statutory training, such as First Aid, Food Hygiene, Manual Handling and Child Protection, and specific courses, such as Makaton, Autism, behaviour, disability, and leadership and management.

WFIS provides a range of information on grants and sources of funding available to support with training costs, as well as childminder start up grants for anyone interested in setting up a childminding business and funding to support the costs of training.

Enquiries to WFISWrexham Family Information Service (WFIS) currently supplies childcare information and advice on childcare, benefits and children and young people’s services in Wrexham County Borough. To provide an indication of demand, WFIS monitors all childcare enquiries.

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http://www.glyndwr.ac.uk/en/Undergraduatecourses/LearningandTeachingSupport/

http://www.glyndwr.ac.uk/en/Undergraduatecourses/LearningandTeachingSupport/

http://www.glyndwr.ac.uk/en/Undergraduatecourses/Professionaleducationandtraining/

http://www.glyndwr.ac.uk/en/Undergraduatecourses/Post-compulsoryEducationandTraining/

http://www.glyndwr.ac.uk/en/Undergraduatecourses/TheLearningandDevelopmentofBabiesandYoungChildren/

http://www.glyndwr.ac.uk/en/Undergraduatecourses/WorkingwithChildrenandFamilies/



All enquirers receive follow up information on local childcare and tax credits, along with a childcare comments form to establish whether childcare has been found three months after the initial enquiry.

All enquiry information is collated quarterly and mapped against supply data to enable any gaps to be identified and met, as far as is reasonably practicable. Between April 2010 and March 2011 885 enquiries by parents were logged by WFIS about childcare services. This is a 13.9% increase on the period April 2009 to March 2011, where 777 enquiries were received. The types of care being sought are detailed below.

Number of childcare enquiries received by WFIS from parents

295

243

248

99

Childminder

Day Nursery

Playgroup

Out of School

An additional 140 enquiries were also received about support with childcare costs.

In terms of information about childcare provision, the highest proportion were for childminding services, yet this does not necessarily mean that there is a higher demand for childminders, just that WFIS provides the only comprehensive source of information about childminding services.

Parents are often aware of day nurseries from high-profile advertising, and aware of out of school clubs through their local schools. However, childminders rarely publicise their services widely outside of their immediate community. Interestingly, over this period of 2010-2011, there was a significant increase (40.1%) in the number of parents requesting playgroup information. However, no significant overall gaps were identified at the point of enquiry during April 2010 and March 2011.

By ward, the greatest proportion of calls to WFIS regarding childcare in 2010-11 were from families living in Ponciau and Whitegate, while the lowest volume of calls were from Bronington, Chirk South and Overton.

Of the 338 childcare comments forms that were sent out during September 2010 and February 2011, 36 were returned (9.4%). In total, 12 enquirers reported that they were unable to find care (33.3%), and of these 4 were unable to take up training or study, or take up or remain in work. However, despite this, no significant gaps were identified.

Places required An estimated 5170 additional places would be required for parents to access the Childcare Element of the Working Tax Credit. This would enable all children currently in out of work households to access childcare and for their parents to access employment. Approximately 2,300 of these would be needed to support lone parents into employment. This is in addition to the 7514 places already available. However this does not take into account part-time and other working patterns that working parents are able to use.

Parent/Carer Survey (2012)Although significant consultation was undertaken as part of the 2011 CSA, which included an analysis of differences between specific groups and areas, additional consultation with parents/carers and various parent/carer, community and representative groups and partners has been undertaken to update our general findings in terms of parental demand within the current climate. Paper based surveys were distributed to samples of parents across the County Borough via childcare settings, schools, lead organisations, partners, such as the Children and Young People’s Framework Partnership and Local Safeguarding Children’s Board Development Group, and key stakeholders, such as parenting groups, Key Connections groups, Inter Faith groups and Communities First groups.

An online Survey Monkey questionnaire was also designed and promoted widely to Council staff and to all primary, secondary and special schools to publicise on their websites and in newsletters.

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A total of 169 responses were received. Of these 92.3% were completed by females (91% in the 2011 CSA and 89% in the 2010 Annual Review), 23.7% were bringing up children on their own (24% in the 2011 CSA and 23% in the 2010 Annual Review), and 5.9% considered themselves disabled (4% in the 2011 CSA and 1.3% in the 2010 Annual Review). Of all parents responding to the survey, a very small number were completed by parents from non-British ethnic groups, with 3% from groups other than White British, including White Other, Mixed (White & Black Caribbean), Mixed Other and Black or Black British Other. As 51 responses were received after the closing date, rather than add these to the demand analysis, they have been used only for their qualitative comments.

The survey found that 60.2% of parents of children aged 0 to 14 in Wrexham regularly use formal or informal childcare, against 62% in 2011 and 74% in 2008. Although the sample was much smaller in 2012 and went out to parents via lead organisations, schools, childcare settings and key stakeholders rather than directly to all parents in Wrexham, it still shows an apparent decrease in childcare usage and demand since 2012, with parents opting to care for their children at home and stating that childcare is too expensive.

The survey found that of those parents using childcare in Wrexham, the most frequently used option is before and after school care, day nurseries and holiday care. This has differed slightly from the findings of the 2011 CSA where relatives or friends provided the most frequently used childcare option, followed by after school clubs and day nurseries. The survey found that childcare usage by parents with children aged 0-4 years (particularly aged 3-4) was higher than amongst parents with children of all ages.

Parents’ usage of childcare by age of child

Parents' usage of childcare by age of child

aged 0-2

aged 3-4

aged 5-7

aged 8-10

aged 11-14

aged 15-17

As in the CSA 2011, day nurseries provide the most commonly used form of childcare for children aged 0-4 years. For 5-7 and 8-10 year olds the most popular form of childcare continues to be before and after school clubs, followed by holiday provision. Very few parents reported using childcare for their 11-14 year old children, but of those that did, the most popular types were before and after school provision and friends and family. This low childcare usage amongst parents of 11-14 year olds is consistent with the 2011 CSA, yet also reflects the low response rate to the survey from parents of 11-14 year olds. Furthermore, when drawing conclusions regarding the most common form of childcare used in Wrexham, consideration must be given to the survey completion rate, as the highest completion rate was from parents of 0-4 year olds.

Parents’ usage of childcare by age group of children and childcare typeParents' usage of childcare by age group and type

02468

10121416

Day nur

sery

School

nursery

clas

s

Childminde

r

Before

scho

ol clu

b

After s

chool

club

School

holida

y club

Cylch M

eithri

n

Playgrou

p

Crech

e

Relative

/friend

/neigh

bour

Register

ed nan

ny/hom

e carer

aged 0-2

aged 3-4

aged 5-7

aged 8-10

aged 11-14

aged 15-17

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The main reasons for parents using childcare were to enable parents to work, followed by the social and learning benefits for the child and to enable parents to study. Comments demonstrated that parents also often use childcare to spend time with their other children with additional needs, to have time to themselves, to attend appointments, or to volunteer with local groups. Consultation also found that 39% of parents responding to the satisfacton questions agreed that they would like their children to attend more childcare.

Parents use of childcare overall (%)Parents use of childcare

overall (%)

16%

6%

8%

14%

21%

11%

4%

9%

1%9% 1%

Full day care (day nursery)

School nursery class

Childminder

Before school care

After school care

School holiday care

Cylch Meithrin (Welshmedium playgroup)Playgroup

Creche

Relative/friend/neighbour

Registered nanny/home carer

As was found in the 2011 CSA, of the 39.8% of parents not using any form of childcare the main reasons continue to be that parents care for their children at home and that they consider childcare to be too expensive.

The following pie chart demonstrates the extent to which issues around childcare have impacted on parents’ ability to work or train. Although 34.4% reported no impact, 31.3% of parents reported that childcare issues had stopped them or their partner from working more hours, and 28.1% reported that issues had caused them problems at work. A further 15.6% reported that childcare issues had stopped them or their partner from working or getting a job, and the same percentage reported that issues had stopped them or their partners from starting or completing any training or study.

Impact of childcare issues on work or training (%)Impact of childcare issues on work

or training (%)

26%

22%

12%

24%

12%4%

No - No problems caused

Yes - Caused problems at work

Yes - Stopped you or your partnerfrom working or getting a job

Yes - Stopped you or your partnerfrom working more hours

Yes - Stopped you or your partnerfrom starting or completing anytraining or studyOther

The cost of childcare and provision during school holidays tended to be the main childcare issues affecting parents’ ability to work or train. For example, one parent reported occasions when family and friends have been unable to care for their child, yet a lack of childminder places in the area and a lack of late opening times offered resulted in the parent having to turn down work as a supply teacher in order to care for her child at home. A further parent resorted to taking unpaid leave during the school holidays to care for her children, whilst another commented that she wished to access an evening course and to work during the evening, yet a lack of flexible childcare in the evenings is hindering her ability to do so. One parent was forced to reduce her hours at work following a large pay cut, which affected her ability to afford childcare and to cover the costs of the after school club. Another faced difficulties with working as a retail assistant over the Christmas period, due to a lack of flexible provision during the school holidays. A lack of flexibility is a significant issue for a number of parents, due to strict payment terms and some settings requiring four weeks notice to change days and then requiring this arrangement to be permanent.

Overall and excluding the ‘not applicable’ responses, 89% of parents agreed that they were satisfied with their term time childcare arrangements. However, fewer parents were satisfied with childcare in school holidays than in term time. Overall, 43% of parents agreed that they were satisfied with their school holiday childcare arrangements.

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In terms of improvements required to childcare provision in Wrexham, the majority of parents responding to this question reported the need for more affordable provision (67.4%), followed by more flexible sessions (51.6%) and childcare available at different times (40%). A further 28.4% also reported the need for more childcare to be available at weekends. However, 14.7% of parents reported that no improvements were required.

Many of the comments centred around the need for longer opening hours and evening and weekend provision, as well as more affordable provision, increased holiday and Welsh medium provision, particularly near to school settings, improved provison for older children, improved disability training and increased places for children with additional needs. The need for more childminders in Chirk South was also raised by one parent, as was the need for provision for babies in Fron.

Improvements to childcare provision requiredImprovements to childcare provision required (%)

15%

20%

11%

5%

25%

3%

4%

1%

0% 5%

6%5%

Available at different times

More flexible sessions e.g. dropins or a few hoursAvailable at weekends

Available overnight

More affordable

Different location

More Welsh medium childcare

More childcare in differentlanguagesChildcare better at meeting mychild's disability/needsBetter quality provision

No improvements needed

Other

Comments relating to improvements required to childcare provision

Barriers to childcare use Although a higher proportion of parents reported using some form of childcare, a number of parents still find it difficult to access the childcare needed to enable them to work, or are using childcare that hinders their ability to work flexibly or in a way that they would prefer. To remain consistent with previous CSA reports, barriers to childcare have been grouped into the following themes: choice, accessibility, availability, affordability, information and settings for specific needs. However, to examine the main issues raised by parents in terms of satisfaction rates, the ‘not applicable’ responses have not been included in the following analysis.

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“Cover needed at all times over Christmas holidays”.Cefn

“Disability training is a real must to be improved, as is Welsh medium provision”.Gwersyllt West

“Could not find a Welsh medium nursery for under 2s”.Llay

“Half days or few hours at a time. Closer to home (nothing in Llay). No childminders for children with Autism and who use Makaton Pecs cards. Nowhere local takes Autism children”.

Llay“Provision for ADHD and learning difficulties”.

Llay“Evenings and weekends”.Gwersyllt East and South

“I am considering whether I can afford to return to work and put my child in full time childcare”.Llangollen Rural

Parent’s perceptions of childcareParent’s Perceptions of Childcare

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

I am satisfied with my childcare in term-time

I am satisfied with my childcare in schoolholidays

Using childcare enabled me to access workor training

The quality of childcare locally is high

There is a good choice of childcare fordifferent ages

Childcare is located where I need it

Childcare is available when I need it (daysand times)

Childcare is available that meets all of mychildren's specific/additional needs

Childcare is good value for money

Childcare is too expensive

I would like my child to attend more childcare(excluding family/friends)

I would prefer to use family/friends to care formy child

I have a problem with childcare arrangementsthat break down

Travel or transport to childcare is a problem

Childcare is a barrier to me accessing workor training

I know where to find out information aboutchildcare and financial support with childcare

There is a good choice of English mediumchildcare

There is a good choice of Welsh mediumchildcare

AgreeDisagreeN/A

Parents' Perceptions of Childcare

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

I am satisfied with my childcare in term-time

I am satisfied with my childcare in schoolholidays

Using childcare enabled me to accesswork or training

The quality of childcare locally is high

There is a good choice of childcare fordifferent ages

Childcare is located where I need it

Childcare is available when I need it (daysand times)

Childcare is available that meets all of mychildren's specific/additional needs

Childcare is good value for money

Childcare is too expensive

I would like my child to attend morechildcare (excluding family/friends)

I would prefer to use family/friends to carefor my child

I have a problem with childcarearrangements that break down

Travel or transport to childcare is aproblem

Childcare is a barrier to me accessingwork or training

I know where to find out information aboutchildcare and financial support with

childcare

There is a good choice of English mediumchildcare

There is a good choice of Welsh mediumchildcare

AgreeDisagree

Choice of childcare 48% of parents disagreed that there is a good choice of local childcare available for different age groups, compared with 42% in the CSA 2011 and 32% in the 2010 Annual Review. However, other issues relating to choice of childcare were raised, with most parents stating the need for more flexible childcare to cater for different situations and meet the needs of employed parents who work later hours. Other issues continued to be the need for increased holiday provision, choice of affordable provision and suitable provision for secondary aged children and disabled children. The Childcare Action Plan is helping to address the need for improved flexibility of provision and increased choice of out of school care for different age groups. For example, the Community Focused Schools (CFS) Grant has been used to develop, sustain and market out of school provision across the County Borough and has resulted in large increases in both the number of settings and places. Furthermore, through our work with the Wrexham Play Team and Youth Service, a new early youth club has been developed that will act as an after school club for working parents.

Comments relating to choice of childcare and settings for different situations and age groups

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“[We] would not be happy for the first couple of years of secondary school to leave her getting off the bus and being at home alone until we finish work”.

Gwenfro“If childcare was available at night/evenings/weekends, I could do more hours in work, as this is

when I work. It’s so awkward as friends and family cannot be relied on”.Gwenfro

“I have my disabled son in a private day care nursery after school (he's 10). He is too old to attend really but the owner has had him there since a baby. There would be nowhere else in Wrexham for

him if she was to say he's too old for it”.Gwersyllt West

“My annual leave does not cover school holidays and I am often left to rely on an elderly grandparent. Having a school club open during the long summer holidays will be really helpful and

lessens the pressure put on grandparents”.Holt

Accessibility – childcare located where needed 77% of parents agreed that childcare was located where they needed it, which is a slight decrease since the CSA 2011. Many of the comments indicated a demand for increased access to holiday provision and childminders across Wrexham County Borough, as well as increased access to suitable provision for disabled children. Only 11% of parents agreed that travel or transport to childcare is a problem. When asked how childcare in Wrexham could be improved, 3% of parents responding to this question reported that they would like childcare to be available in a different location, with comments focusing on more widespread access to holiday provision and year round provision available at the school.

Availability – childcare available when needed 64% of parents agreed that childcare is available when they needed, which is a slight decrease since the CSA 2011. Many parents continued to report issues with flexibility of childcare in terms of opening and closing times often conflicting with their working and commuting times. The demand for childcare during school holidays was again significant. As mentioned earlier, the gaps in holiday provision are continuing to be addressed through our Childcare Action Plan, which has already been successful in increasing holiday provision over the last year, from 29 to 38 settings, and further increases in the number of places, from 810 to 1035.

Of those parents responding to this satisfaction question and excluding the ‘not applicable’ responses, 27% reported that they have a problem with childcare arrangements that break down. This suggests the continuing need for flexible childcare that caters for parents giving short notice and will therefore be taken forward in the CSA Action Plan from 2012 onwards.

When asked how childcare in Wrexham could be improved, 20% of parents responding to this question reported that they would like more flexible sessions, 15% would like childcare to be available at different times, 11% would like more weekend care and 5% would like more overnight care. A high proportion of the comments received pertained to the need for increased provision available during the evenings and at weekends and overnight to enable parents to work shifts or to commute distances to and from work. This was also an issue identified in the 2011 CSA in terms of the flexibility of childcare provision and the opening and closing times conflicting with parents’ working and commuting patterns. To begin to address this issue via the CSA Action Plan, we have recently introduced a flexibility survey. This survey enables settings to consult with parents to ascertain the demand for longer opening hours and to use the allocated funding to pilot the extended opening hours before offering these hours on a permanent basis.

In total, 253 flexibility surveys have been distributed to parents at 4 day nursery settings across Wrexham, with 42 (16.6%) being returned. Of those that returned the forms, 11.9% stated that one or both parents worked shifts, and 31% stated that one or both parents worked weekends. Despite this, 95.2% of parents were currently happy with the opening hours of their childcare setting, and only 9.5% of parents wanted the opening hours of the setting to change.

Comments relating to flexibility of provision (from the Flexibility Survey)

“It would be easier for me if they stayed open later as I’ve wanted to do more jobs and been refused by my employer, as I could only work until 6pm as nursery only stays open until 6pm”.

“‘I can see how extended hours including weekends would assist families who aren’t lucky enough to have office-hours based jobs Mon-Fri and who don’t have family support”.

“Currently I have chosen to adapt my own working hours to benefit both my time with them and their time spent in childcare”.

“‘I am sometimes required to work outside normal hours and childcare may be useful then but this does not occur regularly”.

“… there was a lack of appropriate childcare which caters for shift workers”.“If childcare was available at night/evenings/weekends I could do more hours in work”.

Of those currently using day nursery settings, the feedback suggests that there is not a significant demand from the parents to justify settings extending their opening hours. However, demand for extended hours was evidenced as part of the large scale Wrexham wide consultation undertaken to inform the 2011 CSA. Therefore, further work will be carried out in 2012-13 to establish the childcare requirements of shift workers and parents working atypical hours to identify how best to support these parents with their childcare needs.

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“Financial help with childcare would make such a huge difference to most families. I have a good job that earns a reasonable wage but the majority of that is spent on childcare. We do the childcare voucher scheme and there is no additional help for us. It is so bad that it is affecting our decision of whether we can afford to have another baby. To have two children in nursery 4 days a week would

cost between £1200 and £1400 a month - more than I earn working 4 days!”Gresford East and West

“I currently work part time, and my childcare costs are more than what I earn. I receive tax credits which are helpful, but from what I understand do not allow me to add additional costs of childcare on an ad hoc basis. Therefore I am unable to pick up overtime hours. I also cannot be flexible with my work as my childcare provider insists that we must give four weeks notice to change days and

then this must be made permanent. My provider is excellent in the care they give, but they have no idea how hard it is for working families from low incomes. Strict payment terms have at times left no money for food at home. We HAVE to put up with this as we need to keep our jobs. They may not

be benefiting us now but once the children are in full education (2 years) our whole lives will change!”Brymbo

“Financial assistance with childcare only given to those on low income. No consideration given to those who have excessive outgoings, e.g. mortgage payments etc”.

Gwersyllt

Affordability 71% of parents stated that childcare was too expensive, which is an increase since the 2011 CSA. Of those parents not using childcare, 34.8% stated that it was too expensive, compared to 20.9% in 2011. This could indicate that demand may change in response to changing prices, with more parents possibly choosing not to use childcare should prices increase in future. This is exemplified by a number of parents who commented that despite using childcare vouchers and support, high childcare costs and high outgoings are still forcing them to rely on their family to care for their children, or to work part time and access childcare for just a couple of sessions per week. Therefore there is a need to continue to promote the range of financial entitlements that are available to support parents with childcare costs and to enable them to continue to use childcare should prices increase. A specific section on affordability has been included within the Childcare Action Plan to help to address this issue and support parents in accessing childcare. We will also continue to analyse how demand is changing in response to changing prices and changes to tax credits.

Despite, issues surrounding affordability of provision 44% agreed that childcare was good value for money. However, when asked how childcare could be improved, a quarter of parents responding to this question reported that they would like childcare to be more affordable, with comments exemplifying the negative impact of childcare costs and rigid pricing structures being experienced by working families in Wrexham. This suggests a need for settings to improve the flexibility of their provision to respond more readily to the changing needs of parents without requiring up front fees, long periods of notice or retainer costs when parents wish to change their usage.

Comments relating to affordability

Information62% of parents responding to the survey agreed that they know where to find out information about childcare and financial support. Therefore, there is a need to continue to raise awareness of Wrexham Family Information Service (WFIS) and related services, and to work closely with Welfare Rights to improve the dissemination of information about financial support towards childcare costs. One parent also expressed the need for all schools to update their websites with information about available childcare at, or near to, the school, such as opening times of the nursery and any available wrap around clubs or after school clubs to support parents working full time. Actions to improve the affordability and provision of information about childcare and financial support are currently being progressed through the Childcare Action Plan and include WFIS outreach, updated online information, strengthened links with schools to improve information, and the provision of an annual information and networking event for parents of disabled children and young people.

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Work with employers is taking place via the new Sparks Project to raise awareness and promotion of WFIS, support with childcare costs and work life balance, and via Job Fairs to provide information to employers and employees about available support. Strengthened links between WFIS and Welfare Rights has also led to the development of a training programme and information packs for providers on financial support and tax credits. This will enable professionals to disseminate information to parents and particularly to low income households, areas of unemployment and Communities First areas.

Quality 72% of parents agreed that the quality of childcare locally is high, with positive comments relating to current childcare usage. There were limited comments received about poor quality with one parent referring to an Estyn report and others commenting on the need for improved provision for disabled children and improved disability training for childcare providers. However, the remaining parents raised concerns about poor quality childcare based on perceptions of quality and standards of care, rather than specific issues of attending poor provision from personal experience. When asked how childcare in Wrexham could be improved, 5% of parents responding to this question reported that they would like better quality provision. Quality is a key area within the Childcare Action Plan, with specific actions to promote Quality Assurance, provide links to Estyn and CSSIW reports on our WFIS database, target training to meet the identified needs of the workforce and ensure access to continuing professional development opportunities to raise the quality of care. The recent Annual Workforce Audit will help to inform this training programme by planning courses that respond to the needs of practitioners in Wrexham. In response to demand from the childcare workforce, in addition to the provision of training on the Equality Act 2010, we are also running cultural awareness training for childcare providers, as well as disability training that enables providers to gain first hand experience at working with disabled children.

Language - Welsh medium and English medium provision 86% of parents agreed that there is a good choice of English medium childcare, yet only 54% of parents agreed that there is a good choice of Welsh medium childcare. This is an increase since the 2011 CSA, where only 40% agreed that there is a good choice of Welsh medium provision. In terms of satisfaction with Welsh medium childcare, parents tended to disagree that there is a good choice of quality provision, that it is in the right location and that it is available when it is needed. Overall, when asked how childcare in Wrexham could be improved, 4% of all parents responding to this question reported that they would like more Welsh medium childcare, whilst 1% would like childcare available in different languages.

The planning and development of Welsh medium childcare is a key focus within the Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP), and builds on findings and recommendations in the 2011 CSA. Following approval from Welsh Government, the key actions under each objective within the WESP will be transferred into action plans with SMART targets and the childcare related actions will be incorporated into the existing CSA Action Plan and monitored by the CSA Task and Finish Group.

One of the key actions within the WESP is to introduce an annual survey of parents of new born babies to confirm demand for English, faith based or Welsh medium education. The survey will provide a wealth of invaluable data to inform the planning and development of Welsh medium childcare and education provision, which will subsequently be included in the CSA Annual Review 2013 and the full CSA 2014. The survey will also support the Local Authority in working towards the aspiration that at least 16% of learners will access Welsh-medium education by 2013, increasing to 20% by 2015.

The 2011 CSA identified a recommendation specifically focusing on Welsh-medium provision, with the following key actions reflected in the CSA Action Plan:

Early Education Team to work more closely with the team working on the CSA to ensure that full consideration is given to Welsh medium funded three year old provision;

Work in collaboration with Mudiad Meithrin to ensure public awareness of Welsh medium funded three year old provision. Plan for expanding provision in areas of high demand;

Increase the recruitment of Welsh speaking childminders in order to help to increase the supply of Welsh medium childcare in areas where sustainability may be an issue;

Ensure sufficient support to enable Welsh speakers wishing to work in childcare to gain the relevant qualifications to work in a childcare setting;

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Support the development of more Welsh language and bilingual childcare provision that is sustainable and increase the Welsh speaking childcare workforce;

Increase availability of training through the medium of Welsh for childcare workers to support them in working in Welsh medium settings;

Promote recruitment and training of Welsh speaking childcare workers across all sectors by working with the local Welsh Secondary School, WFIS, Cam Wrth Gam training and NCMA;

Increase availability of Welsh language training and training courses through the medium of Welsh, and ensure that staff have access to level 2 and 3 training on language immersion;

Increase accessibility and sustainability of provision in areas of demand with links to schools; Explore the potential of running ‘Making Choices’ in Welsh to encourage Welsh speaking

people into childcare and investigate availability of other courses.

Further work is also planned to build on existing training for English medium Foundation Phase settings in promoting Welsh language development in schools and settings, and to strengthen provision for training through the medium of Welsh for Welsh-medium settings and schools.

Several consultations undertaken specifically with parents requiring Welsh medium childcare have been undertaken this year to continue to ascertain demand for provision. Between April-December 2011 a number of surveys were completed by parents of children in Welsh medium Flying Start Settings across Wrexham. Analysis of the responses found that 100% of parents agreed that the service offered had made a positive difference to them or their child, with 57% of these parents agreeing that it had made a significant difference. Parents reported positive differences to themselves and their children as a result of attending Welsh medium provision, including spare time with siblings, and improved speech and socialisation skills, confidence to try out new activities, improved behaviour and new Welsh language skills experienced by the children. Improvements required included increased opening hours or full day provision, increased parental involvement and support for English speaking parents to develop their own Welsh language skills.

Further parental feedback was gathered through the annual survey undertaken in Wrexham by Mudiad Meithrin (MM). Of the 47 parents involved in the survey, 46 (98%) parents agreed that the MM settings had made a positive difference to them and their child. Parents commented that MM settings had enabled children to develop their Welsh language skills, and resulting in them using more Welsh at home. In addition to improved Welsh language skills, parents also reported improved confidence, speech, behaviour and social skills, with children often reciting new rhymes and songs at home. 46 (98%) parents agreed that they were happy with the service provided by the Cylch/Ti a Fi, with 41 parents significantly agreeing, 5 agreeing and 1 parent neither agreeing nor disagreeing, due to disappointment in losing one day per week and at short notice, especially after their child had settled into a regular pattern. Comments from parents indicate high satisfaction with the services provided, the opportunity for children to learn and play in the Welsh language, and the friendly and helpful staff to support children’s language acquisition, speech, and personal, social and emotional development. Suggested improvements were increased promotion of MM settings and resources, additional hours, information for parents about the activities offered and feedback on how their children have been behaving and what they children have been doing at the Cylch.

Specific needs 21% of parents disagreed that childcare is available that meets all of their child’s specific needs. However, a number of comments indicated the need for improved disability training among childcare providers, more appropriate provision for disabled young people and the need for improved provision to care for children with specific needs, such as Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder and learning difficulties (ADHD). Another suggestion was for further good quality and affordable services to be provided in school holidays, with improved advertisement of such places for disabled children and young people. Improving childcare options for disabled children is a priority within the Childcare Action Plan, with the development of hands on disability training, staff attendance at disability training as a condition of new contracts, targeting settings to attend disability courses, promoting the sharing of good practice between settings and working with the Youth and Play Services to develop inclusive provision for older children and young people. Consultation with providers last year also identified the benefits of an equipment loan scheme to enable settings to meet the needs of disabled children within their settings. As a result, a range of sensory and musical equipment has been purchased for use by childcare settings and will be accompanied by training. This will help to increase the inclusivity of mainstream settings, increase the skills and confidence of staff in caring for disabled children, and help to increase the number of childcare places for disabled children in Wrexham.

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Additional consultation took place with parents of children with ASD and ADHD. Interestingly, of those parents that recorded their child as having a disability, all did not use childcare. Comments indicated that these parents preferred to care for their children at home, due to issues of trust and their children not wanting to stay with people that they do not know. These issues of trust and specialist training were raised in the 2011 CSA and are beginning to be addressed through the one to one specialist training being offered to out of school childcare providers in Wrexham. However, the introduction of the Voluntary Approval Scheme would be valuable in enabling children to be cared for in their own homes.

Disability scoping The key recommendation around improving provision for disabled children and young people arising from the 2011 CSA was taken forward as part of our work under Families First, and has enabled us to assess the specific needs groups and provide a clearer indication of relative priorites. Research was undertaken by Cordis Bright on behalf of the Families First North East Wales Consortia to consolidate learning and understanding in relation to short break provision, childcare, transition services and parent to parent support and also to identify good practice across the consortia, opportunities for improvement and, where relevant, any scope for joint commissioning.

The research found that across the three authorities (Wrexham, Flintshire and Denbighshire) families with disabled children access a lot less childcare, with the biggest barriers reported being the lack of appropriately qualified/trained staff, followed by a lack of information about what is available and a lack of flexible childcare at times when parents require it. Parents in Wrexham reported that there is some good quality childcare provision in Wrexham, but that there are often waiting lists, which they felt indicated limited supply and inequity of provision. To begin to address this issue we are working with Dynamic in Wrexham to embed and roll out a new training programme for childcare workers to support them in caring for disabled children. This specialised training will help to increase the knowledge, skills and confidence of childcare workers in caring for disabled children and will help to increase the number of inclusive places in mainstream provision. This should in turn ease pressure on Dynamic to focus on children with more complex needs, as children at the lower end of the spectrum should have their needs met in mainstream provision where staff have been specifically trained in working with disabled children. Providers have encouraged this move away from generic training about disability awareness to a more bespoke model of support that addresses the confidence and skills of practitioners to meet individual needs. Another issue raised was in relation to emergency childcare and the need for flexible provision to respond to appointments. This issue of flexibility is covered in the Childcare Action Plan and will be developed further to increase the focus on flexible provision for parents of disabled children.

Consultation with providers found the least satisfaction in the range of childcare settings, the location and accessibility of provision, the number of available places and the affordability of provision. Although no providers indicated definite plans to extend opening hours, 60% were interested in doing so. This will be addressed in Wrexham through our Childcare Action Plan, which has recently involved us developing and implementing a flexibility demand survey for providers to undertake with parents to ascertain the potential demand for extended opening hours. Funding has also been made available for providers to access following the completion of the surveys to pilot these extended hours and gauge actual demand to ensure sustainability of provision before it is provided on a permanent basis. Providers also expressed the need to expand childminder provision, whilst recognising that one to one support for individual children will need to be delivered alongside this to ensure childcare viability. This continues to be a focus within the Childcare Action Plan in order to increase childcare in areas of low supply, with a focus on improving flexibility through the recruitment and retention of childminders, and the sharing of good practice, information and training to improve provision.

Another issue raised was the need for improved awareness raising of childcare and associated financial entitlements available for families to access, and the number of parents currently missing out on their entitlements. Therefore, we will continue to progress the actions within our Childcare Action Plan which aim to raise awareness of the childcare and financial support available to parents/carers. These actions are progressing well, with increased outreach from WFIS, the provision of workshops on tax credits, regular updating of the WFIS and TRACK websites, annual childcare awareness and information events, the Sparks Project to promote awareness of financial and childcare support to employees, the development and dissemination of leaflets for parents regarding financial support, and the development and roll out of a training programme for professionals working with families to promote financial support and tax credit entitlements.

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There is also work underway to pilot a childcare brokerage scheme and a flexible home based sitting service to improve support for parents of disabled children.

Key stakeholders also acknowledged the need to ‘bend’ existing mainstream provision to promote more inclusive delivery, particularly in relation to play and youth provision. This is currently being taken forward through joint working with the Childcare, Youth and Play Officers in the planning and development of a new inclusive after school provision which takes the form of an early youth club, as requested by young people through consultation. A parents’ group will be established to ensure appropriateness of provision and to build parental confidence in using mainstream provision.

The following key recommendations were identified from the research: Ensure inclusive childcare and confident, skilled staff working with disabled children through FS; Undertake a skills and expertise audit in order to create an expert pool of staff with specific

expertise in working with particular conditions and disabilities. Staff within this pool could then be called upon to provide expert advice in relation to specific needs or could be shadowed to facilitate the sharing of good practice and first hand experience;

Explore how the supply of enablers and volunteers could be increased to support additional childcare provision and access, particularly childminding;

Investigate the potential to expand current provision delivering low cost and good quality childcare for disabled children;

Improve access to information about available childcare, support for providers and parents, and financial entitlements available. This could take the form of directories, newsletters for families of disabled children, disability information events for parents and stakeholders to discuss needs and priorities, and additional outreach. Another option is to introduce a dedicated role within the Family Information Service to incorporate information, advice and brokerage for families together with information for parents to hand out at schools, childcare settings, GP surgeries and Health Centres, and direct work with providers to address specific needs.

The above recommendations will be discussed as part of the Families First North East Consortium in order to agree the actions of focus for 2012-13.

The views of children and young peopleExtensive consultation was carried out with children and young people to inform the 2011 CSA and was combined into an overall analysis of the main findings. However, the responses can be broken down into age groups to identify the specific preferences, needs and opinions of children and young people around the play and leisure opportunities that they think makes a good childcare setting. Various face to face interviews, surveys and focus groups were used to help children and young people to identify what activities they would most like to see in a childcare setting. These were split into three age groups, 0-4 years, 5 -11 years and 11 years and above.

Views of children and young people attending community events, such as Wrexham Play Day, were captured, as well as those attending the Senedd yr Ifanc, school councils and childcare settings, such as out of school clubs, nurseries, playgroups, childminders and youth settings. Targeted consultation also took place with looked after children via the Children In Care Council, with young carers via the Young Carers Group, and with disabled children and young people attending specialist provision. Altogether, approximately 223 children and young people were consulted. The main reasons for using childcare were to enable parents to work, followed by enabling children to enjoy the social benefits of attending provision. However, feedback from children and young people revealed varying preferences according to age group. Children aged 0-4 years mostly expressed that they enjoyed attending pre-school and nursery as they liked playing with their friends or doing activities such as play dough, painting, water and sand. Children aged 5-11 years enjoyed playing with their friends and craft activities, as well as the games provided, while children of the same age group attending the specialist provision stated that they mostly enjoyed playing with their friends, the staff and the activities on offer at the club. Consultation with young people aged 11 and above revealed that they use far less childcare than others age groups and either go home, go to their friends’ houses, or prefer to attend more specific and focused activities, such as tennis, basketball, youth club, singing, netball, water polo and youth groups, such as the Big Yac. These choices reflect a demand among this age group for activity based provision that is not traditionally seen as childcare. The same age group attending the specialist provision stated that they mostly enjoyed socialising, enjoying the company of others, making new friends, asking questions and being away from home. Overall, the main strengths for this age group were the opportunities to socialise and play with friends away from home and the choice to relax or participate in activities.

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In terms of improvements to be made to clubs, all age groups commented on the need for improved equipment and range of activities and resources at clubs, such as computers, while the older age groups expressed the need for increased choice across Wrexham, increased number of holiday clubs that run all day and cheaper clubs, or ideally free clubs. Of those not attending out of school clubs or childcare provision, the main reasons were that their parents do not work and so they do not have to attend, that it is embarrassing as provision is mainly for younger children, it is too expensive to access, it is not always accessible due to transport issues, or that there is not enough choice of after school or holiday provision in their area. According to young people the ideal out of school provision would be free, would have transport available to enable children to attend, would provide homework clubs or activities for different age groups, such as football, gymnastics, fencing and street dance, and would allow children and young people to be involved in the planning, development and running of the clubs. Young people also raised the need for more youth provision to be available from 4pm each day after school, rather than once per week from 7pm. Therefore, there is a need to continue to re-evaluate the development of provision for older children, as it needs to be appropriate, accessible and appealing to this age group, and based on clear data of where demand is evidencing the need for further provision that would be sustainable. Tax

Further consultation has also been carried out throughout the year with children and young people to enable us to continually improve our provision. For example, consultation with 62 children and young people took place around out of school provision, where 100% agreed that they liked going to out of school clubs and that they offer a range of activities that meet their needs. In terms of what children and young people like about childcare, the majority expressed the view that they were happy to meet their friends, do crafts, activities and games, such as computers, football and playdough, try new things and make new friends. Of those responding to the question about difference made, 95% of children and young people agreed that attending the out of school club had benefited them, with the majority agreeing that it had enabled them to make new friends, to meet their friends in a safe place and helped to increase their confidence and learn something new. The most popular improvement required to provision was the need for more toys, crafts and computers.

Additional research In addition to the substantial consultation undertaken to inform the 2011 CSA, to continue to gather the views of specific community and representative groups throughout the year, a number of focus groups and interviews have taken place with a range of groups, including Communities First groups, Families Learning (Key Connections) groups, the Inter Faith and BME groups, Gypsy and Traveller families, the Armed Forces, employer groups and parenting groups. Consultation with a range of different groups identified a number of similar themes with regard to childcare demand and gaps, such as the need for affordable and flexible provision to meet the needs of working parents, shift workers, parents who are studying or parents with disabled children, who often require childcare at short notice for appointments or respite.

Consultation with the armed forces was undertaken to identify any specific childcare needs experienced by armed forces families. Within Wrexham, the Hightown Barracks provides the Head Quarters for the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) 101 Battalion. However, REME armed forces families do not live on the base, but live in their own accomodation across Wrexham, or at the Dale Barracks in Chester. This is the current home of the 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh and includes a community centre with an indoor children’s play area, a wide range of activities and clubs for children and families, a welfare complex, a youth club and an under 5s pre-school. As the majority of families live in the Chester barracks and around twelve live in Wrexham in their own homes across the County Borough, there are insufficient families resident to be able to examine the specific needs of this group. However, despite these families accessing childcare in the same way as other families, they often require additional support and advice with regard to accessing facilities within the area. Some of the main issues faced by armed forces families are the need for information about childcare and services for children, young people and families in the area when they first arrive and the levels of mobility amongst armed forces families. As a result, to improve access to information about childcare provision, financial support and services within Wrexham for children, young people and families, we are beginning to forge links between the WFIS and the Armed Forces Welfare Officer to increase the marketing and promotion of WFIS and childcare amongst these families.

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A representative from the WFIS has met with the Welfare Officer to provide an overview of WFIS services, access to outreach and a range of WFIS information leaflets to distribute to increase awareness of childcare in Wrexham and the range of services and advice available.

Face to face interviews took place with Gypsy and Traveller Families on the local authority and private sites to gather views about childcare usage and demand. The responses remained very similar to those gathered last year to inform the 2011 CSA, with a limited usage of childcare due to a preference to care for their children at home or to rely on friends and family where necessary to look after their children. Despite a general reluctance to using other people to look after their children, some comments indicated that it would be acceptable to use official playgroups and nurseries. Furthermore, there was a suggestion that more information was required on childcare provision, particularly after school and holiday provision, and about WFIS and the support provided.

Our Looked after Children (LAC) Education Coordinator and Family Placement Team works closely with carers and the Early Education Team to support access into childcare and early education. WFIS also attends Foster Carer Pre-Approval Training to raise awareness of childcare provision and support available. Social Workers within the Fostering Team are aware of WFIS and signpost foster carers to WFIS for information about childcare provision and support available in Wrexham.

Consultation with BME and faith groups took place via BAWSO, our Inter Faith meetings and the Methodist Church Faith Group. Parents of a variety of ethnicities were consulted, including parents of Sri Lankan, Chinese, Iranian, Turkish, Libyan and Indian origin. The most common form of childcare used was after school clubs, followed by playgroups or no childcare at all. The main reasons for choosing childcare were to enable parents to work or attend English classes and appointments, and to enable their children to socialise with other children and to learn English. Quality was important to parents and the need for safe and secure provision was commented by several parents. In terms of improvements required, the majority of parents expressed the need for cheaper childcare provision, as cost was a barrier for parents using more childcare. Parents also expressed the need for childcare to be located near to their home or for providers to transport children to and from the settings, as transport was particularly an issue for single female parents. Other issues raised related to the need for longer hours at before and after school clubs, and evening, weekend or overnight care to support parents who worked shifts. The need for cheap and accessible provision during school holidays was also raised, as was the need for childcare providers to have an understanding of different cultures. Cultural awareness training has recently been developed as part of the CSA Action Plan, and is being offered to all childcare settings in Wrexham. All parents involved in the focus groups preferred their childcare to be provided through the medium of English with some use of Welsh, rather than through their home language, as parents expressed a desire for their children to learn fluent English and to play and socialise with their friends in English as they do in school. A Faith Audit recently undertaken found that crèche facilities were in place in 33% of groups in Wrexham to enable parents with children to attend worship, yet this provision was not widespread and one Muslim Leader commented on the importance of childcare services, but the high costs associated and the need for childcare information to be communicated more effectively to members. Another Faith Leader reported the need for increased childcare provision and increased awareness raising of such provision. Improving the provision of information is currently being addressed within the Childcare Action Plan via WFIS, and will be expanded to cover Faith Communities.

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“I use it to study and I work shifts…[but] I need it to be longer hours. It only opens until 5:30pm and after this I have no one to look after her so I have to come home”.

“It should be cheaper and more hours”.“Times aren’t great as I sometimes struggle with closing times and have to use friends”.

“Cost is really an issue and getting higher and higher”.“More holiday clubs and cheaper. It’s hard to book a place at holiday club and some places

don’t have clubs”.“Free childcare all day”.

“Nearer home”.

To inform the 2011 CSA, interviews took place with 227 parents in Families Learning Groups (Key Connections) across Wrexham, where parents meet for 2 hours per week and use the free crèche provided. In comparison with previous findings, more recent consultation found that the main forms of childcare used by these parents were before and after school clubs, followed by holiday clubs. However, cost remained as a barrier to accessing childcare, with parents expressing the need for more affordable and flexible provision.

Consultation with parents accessing Welfare Rights services identified no significant differences to other parents, with the exception of affordable provision and provision for disabled children and young people.

As part of the CFS application process, information is regularly gathered from parents and carers regarding demand for further out of school provision, and this is used to inform the development of new clubs e.g. the new after school club at Chirk Infants School. Regular satisfaction surveys are also undertaken with parents and children to gather their views on whether their current provision is meeting their needs and making a difference to them. Of the 17 parents responding to the CPCKC survey, 94% agreed that the out of school provision fully met their needs. The remaining 6% equated to one parent who reported that the opening time of 8:15am was too late to enable her to start work at 8:30am. The consultation found that using out of school clubs had impacted positively on the ability of parents to access work or training, with 15 parents being able to access work, 3 parents being able to access training, and 9 parents having been able to increase their hours due to the out of school club.

Further consultation with parents and carers via out of school clubs in 2012 demonstrated that the main reasons for parents using childcare were to enable parents to work (55%), followed by the social and learning benefits for the children (19%) and to enable parents to study (15%). Interestingly, the majority of the parents (78%) involved in the consultation agreed that they knew where to find out information about childcare and the financial support available. When asked how out of school provision could be improved, 51% of parents commented on the need for provision to be available at different times. The majority of these parents expressed the need for earlier opening hours from 7.30am and later closing hours of 6pm, to enable them to commute to and from work. Other parents reported the need for increased provision during school holidays, and to increase the flexibility of payment terms by charging parents by the hour, rather than by a full session length. These findings demonstrate a potential demand for longer opening hours by just an additional half an hour per day. Therefore, the flexibility survey and pilot funding will be targeted towards out of school provision to enable them to identify local demand and pilot additional hours to gauge parental demand and take up before offering these longer hours on a permanent basis.

Consultation with childcare providers will continue into 2012, as significant consultation with providers was undertaken to inform the 2011 CSA. The issues raised are being addressed via the CSA Action Plan, which is being continually monitored and reviewed in readiness for the Year 2 plan. Consultation also took place with a range of employers of different types and sizes via the Sparks Project to begin to examine the gaps and improvements needed with regard to childcare. It was apparent that childcare was a major issue for employers and employees with children, particularly the need for childcare to be available at unsociable hours and at weekends. Working parents indicated that they have often been prevented from applying for certain jobs due to the start/finish times of the job, or have been unable to apply for jobs too distant from their childcare setting due to the setting not being able to facilitate the commute time of the early/late working hours.

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“My job involves change in hours at short notice and the service provided by the club is invaluable”.

“The club is run during the school holidays which allows me to continue with normal working hours”.

“The out of school club provision is excellent. The opening hours meet our needs perfectly and the range of activities is superb. My children love it and I go to work confident they are being

cared for suitably and having fun at the same time”.“After school club facilities provide an essential service so I can work longer if necessary and

causes less stress because I know they are in a safe environment”.

Limited access to childcare over weekends was also raised as an issue, with one mother reporting that she is currently on maternity leave and is due back to work in a care home in March, yet is having difficulty finding flexible childcare that is available at weekends. Following a previous request to her employer for reduced weekly contracted hours, the mother has recently been declined her second request to stop working weekends due to only one request for change of hours being permitted in a twelve month period. The Sparks Project and WFIS are now able to support cases like these by signposting to flexible childcare in the area, such as evening and weekend care. Whilst some employers offer flexible working to facilitate caring responsibilities, consultation with employers found that this is not always possible due to the nature of the job e.g. working on a production line. Another issue raised by employees is in the lack of after school provision for older children and young people in secondary education to enable parents to sustain employment and ensure a safe and appropriate provision after school. Parents reported that they do not feel comfortable allowing their children aged 11-13 to return to an empty house and to look after themselves after school until their parents arrive home. One parent had even reduced their hours and taken a drop in pay to enable them to pick up their child from secondary school.

Despite being able to gather the above issues, the Sparks Project has faced challenges in contacting the most appropriate person in an organisation in order to raise awareness of WFIS and the support available. However, since January 2012, the Information Outreach Officer has made excellent progress and this will continue into 2012. As more employers become involved in the Project, further information will be made available to report in future Childcare Sufficiency Assessments.

Data from the above consultations and research undertaken since the last CSA in 2011 evidently reinforces the previous findings and echo the 2011 gaps in the childcare market, specifically around affordability and flexibility, as well as accessibility, availability, and the provision of information. Affordability and flexibility seemed to be strong themes running throughout the various consultations with different groups of parents, despite many providers indicating limited parental demand for longer opening hours. Conversely, demand for increased Welsh medium childcare featured much less than in the 2011 parent/carer survey. However, it is important to note that as definitive comparisons between the years cannot be made due to the differing study sizes and groups involved in the consultations, the CSA Action Plan will continue to be updated quarterly and act as a living document that responds to changing needs.

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Disability training for childcare workersBased on the recommendations of the CSA and the subsequent CSA Action Plan, WFIS was granted funding from Families First to run a training programme for childcare workers to support them in caring for disabled children or children with special needs. The aim of this specialised training is to increase the confidence of childcare workers in caring for disabled children or children with special needs and, therefore increase the number of inclusive places available in mainstream provision.

Between January and November 2011, 9 training courses were delivered, including Dyslexia, ADHD, Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities, Communication Skills with Disabled Children, My Life My Choice, Makaton Stage 1, Epilepsy, Behaviour and the Brain, and Working with the Child with Down’s Syndrome. A total of 105 people attended these courses from a range of settings, including playgroups, day nurseries, childminders, open access playschemes, and foster carers.

From January 2012 the following courses will take place: Autism, Epilepsy Awareness, Makaton Stage 2, Disabilities Awareness in Action, Behaviour and the Brain, Working with the Hearing Impaired Child, Play and Leisure for Disabled Children and Young Adults, Cerebral Palsy, Children with Eating and Drinking Difficulties, Down’s Syndrome, and Play It My Way.

Specific Provision and Good Practice / Examples of Innovative Projects

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Flexibility In response to unmet demand from parents for childcare at irregular hours, a childminding partnership in Chirk began to undertake research into the provision of childcare outside the regular hours of Monday to Friday 8am-6pm. Information was gathered from other areas in England and the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment findings used to evidence low supply in the area. This resulted in a group of registered childminders developing ‘Tick Tock, Round the Clock Childcare’, in order to offer flexible childcare in Chirk for 0-14 year olds to meet the needs of working parents. The provision is home based with high staff:child ratios to ensure quality of care and keyworker relationships. The provision is very flexible to meet the needs of parents, and can be used for as little as one hour, or for a full weekend, including overnight care. The provision is particularly attractive to parents working evenings, nights, weekends and shifts, with demand also from professionals, such as doctors, who are required to be on call during evenings and weekend. Subsequently the provision provides a reduced ‘on-call’ rate. Short notice care is also available to meet the needs of agency workers and those with unpredictable shifts, or to provide respite care in response to family circumstances, e.g. to enable a parent to attend a series of hospital visits. For more information: www.ticktockchildcare.co.uk

Provision for disabled children and young peopleDynamic is a Wrexham based charity and a unique resource that provides out of school activities for children and young people with special needs. To improve childcare for disabled children and young people in response to the recommendation within the CSA, funding from the childcare element of the CFS grant was provided to Dynamic to develop and run a training programme and offer first hand experience for childcare workers. The funding enables 15 childcare workers from mainstream out of school childcare clubs to receive the training and hands on experience. The course will cover a general disability introduction, overview of Dynamic and its ethos, attitudes to disability, working with children with different types and levels of disability and additional support and advice available. Due to the high numbers of children with ASD in Wrexham, this new training programme and hands on experience will give childcare workers in out of school childcare clubs the knowledge, skills and confidence to care for children with ASD and other disabilities and additional needs. This will help to increase access to mainstream provision with appropriately skilled and confident staff to care for children with a range of needs.

Consultation with providers last year identified the benefits of an equipment loan scheme to enable settings to meet the needs of disabled children within their settings. As a result, a range of sensory and musical equipment has been purchased for use by childcare settings, and will be accompanied by training. This will help to increase the inclusivity of mainstream settings, increase the skills and confidence of staff in caring for disabled children, and thus help to increase the number of childcare places for disabled children in Wrexham.

Community Focused Schools money has been successfully used throughout 2011-12 to support new before, after school and holiday clubs in areas of need, as identified by the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment. A number of existing settings have also been supported with expanding the number of places or sessions, marketing the provision in current and neighbouring areas and with sustainability issues in order to improve provision and meet the needs of parents in the area,

Case study - Clwb TTP was set up at St Ann’s Catholic Primary School, Caia Park in June 2009 following the closure of the only out of school club in Caia Park. With the help of CFS funding, parents and children were consulted to gather information on their needs and interests and this was used to inform and launch the club, set the fees at affordable yet sustainable levels and provide a wide range of activities to attract the children. Despite most clubs taking approximately 12-18 months to become sustainable, Clwb TTP achieved this after their first term; a remarkable achievement given the current economic climate. Further CFS funding has now been accessed to set up a holiday club at the school in their own purpose built building. The

http://www.ticktockchildcare.co.uk/

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Support for parents in work or making the transition into work (Go Wrexham Project)The Go Wrexham Project was designed by CPCKC to support parents to improve their basic skills and support them with employment. Individuals who were out of work or worked less than 16 hours per week attended sessions to help them take the first steps into training, volunteering or working. They were also supported with literacy and numeracy, CVs and job applications and preparing for interviews. Formal Training was also provided on First Aid, Health and Safety and Child Protection. Between April 1st and December 31st 2011, 260 places were filled on the project.

Support for parents in work or making the transition into work (Sparks Project)Wrexham Family Information Service (WFIS) has been involved in a number of European projects aimed at promoting Work-Life Balance and has great deal of expertise and knowledge in the area. The latest project, Eurobalance, involved transferring this knowledge and expertise to other European countries, which finished in September 2011.

There are a number of projects underway in Wrexham to support parents into training or employment, including Genesis 2 Cymru, Opening Doors, Reach for Work and Working Link. However, there was very little support available to parents once they were in work to support them to remain in work and to support employers to recognise the needs of working parents. The CSA Employer Survey identified a lack of knowledge amongst employers of information, advice and support services available for employees with children, with 64% of employers responding to the Survey stating that they had not heard of WFIS. A bid was submitted for Families First funding for an Information Outreach Officer to work with employers and employees with children across the Families First Consortium of Wrexham, Flintshire and Denbighshire. As part of the Sparks Project, the Information Outreach Officer will:

provide information and guidance to employers on the range of support available to employees to lessen the chances of families living in poverty;

raise financial awareness of employees to ensure that they are in receipt of all financial entitlements;

provide information and support to improve the skill levels of employed parents on low incomes.

Support for parents in work or making the transition into work (Opening Doors)The Opening Doors project, managed by WFIS, aims to support parents back into training and/or employment by removing the barriers that prevent families from taking up these opportunities. The service is open to all unemployed parents/carers, parents/carers on a low income or those with a disabled child.

Parents’ Advisors provide advice and guidance to parents and provide a range of support to improve access to training or employment. This includes providing support with the costs of childcare, providing funding for transport or for training, or signposting to other sources of funding. The Opening Doors project links with a range of other organisations and projects which are designed to help increase training or employment opportunities for parents/carers.

Between April and November 2011, the Opening Doors Project has proved successful in supporting over 250 parents. Of these, 97 have been supported into training and 9 have been supported into employment.

Out of school provision for young people – Early youth clubA main recommendation arising from the CSA was the need to develop increased provision for secondary aged children. This was raised by parents of secondary aged children, who expressed the need for after school provision to provide a safe place after school whilst parents finished work, and also by young people themselves who expressed the need for somewhere they can go after school to socialise with their friends in a relaxed environment, similar to youth club. Researching good practice resulted in us building on the Halton model to provide more youth service provision after school to meet the needs of young people and to act as a form of childcare for parents to use to enable them to work or train. The development group consisting of the Youth Service, Play Development, CPCKC and the Local Authority agreed that the provision should cater for children and young people from aged 11, as opposed to the more traditional age range of 13, in order to encourage younger people to use youth services and to promote a more appropriate after school provision for this age group. Due to the demand from young people in the Llay area for youth club style provision straight after school, rather than starting only at 7pm, an additional early youth club was developed and now runs for 5 days per week from the Llay Youth Club between 3:50 and 6pm. This provision has recently been launched and is enabling young people to access the provision straight from school as the school bus stops outside the club, and it will offer both indoor and outdoor activities tailored for this age group and within a youth club environment.

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Out of school provision - Community Focused Schools (CFS) childcare grantCFS grant funding has been successfully used throughout 2011-12 to support new before, after school and holiday clubs in areas of need, as identified by the 2011 CSA. A number of existing settings have also been supported with expanding the number of places or sessions, marketing the provision in current and neighbouring areas and with sustainability issues in order to improve and sustain the provision and meet the needs of parents in the surrounding areas.

Case study - Clwb TTP was set up at St Ann’s Catholic Primary School, Caia Park in June 2009 following the closure of the only out of school club in Caia Park. With the help of CFS funding, parents and children were consulted to gather information on their needs and interests and this was used to inform and launch the club, set the fees at affordable yet sustainable levels and provide a wide range of activities to attract the children. Despite most clubs taking approximately 12-18 months to become sustainable, Clwb TTP achieved this after their first term; a remarkable achievement given the current economic climate. Further CFS funding has now been accessed to set up a holiday club at the school in their own purpose built building. The after-school club is now also run from the building and the club has expanded to offer 22 places with additional staff employed; most of whom live locally.

SustainabilityA number of initiatives are in place to improve the sustainability of settings in Wrexham following the recommendation in the 2011 CSA:

Before, after school and holiday clubs are supported by CPCKC to complete business health checks and subsequent action plans to identify any issues and put measures in place to overcome these and improve the financial stability of the clubs. All before, after school and holiday clubs are required to complete a business health check prior to receiving the sustainability grant, which has resulted in a decrease in the number of applications as clubs are able to identify and overcome issues earlier, without the need for reliance upon a grant. Due to its success, the completion of business health checks and action plans is now a condition of the grant for all childcare settings in Wrexham and settings are supported by development workers across the sector organisations.

The sustainability grant is also now being used to pilot extended opening hours, particularly in the nursery sector, following a demand identified in the CSA that some parents in Wrexham required an additional half an hour at the beginning or end of the day to allow for commuting times. This grant enables settings to pilot additional hours for a period of three months, in order to identify its financial viability without the fear of initial financial loss.

Geographical Gaps

Update on the Work Carried Out Since the CSA 2011 (Action Plan Progress and Updates)

The 2011 CSA highlighted a number of gaps in childcare provision that would need to be addressed before Wrexham could be deemed completely sufficient in the provision of childcare. These are detailed below, along with an overview of the progress made during the year to address the gaps and improve provision in Wrexham. This has enabled us to verify the extent to which the gaps highlighted in the 2011 CSA still exist, whether the gaps need to change and the further action required to narrow childcare gaps in Wrexham.

To identify childcare gaps geographically, the current levels of provision in different wards can be examined and plans put in place to ‘bridge the gap’ between the current level of provision and the average number of places by type in Wrexham. In total, this would require 777 new daycare places (including day nurseries or childminders) to be created, along with 606 term-time after school places and 490 holiday club places. Please note that the 2011 CSA should state 743 new daycare places are to be created to fill the gap. The total number of new places per ward is set out below:

Childcare gaps based on average levels of provision(Calculations based on number of childcare places per 100 children in the population against the Wrexham

average for the care type)

Ward Additional Daycare Places

Additional After School Places

Additional Holiday Places

Acton 0 0 0Borras Park 0 15 3Bronington 0 0 4Brymbo 0 40 23Bryn Cefn 18 7 0Brynyffynnon 0 12 0Cartrefle 0 42 24Cefn 46 0 37Ceiriog Valley 12 7 0Chirk North 12 13 21Chirk South 3 3 4Coedpoeth 0 44 39Erddig 18 0 0Esclusham 33 0 0Garden Village 10 0 0Gresford East & West 0 0 0Grosvenor 0 0 0Gwenfro 26 27 15Gwersyllt East & Sth 50 8 39Gwersyllt North 41 12 0Gwersyllt West 0 43 24Hermitage 8 0 0Holt 0 0 0Johnstown 30 10 26Little Acton 14 31 18Llangollen Rural 0 0 0Llay 29 35 19Maesydre 19 0 15Marchwiel 12 0 19Marford & Hoseley 0 0 0Minera 12 0 0New Broughton 0 0 0Offa 15 0 0Overton 0 0 0Pant 26 34 19

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Penycae 20 39 22Penycae & Ruabon Sth 28 0 19Plas Madoc 35 16 2Ponciau 51 29 6Queensway 56 34 12Rhosnesni 16 0 4Rossett 0 0 0Ruabon 6 0 0Smithfield 28 19 11Stansty 15 0 15Whitegate 55 44 25Wynnstay 34 42 24

However, to ensure sustainability there is a need to take into account parental demand for childcare and also the rural nature, high deprivation and worklessness that is evident in some wards, as filling the gaps identified above may be impractical and unsustainable. For example, it is unlikely that 125 new childcare places in the Whitegate ward would be sustainable in the short-term given the high levels of deprivation in the ward. Moreover, it is unlikely that the Marchwiel ward could support an additional 31 places, due to the rural location of the area. Therefore, to identify the wards where childcare is needed and would be sustainable, it is crucial to examine the gaps in current provision within the context of parental demand, economic and demographic data and local knowledge of the area.

The following table summarises the local childcare supply and demand situation in each ward in Wrexham. However, this data must be used alongside other local contextual data when developing new childcare provision and places, in order to ensure that sustainability issues are considered from the outset.

Supply and demand analysis by area

WardEarly Years Care

Supply LevelOut of School (Before, After School

and Holiday Care Supply Level)Demand

Level

Acton Low High LowBorras Park High Low LowBronington High High LowBrymbo High Low HighBryn Cefn Low Low HighBrynyffynnon High Low LowCartrefle High Low HighCefn Low Low LowCeiriog Valley Low High HighChirk North Low Low LowChirk South Low High HighCoedpoeth High Low LowErddig Low High LowEsclusham Low Low HighGarden Village Low High LowGresford East & West High High LowGrosvenor High High HighGwenfro Low Low HighGwersyllt East & Sth Low Low HighGwersyllt North Low High HighGwersyllt West High Low LowHermitage Low High LowHolt High High HighJohnstown Low Low HighLittle Acton Low Low LowLlangollen Rural High High LowLlay Low Low LowMaesydre Low Low Low

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Marchwiel Low High LowMarford & Hoseley High High HighMinera Low High LowNew Broughton High High HighOffa Low High HighOverton High High LowPant Low Low HighPenycae Low Low HighPenycae & Ruabon Sth Low Low HighPlas Madoc Low High HighPonciau Low Low HighQueensway Low Low HighRhosnesni Low High LowRossett High High LowRuabon Low High HighSmithfield Low Low LowStansty Low High LowWhitegate Low Low HighWynnstay Low Low High

Areas with low supply and high demand are those where development of more childcare is needed and should be sustainable (Bryn Cefn, Esclusham, Gwenfro, Gwersyllt East and South, Johnstown, Pant, Penycae, Penycae and Ruabon South, Ponciau, Queensway, Whitegate, and Wynnstay)

Areas with low supply and low demand are those where it is unlikely that the market will develop childcare places. To increase childcare supply, intervention in the market is likely to be required to stimulate demand (Cefn, Chirk North, Little Acton, Llay, and Maesydre)

Areas with high supply and high demand are those where the market is most likely to be functioning and market forces will meet supply with little further intervention (Grosvenor, Holt, Marford and Hoseley, and New Broughton)

Areas with high supply and low demand are likely to have a sufficiency of childcare. It is possible that there could be an over-supply in these areas (Bronington, Gresford East and West, Llangollen Rural, Overton, and Rossett)

Since the 2011 CSA, any new childcare developments have been focused on the areas previously identified as having low supply and high demand in conjunction with other identified gaps, such as flexibility, specific needs and age gaps etc. For example, holiday club provision has been developed in the Ceiriog Valley ward, due to the low supply and high demand.

64Income/Affordability Gaps

With 71% of parents who responded to the parents’ survey stating that childcare is too expensive, affordability is still a major barrier for parents in Wrexham and the most common improvement suggestion. The reduction in support through the Childcare Element of the Working Tax Credit from 80% to 70% will have had a significant impact on affordability for some parents, and there is a need to promote these entitlements to improve affordability. Despite increases, childcare costs in Wrexham are now closer to the Wales average than the English average, which demonstrates some restraint from childcare providers in setting fees during the current economic climate.

There is some evidence to suggest that the affordability gap may grow over time, as consultation with providers in 2011 found that 48% were planning to increase fees. This, along with the changes to the Tax Credits and Child Benefit system would have the greatest impact on lone parent and low income families. There are also changes to the eligibility of lone parents for Income Support and Jobseeker’s Allowance, with lone parents who are currently on Income Support being moved to Jobseeker's Allowance when their youngest child is aged 7 (aged 5 in May 2012). These changes could have an impact on the demand for childcare if there are insufficient flexible employment opportunities and reduced financial support available. This is often compounded by the fact that some lone parent families often experience additional difficulties as the sole carer of their children and particularly if they do not have family members nearby. Therefore, affordability can be an issue for lone parents as they often have a single income coming into the household and thus may rely more heavily on childcare to work. Other issues that lone parent families face in the childcare market are the same as those of other groups. The CSA Action Plan includes a number of actions aimed at improving affordability, and particularly identifying ways of reaching working parents, low income families and employers to promote entitlements.

The Sparks Project, funded through Families First, is a pilot project working with employers and parent employees to raise awareness of Family Information Services, available support with childcare costs, promoting childcare vouchers, flexible working, salary sacrifice subsidy and work-life balance. Since January a number of information surgeries have been held in businesses to provide information to working parents and support to their employers. Further work will also be undertaken to improve affordability, through encouraging all providers to accept childcare vouchers, providing information to childcare providers around financial support for parents, and identifying and responding to the unique needs of shift workers.

Gaps in the type of childcare may affect fewer families than affordability and time gaps, with the main issue being choice of childcare rather than the need for more places. Quality of provision is also not a large gap for Wrexham, with 72% happy with the quality of provision locally. The 2011 CSA identified that holiday provision remained a gap, particularly for working parents. However, analysis of settings and places by area identified a disparity between supply and demand, which suggested that many parents were unaware of holiday clubs in the neighbouring villages, or that their children could attend settings in other schools during school holidays. In fact, a number of existing holiday clubs in some areas had a high number of vacancies which could be filled by children in neighbouring areas. Therefore the focus of the CSA Action Plan was amended in the light of this research to increase the promotion of existing holiday clubs in the surrounding areas to ensure that these places are filled and clubs are sustainable before developing new provision. Through CFS funding, marketing materials have also been purchased for clubs to advertise at schools without holiday provision and across the wider community. This is proving successful and aims to increase the uptake of places at these clubs and ensure their sustainability.

Remaining gaps in holiday and after school provision are associated with secondary aged children. However, the Childcare Action Plan is addressing this issue and provision for secondary aged children is improving. CPCKC is continuing to work with a range of partners, including the Play Team and the Youth Service, to develop innovative and appropriate provision through the development of an early youth club in Llay. This is in response to the demand from young people and parents in the area for a youth club style provision that meets the needs of young people, whilst also providing after school provision for parents to enable them to work. The provision is on a bus route and enables young people to access the provision from the bus, whilst ensuring peace of mind for parents that their children are safe after school until they return home from work.

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Type Gaps

Specific Needs Gaps

Specific needs gaps include a wide range of groups within the population, including disabled children, BME groups, faith groups, Gypsy and Traveller families, and the Armed Forces.

Consultation with the Barracks in Wrexham identified very few armed forces families in Wrexham, with the majority living at the Chester Barracks. The childcare needs of these families were identified as being the same as those for other families across the County Borough, but they require increased information outreach and often more support to access services when they move into an area. As a result of this, Wrexham Family Information Service is starting to make links with the Armed Forces Welfare Officer to provide this additional support to armed forces families that are new to the area.

During consultation with BME and Faith Groups issues around affordability, flexibility, and school holiday provision were raised, thus echoing those of the general population as a whole. Language was less of an issue, with the majority of parents preferring their childcare to be provided through the medium of English to aid the language development and socialisation of their children. However, for those parents requiring childcare through the home language, Wrexham currently has 2 childminder settings that offer provision through the medium of Portuguese or Polish. WFIS continues to offer outreach and work with health visitors and other agencies and groups working with BME and Faith groups to raise awareness of local childcare provision and to support access.

Usage of formal childcare amongst Gypsy and Traveller families is extremely low, due to the preference to use friends or family if necessary but preferring to care for their children themselves. As this group of parents are unlikely to use formal childcare, work needs to be done to increase access to information, break down the barriers around perceptions of childcare and promote the services and benefits of childcare to parents.

There is also a need to ensure that Social Workers and Foster Carers are fully aware of the childcare provision, the childcare and financial support available and the free early education entitlement for three year olds in Wrexham. Therefore, an additional action within the CSA Action Plan has been added to promote awareness of WFIS and the childcare provision and support available in Wrexham, through regular slots on Foster Carer Pre-Approval Training, attending Social Worker training or networking events, and incorporating information about WFIS in Foster Carer packs. WFIS currently attends Foster Carer events to ensure that Foster Carers have access to the wide range of information that may be of benefit to them, but this is an area that will be further developed to continue to increase awareness and choice and accessibility.

Specialist provision for disabled children remains consistent across the County Borough. However, work has been undertaken to ensure that all settings are as inclusive as possible for disabled children. A comprehensive training programme has been organised with the aim of increasing the number of settings who would feel confident in caring for a disabled child. The programme includes a broad range of courses that cover a wide range of subject areas including, ASD, ADHD, Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities, Communication Skills with Disabled Children, Epilepsy, Working with the Hearing Impaired Child, and Children with Eating and Drinking Difficulties. Further funding has recently been secured to continue this training programme.

Dynamic has also received funding to develop and run a training programme that offers ‘first hand’ experience for out of school care childcare staff in caring for disabled children. This programme will help to address the gap identified within the 2011 CSA to increase access to mainstream provision with appropriately skilled and confident staff to care for children with a range of specific needs. Furthermore, we have also purchased a range of sensory and musical equipment for use by childcare settings in meeting the needs of disabled children and young people. This equipment will be accompanied by training to improve the knowledge, skills and confidence of staff working with disabled children, and thus help to increase inclusivity and accessible places within mainstream settings in Wrexham. Through the Families First initiative, work is also underway to continue to improve childcare in Wrexham to meet the needs of disabled children, young people and their families.

Childcare issues for low income and lone parent families are similar to those experienced by other parents in Wrexham, with affordability remaining a principal concern and the need for increased financial support to access provision.

66Time Gaps – Flexibility and Working Parents

Working parents require childcare that meets the needs of their working patterns whilst still providing quality care for the child. The majority of childcare available in Wrexham operates within standard working hours (8am-6:00pm), which in some cases does not meet the needs of working parents, particularly those commuting or working shifts. Although 64% of parents who responded to the parents’ survey stated that childcare is available when they need it, this is a decrease from the 2011 CSA indicating that flexibility is still an issue for parents. Furthermore, despite few parents indicating the need for additional provision in the flexibility survey, more flexible sessions and childcare available at different times were the next most common improvement suggestions after affordability. This is despite an increase in the number of childminder places available at flexible hours. 18.7% of childminders provide childcare at weekends, which is an increase from 14% in 2011. 10.7% provide care in the evenings, an increase from 8.5% in 2011 and 5.3% provide overnight care, which is an increase from 2.8% in 2011. However, for some parents who commute a distance to work, an additional half an hour at the beginning (before 8am) or end of the day (after 5:30/6pm) would be valuable.

There are a number of projects in Wrexham to help parents secure work, including Genesis 2 and Opening Doors, which are both managed by WFIS. Opening Doors is funded through Families First and supports parents into training or employment. Opening Doors can provide funding to help families with the initial costs of starting work, including transport, equipment and childcare costs for up to a month. Since April 2011, Opening Doors has supported 402 parents, of which 32 have been supported into employment and a further 132 into training, with the hope that these will move into subsequent employment.

During consultation with employers for the 2011 CSA, it became apparent that employers across Wrexham were unaware of how to access information to support working parents. As a result of this and to increase support for parents to stay in work, WFIS applied for Families First funding, in conjunction with FIS in Flintshire and Denbighshire, to establish the Sparks Project. The aim of the project is to provide support to employers and working parents with issues around financial entitlements, childcare issues, flexible working and work-life balance to improve the retention of working parents in the labour market. Since October 2011, an Information Outreach Officer has been working with businesses across the three local authorities and has held information surgeries at a number of businesses across Wrexham. Through engaging working parents as part of this project, a number of issues around childcare have been identified. Childcare at the weekend has been identified as a significant gap, with limited choice available. Weekend childcare is strictly limited to childminders and only in certain locations of the County Borough. Due to limited flexible working options for some employees, the issue of flexible childcare is an identified issue for shift workers, supermarket employees, hairdressers, retail employees and carers.

Employees with children in secondary school education have reported difficulty in working and ensuring that their children are safe after school. Parents have said that at aged 11-13 they do not feel comfortable allowing their children to be home alone after school and want somewhere safe and stimulating for them to be. One parent has taken a reduction in hours and pay to ensure that they are able to be home with their child.

Shift workers and those working atypical hours are more likely to report difficulties in finding childcare, due to the times that they may need it. In addition to the Sparks Project and outreach to improve access to information about childcare and flexible provision and support in Wrexham, in the next twelve months a survey will be carried out with parents working shifts to establish their childcare needs and to look at how the childcare market can develop to address these needs. This survey will be carried out in conjunction with the Sparks Project through its work with employers and information surgeries.

Business Line, based in Wrexham library, also provides further support to employers in Wrexham, and is collaborating with WFIS and the Sparks Project to reach more employers requiring a range of information and support.

67Families Seeking Work Gaps

Language Gaps

Childcare is a crucial element in supporting parents into employment and can be a barrier for many parents in seeking and taking up employment. Parents who have accessed support through the Opening Doors Project have reported a number of difficulties around childcare, including:

Finding ad hoc childcare at short notice to attend interviews; Finding childcare that fits around the hours of advertised employment, especially at

weekends and for shift work; Funding childcare once they start work when they have not been paid yet and Tax Credit

applications have not been processed.

Therefore, the issues raised by families seeking work or undertaking training are broadly similar to those raised by other parents, with a focus on affordability of childcare and the need for flexible payment structures. Projects like Opening Doors can and do liaise with childcare providers to find childcare for parents and may even be able to cover some of the costs. However, with the majority of childcare providers requiring fees a month in advance, the issue of payment becomes a major issue for parents considering starting work. There is still work required around flexibility, both in terms of time flexibility and payment flexibility.

Whilst 86% of parents agree that there is a good choice of English medium childcare, only 54% agree that there is a good choice of Welsh medium childcare. Although this is an increase since the 2011 CSA, there is still work to be done. This increase in perception of choice of Welsh medium childcare is mirrored by an increase in the number of places available through the medium of Welsh/bilingually (7.8%). This increase in places is as a result of an increase in the number of out of school places and a small increase in the number of childminder places available through the medium of Welsh/bilingually.

The Annual Workforce Audit identified that 21% of staff working in childcare settings are able to communicate through the medium of Welsh, with the level of Welsh spoken ranging from basic to conversational and fluent. The Audit also identified that a further 49 settings will be able to use basic Welsh in their settings, but did not include the number of staff who can speak Welsh. Any future development of Welsh medium childcare would need to take this into account and recruit more Welsh speakers into the profession. Work has already started to ensure there are sufficient high quality Welsh medium childcare workers in Wrexham. This has been achieved through the organisation of training courses through the medium of Welsh but interest has been disappointingly low. In addition to working with the local Welsh medium secondary school, WFIS is currently investigating the possibility of delivering a ‘Making Choices in Childcare’ course through the medium of Welsh to encourage more Welsh speakers into the childcare profession.

The 2011 CSA examined potential gaps in all of the stipulated age categories of 2 and under, 3 and 4 year olds, 5, 6 and 7 year olds, 8, 9 and 10 year olds, 11 to 14 year olds and disabled children aged 15 to 17. This section will seek to update the gap analysis and report on any identified changes in the gaps. Analysis shows that age gaps do not appear to be major barriers in Wrexham. Where gaps do exist they are more prevalent for children aged 11 and over.

2 and underIt was discussed in the 2011 CSA the potential of the extended maternity leave having an impact on places being used for this age group, with more parents opting to spend longer at home with their babies, or whether the economic climate would have the opposite effect, with more parents returning to work earlier for economic reasons. This is still not clear, but with three day nurseries closing in the last year and those children being taken in by existing settings implies that there is more than sufficient childcare for this age group. Affordability remains an issue for parents of this age group.

3 and 4 year oldsAll children applying for funded Early Education places in approved settings are placed and there are sufficient places to meet demand.

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Age Gaps

Wrap-around care offers an affordable option for working parents of 3-4 year olds and is now available at 66% of infant and primary schools across the County Borough. This is an increase from the 2011 CSA where wrap-around care was available at 35% of infant and primary schools and an issue raised by parents.

For those schools without wrap-around provision, childminders and day nurseries are able to fill the gap with school drop-off and pick up services. Therefore, although a number of wards do not have wrap-around care, demand may be met through childminders or day nurseries in the area that are able to offer this flexible provision for working parents. Again affordability remains an issue for parents of this age group.

5, 6 and 7 year oldsIt still remains the case that Wrexham has an excellent level of after school provision across the County Borough, with all primary schools being served by after school provision. However, sustainability remains an issue for smaller clubs. The focus therefore continues to be on supporting the sustainability of existing clubs to ensure that the level of after school care remains at its current level to provide choice and accessibility across Wrexham.

Holiday club provision varies across the County Borough, with some wards having high levels of provision and a large number of wards having no provision. However, in the wards with high levels of provision, parents were still indicating insufficient holiday provision, despite these clubs having high levels of vacancies. It became apparent that there were some misconceptions about who could access holiday provision as the majority is based on school premises, with parents believing that their children had to attend that school to be able to attend the onsite holiday club. Through the CFS Childcare funding, the focus has been on marketing existing clubs to the wider community and ensuring that these clubs have sufficient numbers attending to make them sustainable before developing new provision. Affordability remains an issue for parents of this age group, as does the need for extended opening times of provision to allow for commuting.

8, 9 and 10 year oldsThere is no evidence of any significant difference in the availability of childcare for this age group than for 5, 6 and 7 year olds, with out of school care catering for the entire primary school age range from 5-10 year olds.

There is limited holiday care aimed at the 8-10 age groups and is usually found in sports centres. However, provision for this age group does not have to register with CSSIW and there is ambiguity around whether parents are able to claim the Childcare Element of the Working Tax Credit for this provision, or are able to use childcare vouchers. This age group is still able to access holiday clubs that are available for the 5-7 year olds. Holiday club provision varies across the County Borough, with some wards having high levels of provision and a large number of wards having no provision. However, in the wards with high levels of provision, parents were still indicating insufficient holiday provision, despite these clubs having high levels of vacancies. It became apparent that there were some misconceptions about who could access holiday provision as the majority is based on school premises, with parents believing that their children had to attend that school to be able to attend the onsite holiday club. Through the CSA Childcare funding, the focus has been on marketing existing clubs to the wider community and ensuring that these clubs have sufficient numbers attending to make them sustainable before developing new provision. Affordability remains an issue for parents of this age group, as does the need for extended opening times of provision to allow for commuting.

11 to 14 year oldsAlthough progress has been made in developing provision for this age group, provision is still inconsistent and remains unequal across the County Borough. It is difficult to establish the supply and demand for clubs in specific wards, as pupils will often travel some distance to secondary school which can make the location of clubs difficult to establish. Sustainability is also an issue for after school clubs for this age range as parents may only need to rely on it for a short period of time until they feel confident about leaving their children at home.

Holiday care is very limited for this age group and is usually found in Sports Centres. However, provision for this age group does not have to register with CSSIW and there is some ambiguity around whether parents are able to claim the Childcare Element of the Working Tax Credit or use childcare vouchers towards the cost of these clubs. Affordability remains an issue for parents of this age group.

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The Welsh Government is still in the process of developing a Voluntary Approval Scheme for these clubs and, once introduced, the Local Authority could encourage all clubs specifically for this age range to register on the scheme to enable parents to access the financial support they need and are entitled to.

Disabled young people aged 15 to 17St Christopher’s School and Dynamic provide the only specialised provision available for this age group of disabled young people in Wrexham, and with a limited number of places available for young people over 11 years of age, provision for disabled young people is likely to be limited. While it may be possible that should an older disabled young person require a place in an after school club they could be accommodated with the right support, for some disabled young people their developmental age might be a barrier in choosing an appropriate setting.

The gaps in provision for disabled children and young people are being discussed as part of the Families First Programme with neighbouring authorities, and will link in with local developments and groups that are taking forward the development of appropriate, quality provision for disabled children and young people in Wrexham.

Action PlanThe following CSA Action Plan is reviewed on a quarterly basis, with performance measures submitted 6 monthly and population indicators annually. This live document enables us to review the progress against the actions quarterly and to update these with new or revised actions as required. The annual workshops also enable us to assess the extent to which we are achieving our outcome: All parents and carers are able to access a range of high quality, affordable childcare provision in Wrexham County Borough that meets the needs of the family, and to continue to monitor the actions within the action plan to continually improve our progress in addressing the recommendations to improve childcare in Wrexham.

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Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA) Action Plan 2011-14(Quarterly Updated Action Plan)

Wrexham County Borough Council has a statutory duty under the Childcare Act 2006 to secure as far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient childcare for 0-15 year olds (and 15-17 years in the case of disabled children) to meet the requirements of working parents/carers, or parents/carers undertaking education or training that will lead to work.

Integral to this duty is the requirement to complete a Childcare Sufficiency Assessment every three years, which assesses the supply of, and demand for, childcare in the local authority and identifies gap in provision. Recommendations from the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment and subsequent annual reviews are used to develop a three year action plan detailing the actions that will be taken by the local authority and its partners to fulfil their market management obligations.

Two action planning workshops were held during May-July 2011 where a range of key stakeholders followed the Results Based Accountability (RBA) approach to agree the outcomes, indicators and gaps requiring attention in the action plan, and to work backwards to agree the means (actions) to get there. The following were agreed by partners:

Population agreed for the action plan: - Parents and carers wishing to access childcare in Wrexham.

Outcome agreed for the action plan: - All parents and carers are able to access a range of high quality, affordable childcare

provision in Wrexham County Borough that meets the needs of the family.

Indicators agreed for the action plan (to be reported annually):- No of settings and places (per 100 children by ward - monitor deprived) (WFIS data/CSSIW)

(do no of registered settings separately)- No of places available that parents are able to use the childcare element of the

WTC/childcare vouchers- No and % of childcare workers accessing training and further qualifications (CTO)- No and % of childcare workers with qualifications NVQ Level 3/4 or above (QCF) (CTO)- No and % of parents still unable to access childcare following enquiry (WFIS)- No and % of adults claiming childcare element of the WTC (Stats Wales)

- No and % of clients indicating childcare issues as barriers to employment (JCP)- No and % of parents rating value for money, choice, language, accessibility, availability,

flexibility, specific needs, information, good quality as strongly satisfied/satisfied (Parent Survey - annual).

Gaps agreed for attention in the action plan following analysis and consulation with parents/carers, children, young people, providers, employers and partners:- Holiday provision;- After school provision; particuarly for secondary aged pupils;- Flexibility; - Sustainability;- Provision for disabled children and young people; - Welsh language / bilingual provision;- Quality workforce (training);- Information;- Affordability.

Integral to addressing each gap is consultation with parents/carers and children and young people; particularly parents of disabled children and young people, and hard to reach groups, such as BME.

The Action Plan covers the period April 2011-March 2014, with a particular focus on April 2011-March 2012. The Action Plan will be monitored on a quarterly basis by the Childcare Task and Finish Group and overseen by the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership (EYDCP).

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The Action Plan should be read in conjunction with the CSA Analysis and Summary Reports, which are available upon request from Wrexham Family Information Service, or can be accessed via the Wrexham County Borough Council web site: http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/cypp/childcare_sufficiency.htm

The Flying Start Advisory Teacher contributes to the Action Plan, but specific actions relating to Flying Start are detailed in a separate Flying Start Plan.

The Action Plan is structured as follows:

How we will contribute to the outcome (gap): This identifies the gaps to be addressed in the action plan to help us to achieve our agreed outcome.

Objectives: This identifies the change in the childcare market that Wrexham County Borough Council and its partners are hoping to achieve.

Actions: This summarises the actions that will be undertaken to meet the objective. Responsible officer / organisation: This identifies who will be responsible for implementing

the action and any other partners that will be involved in the delivery. Timescale: This specifies the completion date for each action. Performance measures (within the overview action plan): These list the most important

performance measures that focus on outcomes and difference made and will be used to measure progress against each gap. These will be reported on 6 monthly.

Red, Amber, Green (RAG) progress: This clearly identifies progress against each action (Red- significantly off track, Amber - slightly off track, Green - on track, Blue - completed, NOSY - not on stream yet). Rratings will be accompanied by a progress comment and reported on quarterly.

Reporting:CSA TF Group Meetings Updates Date Updated Required By

Y1 December 9th 2011 Quarterly comments November 25th 2011

Feb 10th 2012 Quarterly commentsSix monthly measures

January 27th 2012January 27th 2012

April 10th 2012 Quarterly commentsAnnual indicators

April 2nd 2012 April 2nd 2012

Y2 July 2012 TBC Quarterly commentsSix monthly measures

June 2012 TBCJune 2012 TBC

October 2012 TBC Quarterly comments September 2012 TBC

Late January 2013 TBC Quarterly commentsSix monthly measures

Early January 2013 TBCEarly January 2013 TBC

April 2013 TBC Quarterly commentsAnnual indicators

March 2013 TBCMarch 2013 TBC

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http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/cypp/childcare_sufficiency.htm

CHILDCARE RBA ACTION PLAN 2011-14 (Quarterly Updated Action Plan) HOW WILL WE CONTRIBUTE TO THE OUTCOMES (Gap): 1) Holiday provision - Develop holiday provision for the over 8s

Priority/objective (Baseline CSA July 2010)

Tasks / actions – what we will do Resp. officer/org

Time-scale

Comments RAGQ1

Q2

Q3

Q4

By April 2012 increase the number of holiday places in Wrexham County Borough

by 4% from 810 to 842.

By April 2014 increase the percentage of parents/carers

who are satisfied with childcare during school holidays by from 72% to

75%.

1a) Work with lead organisations and partners to audit current provision and develop provision in areas with gaps that are affordable, accessible, sustainable and available through the medium of Welsh according to local demand.

Explore feasibility of working with large employers to set up holiday provision.

CPCKC (CFS)

March 2012

CPCKC - Childcare Business Dev Officers are contracted by WCBC to address gaps in provision. CFS Childcare Task and Finish group established to audit and develop provision. Members of panel include CPCKC, WFIS and WCBC. Holiday provision for under 8’s and over 8’s already established by a provider in Glyndwr University. ST to contact Alan Taylor to attend Wrexham industrial estate employers’ forum.

1b) Work with lead organisations and partners to audit current provision and support with expansion of places and marketing of current provision to surrounding wards to increase usage.

CPCKC (CFS)

March 2012

Oct and Feb - CPCKC - Supported: Bronington Out of School club to develop a

marketing strategy and use CFS marketing grant to promote hol club to other areas.

Dragons Daycare in Tanyfron to open an afterschool club in the youth club attached to St Mary’s School Brymbo and expressed an interest in expanding into hol provision.

Tri Tan Pump Hol Club at St Anne’s Caia received CFS funding to offer 8 more childcare places during holidays.

A marketing strategy developed at Go Wild Hol Club in Rhosymedre to promote as a specialist under 8s provision to all infant provision in the locality.

Chirk Infants considering opening hol club once reg obtained for afterschool provision.

CFS marketing grant given to Bwlchgwyn club to promote afterschool and hol club to fill gaps in Bwlchgwyn and other areas.

Maes-y-Mynydd hol club received CFS funding to promote club to other villages.

CFS marketing grant awarded to Jumping Jacks in Maes y Llan School.

CFS funding to open extended Welsh med hol club, inc marketing to Welsh pri schools

Penley hol club awarded a grant to extend building and create 8 new holiday places.

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Bangor on Dee keen to develop a hol club but looking at raising funds for a building.

Acton Children & Families Centre received a marketing grant to support sustainability.

Cabin Crew at Bwlchgwyn Afterschool Club awarded a marketing grant to advertise the service in surrounding villages.

The Mad House Afterschool and Holiday Club were awarded a CFS grant for marketing in surrounding areas.

1c) Circulate good practice guidance to all non-regulated childcare provision operating during school holidays.

WFIS July 2011

Oct 11 - WFIS - The good practice guide will be reviewed and circulated between January and the Easter holidays.

1d) Once the WAG Voluntary Approval Scheme is launched promote the benefits of registered and formal childcare to parents and activity providers for over 8s.

WFIS and CPCKC

TBC WFIS - The Vol Approval Scheme has yet to be launched by the Welsh Government.

NOSY

NOSY

NOSY

1e) Work with the Play Team and the Youth Service to develop more open access and inclusive provision for older CYP based on consultation and a feasibility study. (See 5h)

CPCKC and Play

Team

March 2014

Feb 12 - CPCKC - New provision started for older children as an early youth club at Llay Resource Centre staffed by youth workers.Feb 12 - Play - Open access play could act as informal childcare. Due to a reduction in funding for staffed play provision from April, we are working to find ways of maintaining year round provision in each CF area. These would be complemented by holiday playwork projects in a further 8 communities. The priority is then to work with the Third Sector to develop provision in communities with no play provision and feature in one of the proposed CF clusters. Also linked is the launch of the N.E Wales Community Play Project where a team of 3 f/t playworkers will work in target communities for 6 months providing open access play and working with the community to increase consideration of children’s right to play. The team is working in Coedpoeth and will move to Ruabon in July. The provision is available to children aged 5+, but aimed at the 8-12 age range. It is hoped that we are able to work with the community to sustain play provision after each 6 month period.

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Oct 11 - Play - Due to the Play/Youth review currently being carried out and the funding for play due to be reduced by approximately one third, it is unlikely that new provision aimed at older children will be developed in the near future. This may change depending on the outcomes of the review but for the time being it is a case of trying to sustain what we have developed rather than increase provision.

Oct 11 - CPCKC - Links are in place between CPCKC Dev Workers and Youth Service. Initial contact made between CPCKC Dev Officer and Llay Youth Worker to arrange meeting to explore possibility of opening a youth service provision out of school hours.

1f) Use the CFS grant to support the development of specialist holiday provision running all week.

CPCKC and

Dynamic

May 2012

Feb 12 - CPCKC - First hand experience new disability course delivered to playworkers on 15th February 2012.

Oct 11 - Dynamic - Training course to include hands on training under supervision being designed and actioned by Dynamic. This will happen in January and February 2012.

Oct 11 - CPCKC - Meetings held betweenBusiness Dev Officer and Dynamic Manager to address feasibility of 5 day a week specialist hol provision. Cost is prohibitive if it is to be sustainable without long-term funding. CFS grant awarded to Dynamic for the dev and delivery of a course and hands-on experience for existing playworkers in existing afterschool and hol clubs so that they have the confidence to accept autistic children thereby releasing places in specialist hol clubs for children with more complex needs.

1g) Collate information on positive activities for over 11s and increase publicity of existing activities and holiday provision across WCB and the financial support available through tax credits for LA run provisions.

WFIS and CPCKC

July 2011

WFIS - Regularly collate info about activities during school term and holidays. During the summer holidays over 700 packs of info were sent to families across WCB.

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HOW WILL WE CONTRIBUTE TO THE OUTCOMES: 2) After school provision - Increase after school provision for secondary school aged childrenPriority/objective

(Baseline CSA July 2010)Tasks / actions – what we will do Resp.

officer/orgTime-scale

Comments RAGQ1

Q2

Q3

Q4

By April 2012 increase the number of after school places

by 3% from 1667 to 1717.

By April 2012 increase the number of after school places

for 11-15 year olds by 37% from 134 to 184.

By April 2014, reduce the proportion of parents of 11-14

year olds who tended to ‘strongly disagree’ or

‘disagree’ that they are satisfied with term-time

childcare from 10% to 7%.

2a) Increase (where appropriate) the supply of flexible, affordable, sustainable & accessible after school provision, possibly through provision in the community to enable access by a number of schools.

CPCKC May 2012

Oct 11 - CPCKC - 4 provisions in Wrexham for sec aged children in Rossett, Cefn Mawr, Glyn Ceiriog and St Christopher’s. Heads of all high schools contacted to encourage them to consider setting up provision. Penley consulting with parents to assess demand.

2b) Increase marketing of current after school provision to increase usage by parents in surrounding areas.

CPCKC May 2012

Oct 11 - CPCKC - Marketing application from Darland Active Zone (sec school provision) for CFS funding developed and approved. This will allow the club to purchase marketing materials to promote the club to parents from surrounding areas.

2c) Evaluate provision by consulting with CYP (BME, G&T, hard to reach) and parents to improve provision and involve CYP in planning, dev and running of clubs.

CPCKC May 2012

Oct 11 - CPCKC - CYP attending sec school provision are involved in discussions around development of activity plans. A pilot with settings has taken place (Dec 11).

2d) Work with the Youth Service to explore the possibility of youth clubs extending opening hours and running earlier to act as affordable and inclusive after school provision. (See 5h)

CPCKC, Youth

Service

Dec 2011

Feb 12 - CPCKC - New provision started 20th February for older children as an early youth club at Llay Resource Centre staffed by youth workers.

Dec 11 - Meetings taken place between Play, Youth, Dynamic and CPCKC to pilot provision in Llay for after school provision for older young people.

Oct 11 - CPCKC - Links in place between CPCKC Dev workers and Youth Service. Contact made between CPCKC Dev Officer and Llay Youth Worker to arrange a meeting to explore possibility of opening a youth service type provision out of school hours.

2e) Work with the Play Team to offer open access provision for older CYP and work with parents to make agreements with children about where they go and stay before and after school.

Play Team with

CPCKC

Dec 2011

Jan 12 - Play - See 1e - In addition to the development of our parenting and play course ‘Play Out Not Stressing Out’, we have developed a guide for parents aimed at promoting the importance of play and encouraging them to support children to play outside more often.

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Playworkers from Plas Madoc Adventure Playground are delivering the course and as a result plans are being developed to support their children to access the provision. We will continue to promote open access playwork provision as an option for parents and children seeking informal childcare, particularly older CYP.

Oct 11 - Play - See 1e. Continue to promote the aims of open access play and have developed and piloted a parenting and play course aimed at supporting parents to feel more confident in allowing children to play out independently. Plans in place to support other play work orgs to deliver the course in the next 12 mths

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HOW WILL WE CONTRIBUTE TO THE OUTCOMES: 3) Flexibility/ time - Encourage more flexible childcare across WrexhamPriority/objective



Comments RAGQ1

Q2

Q3

Q4

By April 2014, reduce the proportion of parents who

tended to ‘strongly disagree’ or ‘disagree’ that childcare is available when they need it

from 25% to 22%.

By April 2014 reduce the proportion of parents not using

childcare because it is not available at the times they want it from 4.5% to 3%.

By April 2014 reduce the proportion of parents who

report that childcare is difficult to access outside office hours

or on a short term basis. (Baseline to be set as part of annual

review).

3a) Work with lead organisations, WFIS, Business Support and Social Enterprise to increase childcare in areas of low supply.

Areas: Acton, Bryn Cefn, Cartrefle, Chirk Sth, Gwenfro,

Gwersyllt Nth, Maesydre, Penycae & Ruabon Sth, Plas Madoc, Queensway, Smithfield, Wynnstay, Whitegate.

Lead Orgs, SBT, WFIS

May 2012

Feb 12 – NCMA - The NCMA Cymru Dev Worker has registered 4 new cms since the last report and one was in Penycae. There are 5 potential cms with applications submitted to CSSIW inc. one from Chirk. The NCMA Cymru Dev Worker continues to promote providing a flexible service and providing holiday cover or over night care to encourage childminders to be flexible. Oct 11 - NCMA - 9 new registrations since April and one was in Queensway. There are 9 potential childminders with applications submitted to CSSIW, including one from Chirk and two from Pen-y-Cae. At every Briefing Session the Development Worker emphasises the importance of providing a flexible service and providing holiday cover or over night care to encourage childminders to be flexible.Oct 11 - JR - Continue to support playgroups in these areas.Oct 11 - CPCKC - CPCKC Dev Officers supported the following: Borderbrook Afterschool Club received

additional funding to aid sustainability Provider identified to open new provision -

CFS funding app submitted to create a new 16 place provision in Johnstown.

Penley hol club awarded a grant to extend their building which will create 24 new places (8x hol, 8 x ASC and 8 x BC

Bronington Out of School club to develop a marketing strategy and use CFS marketing grant to promote hol club to other areas.

Dragons Daycare in Tanyfron to open an afterschool club in the youth club attached to St Mary’s School and expressed an interest in expanding into hol provision.

Tri Tan Pump Hol Club at St Anne’s Caia

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received CFS funding to offer 8 more childcare places during holidays.

A marketing strategy developed at Go Wild Hol Club in Rhosymedre to promote as a specialist under 8s provision to all infant provision in the locality.

Chirk Infants considering opening hol club once reg obtained for afterschool provision.

CFS marketing grant given to Bwlchgwyn club to promote afterschool and hol club to fill gaps in Bwlchgwyn and other areas.

Maes-y-mynydd hol club received CFS funding to promote club to other villages.

CFS marketing grant awarded to Jumping Jacks in Maes y Llan School.

CFS funding to open extended Welsh med hol club, inc marketing to Welsh pri schools.

Penley hol club awarded a grant to extend building and create 8 new holiday places.

Bangor on Dee keen to develop a hol club but looking at raising funds for a building.

3b) Develop a flexibility demand survey and ask settings to regularly assess demand for additional hours and provide according to need to ensure sustainability. (More flexibility/longer hours required: Ceiriog Valley, Chirk South, Esclusham, Grosvenor, Gwenfro, Minera, Penycae).

WFIS and Lead Orgs

March 2012

Feb 12 - NCMA - Continuing work on developing a flexibility survey for cms only as their settings offer greatest flexibility e.g. weekend, shift cover and overnight care. WFIS - We will look to use a common survey across all sectors.Jan 12 - WFIS - The flexibility survey due back from 4 day nurseries by the end of Jan.Oct 11 - WFIS - WFIS working on developing a flexibility survey to go with the applications for sustainability grant funding for extended hours. Dec 11 – Survey completed and due out Jan 2012.Oct 11 - NCMA - The Development Worker is working towards producing a flexibility demand survey which will be circulated to all childminders in Wrexham after Christmas.

3c) Address the needs of parents requiring irregular care by adapting the sustainability funding to allow providers to pilot longer hours/flexible/atypical hours.

WFIS and CFO

July 2011

Feb 12 - 3 day nurseries have expressed an interest in extending their opening hours and are currently researching the need amongst parents through our flexibility survey.The Mad House in Garden Village extended

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opening hours with CFS funding.

Oct 11 - WFIS - Letter sent to DNs to offer a grant of up to £3000 to extend opening hours for a minimum of 3 months from the Sustainability Grant fund. Also working with CPCKC to look at ways OSCs can extend their opening hours from CFS funding.Oct 11 - JR - Promotes funding to playgroups

3d) Promote the Childcare Approval Scheme to increase quality provision for parents requiring care in home

WFIS March 2012

Feb 12 - NCMA - The NCMA Dev Worker continues to promote the Childcare Approval Scheme to Nannies where appropriate.Jan 12 - WFIS promotes the scheme when become aware of parents wanting to use nannies and potential nannies. WFIS receive information about nannies on the scheme on a regular basis.Oct 11 - NCMA - The NCMA Development Worker receives enquiries from Nannies and promotes the Childcare Approval Scheme where appropriate.

3e) Work with settings to improve the flexibility and sustainability of sessions offered, in order to meet parental needs, esp. parents of disabled children.

CSA TF Group

March 2013

New action Feb 2012. NOSY

NOSY

NOSY

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HOW WILL WE CONTRIBUTE TO THE OUTCOMES: 4) Sustainability- Take a more pro-active approach in managing the childcare market and reducing the chances of market failure

Priority/objective(Baseline CSA July 2010)


Time-scale

Comments RAGQ1

Q2

Q3

Q4

By April 2014, reduce the proportion of settings reporting

that they definitely have sustainability issues from 57%

to 47%.

4a) Develop an online updating system which also enables sustainability issues to be identified early and targeted with support to address issues identified.

WFIS - SIO

July 2011

Oct 11 - WFIS - Online updating system now gone live. It is being trialled with DNs to start with and will be introduced across all sectors by the end of March 2012.

4b) Continue to improve the promotion of the sustainability grant funding scheme across all providers.

CFO Sept 2011

Feb 12 - Winter newsletter sent to all childcare providers highlighting different sources of funding to help sustainability.Oct 11 - WFIS - Newsletter promoting sustainability grant sent to all childcare providers the beginning of Sept 2011

4c) Amend the sustainability grant request process to put stipulations in place to avoid reliance on same funding (should demonstrate progress against action plan).

CFO Dec 2011

Oct 11 - WFIS - Added question to application form regarding action plans so we can now monitor numbers. Also made it a requirement of the grant

4d) Produce an action plan template for use across all settings to use when accessing sustainability funding.

CFO and PDO

Dec 2011

Complete

4e) Support providers to remain sustainable by providing business support and encouraging settings to undertake business health checks and attend training.

Lead Orgs and CFO

Dec 2011

Jan 12 - MM - All groups offered financial support and invitation to surgery for business health checks. 13/14 settings attended.Jan 12 - NCMA - The NCMA Dev Worker continues to provide business support in response to calls and e-mails from registered cms and provides a Business Support Visit within a month of registering. 5 recently registered cms had a visit this quarter.Jan 12 - JR -Promoted health checks to 9 pgs. A shorter version may encourage more pgs to complete, but yet to be finalised.Oct 11 - NCMA - All newly registered childminders receive business support one month after registering. 7 childminders have received business support since April. The Development Worker responds to all business support questions on a regular basis and attended a Finance Workshop delivered by HMRC in October to update on

81

business support knowledge.

Oct 11 - JR - Promoted health checks to 4 pgs, develop a shortened version and provide training on a/ps and marketing.Oct 11 - CPCKC - Business support given to out of school clubs at regular club visits.Oct 11 - WFIS - Info promoted through newsletters to all settings and encouraging groups to attend info evenings by lead orgs.

4f) Monitor the turnover of providers (particularly childminders) and the reasons for deregistering and target support to overcome issues accordingly.

WFIS, Lead Orgs

Dec 2011

Jan 12 - NCMA - No de-registrations reported to the NCMA Cymru Dev Worker this quarter. However, CSSIW’s weekly reports to WFIS have not been updating the de-registration tab therefore it may be assumed that there have been some de-registrations during this quarter.Oct 11 - NCMA - All childminders who de-register with CSSIW are sent Exit Questionnaires. Of the 5 who deregistered this year 0 returned Exit Questionnaires.

4g) Raise awareness of CSA gaps among key childcare market stakeholders including childcare providers. (e.g. develop a simple online resource / disseminate easy to read information on supply, demand, gaps, average costs, flexibility of pricing structures by type).

PDO March 2012

Feb 12 - Disability event to raise awareness of gaps in the market.Jan 12 - Reference and links to CSA made as part of refresh survey to parents.Oct 11 - CSA Annual Review 2012 has been the focus. However, the key msgs arising from this will inform the resource.

NOSY

4h) All Lead Organisations to help address gaps identified in the CSA by targeting recruitment, sustainability and marketing campaigns to these areas.

(Rural & areas of low supply / high demand: Bronington, Bryn Cefn, Ceiriog Valley, Esclusham, Gwenfro, Gwersyllt East & Sth, Johnstown,

Pant, Ponciau, Whitegate.Low supply & low demand: Cefn, Chirk Nth, Little Acton, Pant, Penycae,

Penycae & Ruabon South, Queensway, Wynnstay)

Lead Orgs March 2012

Jan 12 - MM - Ongoing marketing leaflets to WFIS and libraries. Development Officer ended in Oct 11 and will have impacted on recruitment and marketing. Interviews Feb.Jan 12 - NCMA -The NCMA Cymru Dev Worker continues to target recruitment in the areas highlighted in the CSA. The NCMA Cymru Dev Worker attended a ‘Making Choices’ course in Llay and in Dec a TAC Multi-Agency Event In Wrexham.NCMA delivered a DHC1 course in November in Buckley, Flintshire. 3 potential childminders attended from Wrexham - one from Acrefair and two from Holt.Jan 12 - CFO - Busy Bees at Penycae awarded CFS grant for marketing and a CFS grant to extend provision to children

82

attending EE at Penycae pg and to open an additional day on a Friday.Oct 11 – Excellent examples of lead organisations targeting recruitment and marketing at areas identified in the CSA.NCMA - The Dev. Worker has carried out promotional work in identified areas to recruit new cms in these areas. E.g. April -visited a Parenting Group in Queensway,May - attended a TAC event and visited Parents’ Advisor Group in Queensway; July - attended a TAC Multi-Agency Event and networked; August - compared and updated databases with WFIS to highlight areas requiring more childminder provision. NCMA delivered a DHC! course in September in Queensway. 12 potential childminders attended from Wrexham including 2 from Queensway, 1 from Ceiriog Valley, 1 from Plas Madoc, 1 from Johnstown and 2 from Ponciau.Oct 11 - JR - Continue to support pgs and advise on marketing.Oct 11 and Feb 12 - CPCKC - Support: Bronington Out of School club to develop

marketing strategy and use CFS marketing grant to promote hol club to surrounding areas.

A marketing strategy developed at Go Wild Holiday Club in Rhosymedre and promoted as a specialist under 8’s provision to all infant provision in locality.

CFS marketing grant awarded to Bwlchgwyn to promote afterschool and hol club to fill gaps in Bwlchgwyn & surrounding areas.

Maes-y-Mynydd hol club received CFS funding to promote club in other villages.

CFS Marketing grant awarded to Jumping Jacks in Maes y Llan school.

Acton Children and Families Centre have received a grant for marketing to support future sustainability.

Cabin Crew at Bwlchgwyn Afterschool

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Club awarded a grant to advertise the service in surrounding areas.

The Mad House Afterschool and Holiday Club were awarded a CFS grant for marketing in surrounding areas.

4i) Research into travel to work patterns to assess availability and occupancy of childcare along routes or near large employers to meet demands of commuters.

PDO March 2012

Feb 12 - LC liaised with Peter Scott to discuss the travel to work patterns locally. LC to meet with Peter in April to discuss the new enterprise areas.Oct 11 - NOSY as the CSA Annual Review 2012 has taken priority.LC to contact Alan Taylor to progress.

NOSY

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HOW WILL WE CONTRIBUTE TO THE OUTCOMES: 5) Provision for disabled children - Improve childcare options for disabled childrenPriority/objective



Comments RAGQ1

Q2

Q3

Q4

By April 2014, reduce the proportion of providers who rate provision for disabled

children as poor or satisfactory from 35.7% to 30%.

By April 2014, reduce the proportion of parents of

disabled children who tended to ‘strongly disagree’ or

‘disagree’ that childcare meets all of their child’s needs from

42% to 35%.

By April 2014 reduce the proportion of parents not using childcare because it does not cater for their child’s disability

or additional needs from 11.4% to 9%.

5a) Undertake an annual disability survey to identify settings caring for disabled CYP, type of need, any specialist training and equipment, any refusal/barriers.

WFIS Dec 2011

March 12 - Consultation with parents of disabled children will take place at the disability information event in April.Feb 12 - WFIS - Due to Cordis Bright survey, the annual survey has not been sent to avoid overburdening settings. This will be undertaken in due course.Oct 11 - WFIS - Focus for Jan 2012- CTO is developing a questionnaire for settings to identify training required/times of training.

NOSY

NOSY

5b) Promote the availability of places for disabled children and settings with specialist equipment and training.

WFIS Dec 2011

WFIS - Developed the information held around places for disabled children to be more specific for parents. This enables WFIS to search specifically for provision. Oct 11 - CTO - Training brochure and programme in place inc disability training. Oct 11- CPCKC and Dynamic are running a training course and hands on experience for mainstream out of school clubs workers to increase skills and confidence in caring for disabled CYP. Now need to work with parents to increase their confidence.

5c) Improve provision for disabled CYP in Wrexham by: Developing disability training and introducing staff

attendance and promotion of disability training amongst settings as a condition of contracts/revisions

Targeting settings to encourage staff to access training. Promoting sharing of good practice between settings Using CFS funding to increase training & equipment

for providers willing to care for disabled CYP Promoting the need for further specialist provision and

providing information to providers willing to cater for complex needs (info on funding, access to resources)

WFIS - CTO

Jan 2012

Feb 2012 - CTO - The FIS training programme includes a range of training on disabilities. Bookings are in place for courses and some are fully booked. The programme is being further developed in responses to evaluations and requests.Jan 12 - NCMA - The NCMA Cymru Dev Worker submitted a quote to MH to access CFS funding but was unsuccessful as WFIS are running a similar workshop for all childcare providers across Wrexham.Oct 11 - NCMA - Discussing with WFIS the possibility of accessing CFS funding for Disability Awareness training for CMs.Oct 11 - WFIS - CMs encouraged to apply for an extra grant for specialised equipment for disabled children.

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CFS grant awarded to Dynamic to run a specialist training course to encourage more settings to be confident in offering places to more complex needs children.Oct 11- MM - Provide a referral scheme (Cynllun Cyfeirio) of additional support.

5d) Set up a disability task and finish group to investigate development, support and sustainability of provision.

PDO Dec 2011

Feb 12 - FF to take forward disability issues as part of the NE. Wales consortia. The Complex Needs Group has this task in their action plan. Inclusive provision in Llay Youth Club being developed.Oct 11 - Disability TF Group to meet Dec 16th. LC attending youth/play disability group to ensure after school/hol provision for 11-25 year olds is considered.

5e) Access data from the Complex Needs group on the number of CYP on the Disability Database.

CSA TF Group.

March 2012

Feb 12 - LC - Database to be promoted as part of the Childcare and Transition Awareness Event for parents and stakeholders in April 2012. LC attending Complex Needs Group in March to discuss the role of the group and FF in improving accessible childcare. Oct 11 - LC attending Complex Needs Group to raise issue of access for disabled CYP and gather data on nos.

5f) Encourage employers to offer carer friendly practice in school holidays by informing them about options.

WFIS March 2012

Feb 12 - WFIS - Sparks project has met with a number of businesses and is actively promoting carer friendly practices.Oct 11 - WFIS - Sparks Project funded through FF started in October and will be going out to employers to support them in supporting parent employees.

5g) Investigate and link into Early Support developments in Wrexham.

PDO March 2012

Feb 12 - Dec meeting cancelled due to Union Strike. LC to meet with SJ following Complex Needs Group in Feb.Oct 11 - LC meeting with SJ for info.

5h) Develop and pilot inclusive play and youth provision to enable disabled children and young people to access mainstream provision in their community (See 1e and 2d).

CPCKC March 2012

Feb 12 - CPCKC - CFS funding is being used to develop the inclusive early youth club for secondary aged pupils.Oct 11 - CPCKC - Initial discussions with Play and Youth to develop inclusive after school and holiday provision for secondary

86

aged pupils in the form of an early youth club.

HOW WILL WE CONTRIBUTE TO THE OUTCOMES: 6) Welsh - Support the development of Welsh language and bilingual childcarePriority/objective



Comments RAGQ1

Q2

Q3

Q4

By April 2012, increase:Welsh med settings (6%-8%)Welsh med & Eng med (0.9%-2%)Bilingual settings (0.6%-2%)

By April 2014 increase the proportion of parents who

tended to ‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’ that there is a good choice of Welsh-medium

childcare from less than 40% to 45%.

6a) Promote recruitment and training of Welsh speaking childcare workers across all sectors by working with Morgan Llwyd, WFIS, Cam Wrth Gam training & NCMA

MYM, WFIS,NCMA

Jan 2012

Feb 12 - MM - Visited Morgan Llwyd to assist with childcare course and help them to gain experience in MM settings. 3 GWG students in Wrexham gained employment in childcare settings. The interviews for 2012 are Feb 12.Jan 12 - NCMA - No Welsh speaking childminders registered during this quarter.Oct 11 - NCMA - In May 2011 a new childminder registered in Pentre Broughton as a bilingual setting and currently has 1 child from a Welsh speaking family. NCMA Dev Worker promoted the Certificate of HE in Welsh and Bilingual Practice in the EY (Level 4) in NCMA Newsletter circulated to all registered childminders in Wrexham.

6b) Increase availability of Welsh language training and training courses through the medium of Welsh (inc higher level courses), and ensure staff have access to level 2 and 3 training on language immersion.

CTONDNA

+ support from MM

March 2012

Feb 12 - MM - immersion training will be delivered in May 12. No Development Officer in Post. Interviews Feb 12.Feb 2012- CTO - A Manual Handling course was offered in Welsh but there was no response despite liaison with MM. A First Aid course in Welsh has been planned but as yet there has been no response.Jan 12 - Workforce audit currently out to gain information about training and demand for courses through the medium of Welsh.Oct 11 - CTO - Organising Welsh lang First Aid and Manual Handling courses for 2012.Oct 11 - EE - 0-8 Team provide Welsh med training in the Spring term 2012 for Welsh medium settings offering EE provision.Oct 11 - MM - Looking into an immersion programme and working with Clychs on a language programme. Hoping to have a Development Officer in place in Jan 2012.

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6c) Increase accessibility and sustainability of Welsh provision in areas of demand with links to schools.

WFISMM

March 2012

March 12 - New born baby survey developed and includes childcare and language of choice. Launched in March to help plan childcare and school places.Feb 12 - MM - Setting nos not increased due to a dip in 0-3s so focusing on sustainability and training between settings and schools to promote consistent use of the language.Oct 11 - MM - Hold County Committee for volunteers and staff each term and try to combine a short training, such as Dewis Da. Welsh Language Board info for parents who choose Cylchoedd Meithrin and follow on to the local Welsh Medium school and Welsh Medium High School. Worked closely with Cylchoedd Meithrin Maes Y Gormel a Cylch Meithrin Coedpoeth. We have a national Mudiad Meithrin Sponsorship Officer to help with fundraising and grant applications.Staffing issues and other matters can be sought through the MM Intranet site.A Financial Surgery is also offered to support the Cylch / Ti a Fi.

6d) Explore potential of running ‘Making Choices’ in Welsh to encourage Welsh speaking people into childcare and investigate availability of other courses.

Genesis WFISMM

Dec 2011

Feb 12 – MM- Difficulties in identifying a Welsh speaker with full knowledge of the childcare sector.Oct 11 - NDNA run a Welsh language course. WFIS to investigate.Dec 11 - MI - Offer financial support for small businesses for marketing &mentoring. WFIS to include in mail out to all settings. Also working with parents who attended Welsh education to build confidence in using Welsh and maybe move into a career in childcare.

NOSY

6e) Support the development and implementation of a New Born Baby Survey to gather information about demand for Welsh medium childcare and education.

PDOMM

LLL Dept

Sept 2012

March 12 - New born baby survey developed and includes childcare and language of choice. Launched in March to help plan childcare and school places.Feb 12 - LC met with LLL Dept, registry Office and MIS Team to discuss process of gathering new born baby data and handing

NOSY

NOSY

88

out the surveys to new parents.

HOW WILL WE CONTRIBUTE TO THE OUTCOMES: 7) Quality workforce- Provide effective training to improve the quality of the workforce and childcare provision



Time-scale

Comments RAGQ1

Q2

Q3

Q4

By April 2014, increase the proportion of parents/carers who strongly agree or agree that the quality of childcare locally is high from 87% to

90%.

7a) Target training to meet identified needs of the childcare workforce and continue to ensure that providers have access to a wide range of appropriate information, training and continuing professional development opportunities to raise the quality of care.

CTO May 2012

March 12 - Workforce audit completed and analysed to feed into the CSA refresh.Feb 12 - WFIS - workforce audit currently being carried out to identify training needs. Evaluation forms are distributed at the end of all training and there is a section on evaluation forms encouraging participants to identify further training needs. Training programme offers a wide range of opportunities covering statutory and non statutory training needs.Oct 11 - CPCKC - 1 club has QA through 4Children but QA is not affordable. A scheme has been drawn up by CPCKC but there is no funding to roll this out.Oct 11 - WFIS - Training prog based on statutory reqs of the workforce. Feedback from evaluations used to develop the programme. Wide range of training subjects currently in the programme.Oct 11 – EE - 0-8 Team provide regular training for EE settings to ensure a high quality of educational provision. Training is delivered in response to local and national priorities and evaluations from practitioners

7b) Work with agencies such as TAC, LSCB and Play Team to improve the variety of training (including cultural awareness, child protection, playwork courses and qualifications for all providers).

CTO Sept 2011

Feb 12 - CTO - Cultural Awareness training has been organised for March 2012 and a series of play training sessions.Oct 11 - CTO - Work with Play Team to include play training. Ongoing work with LSCB to provide an average of 2 Child Protection courses per term. Dec 11 - CTO - Play training now in Jan 12.Dec 11 - JS - Runs social inclusion learning programme. MH to email details to settings.

7c) Identify the number of settings signed up to Quality Assurance (QA) schemes, promote the benefits and target and support settings through the process to

WFIS - SIO, Lead

Orgs.

Jan 2012

Feb 12 - CPCKC - Only 1 out of school club has a quality assurance award through 4Children. At present there is not an

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increase the number of settings with QA. affordable scheme for clubs in Wales.

A scheme has been drawn up by CPCKC but there is no funding to roll this out.Jan 12 - MM - 40% of Ti a Fis have QA. Rhagoral status has changed and includes a Clych Da Iawn and Cylch Rhagoral. Difficulties in uptake due to costs, but promote to all settings.Jan 12 - JR - Promoting WPPA Quality for All scheme where possible.Jan 12 - WFIS - All settings routinely asked about QA and this info is up to date and will continue to be asked in updating.Oct 11 - NCMA - At present 0 Wrexham childminders are signed up to the NCMA Q1 scheme. However, NCMAs Quality Assured Network has 17 QA members.Oct 11 - JR - Encourage pgs to join WPPA QA Scheme & pre-school health Scheme.

7d) Provide links to information about childcare settings via the WFIS website, including signposting to Estyn and CSSIW reports, to act as a resource for parents.

WFIS - SIO

Jan 2012

Jan 12 - WFIS - Info on how to access CSSIW and Estyn reports appears on all reg settings records held on the WFIS database.This will appear on the info sent to parents and then on their website entry as well.

7e) Continue to work with 0-8 Service to ensure that demand for EE provision is met in all areas.

EE, WFIS Dec 2011

Feb 12 - Applications being processed and places will be allocated towards the end of March. Jan 2012 - EE - Closing date for application for funded EE places for Summer term - 20th January 2012. Jan 12 - PDO - Working closely with EE and FD in the development of new FS places.Oct 11 - EE - All applications for EE places in the Spring term 2012 have been met in all areas. Parents have been informed by letter.

7f) Continue to provide Early Years training to non-statutory settings and encourage more of these non-statutory settings to attend.

CTO May 2012

Feb 2012 - CTO - Awaiting a date from the EE team to run the training.Oct 11 - CTO - Liaising with EE Team re provision of FP training for non-statutory settings to attend.

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HOW WILL WE CONTRIBUTE TO THE OUTCOMES: 8) Information- Raise awareness of the childcare and financial support available to parents/carersPriority/objective



Comments RAGQ1

Q2

Q3

Q4

By April 2014, increase the proportion of enquiries to

WFIS by 8% year on year from 4423 to 5572.


strongly agree or agree that they know where to find

information about childcare from 74% to 80%.


strongly agree or agree that they know where to find

information about financial assistance for childcare from

48% to 55%.

8a) Improve the information and distribution of information to families, providers, estate agents, work clubs and employers about affordable childcare, financial support and services for CYP, with particular focus on provision and support for parents of disabled children.

WFIS May 2012

Oct 11 and Feb 12 - WFIS - Undertaking outreach through Big Lottery funded ‘Information Counts’ project, Engaging Families Project (funded through Cymorth) and the Sparks project (working with employers). WFIS also giving presentations to Community Councils and Community Steering Groups to raise awareness of WFIS services.

8b) Review and develop all relevant websites e.g. WFIS, Welfare Rights (including up to date financial support information) in line with TRACK.

WFIS, Info TF

Dec 2011

Oct 11 and Feb 12 - WFIS - WFIS website regularly reviewed. WFIS sits on the Information Management Task & Finish Group.

8c) Hold annual information and networking events for parents of disabled CYP. (Link in with TAC events, and other existing groups e.g. Talk4Talk, Dynamic and St Christopher’s).

PDOWFIS

Sept 2011

March 12 - Final planning and promotion underway for the disability event to be held in April.Oct 11 and Jan 12 - LC - Joint event with Adults to include transition, childcare and services for disabled CYP. Planning meetings taken place and event to be held April 12.

8d) Improve information for parents by strengthening links between schools and WFIS through information in school newsletters, open evenings, on-entry, transition, school prospectus and websites and information about childcare and financial support in Parents’ Guide (p30).

WFIS and PDO

Jan 2012

March 12 - The new born baby survey for new parents will include information about WFIS and childcare provision and support.Jan 12 - All parent surveys include details of WFIS to raise awareness.Oct 11 - LC - LC contacted AJ to include info about tax credits, childcare and WFIS in Parents’ Guide. Disability event in April 12 to include transition services and WFIS support. WFIS contacted all schools and attending numerous events at schools.Oct 11 - EE - 0-8 Team provide supporting guidance regarding on-entry information.

8e) Provide outreach to low income and hard to reach groups (G&T, migrants, BME) on WFIS, initiatives to support unemployed into work, childcare options (inc EE, Flying Start), financial support (esp. childcare element of WTC) and childcare as a career option.

WFIS,Welfare RightsC. Carr

Jan 2012

Feb 12 - WR - Outreach delivered at Toddler Groups, Gwenfro Housing, work ongoing and further sessions arranged. Feb 12 - WRU service advertised by FIS Outreach Officers. Childcare options

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discussed with those on maternity and/or considering returning to work.Oct 11 - WFIS - WFIS undertaking outreach through the Big Lottery funded ‘Information Counts’ project and the Engaging Families Project (funded through Cymorth), referring parents on to various agencies when applicable.

8f) Engage with job fairs and JCP to provide information to employers and potential employees and ensure signposting of families to WFIS, Welfare Rights etc.

WFISJCP

March 2012

Feb 12 - WFIS continues to work closely with JCP to provide information to parents seeking work.Oct 11 - WFIS - WFIS attends jobs fairs to raise awareness and gave a presentation to JCP advisors in September.

8g) Work with JCP to offer outreach and gather regular data on the number and location of clients who cite lack of childcare as a barrier to employment/training.

WFISJCP

Dec 2011

Feb 12 - JCP explained that this information is not being collected currently. LC to check back in April as to the next financial year’s work.Oct 11 - LC to raise with Alys Hales and WFIS to progress links with JCP via OP.

NOSY

8h) Work with Prevention and Social Care to find out about childcare usage and needs and barriers of LAC and young carers and respond to issues arising.

(Actions arising - attend Foster Care Pre-Approval

Training and Social Worker training and networking events to promote WFIS and childcare provision and support available, and include information about WFIS in Foster Carer packs).

PDO March 2012

Feb 12 - LC met with HoS for LAC and an approach to gather the views of foster carers and CYP is being planned for the Spring Term. There is a need to strengthen the links with WFIS and as such the additional actions have been added (see actions arising).Oct 11 - NOSY as the CSA Annual Review 2012 has taken priority.

NOSY

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HOW WILL WE CONTRIBUTE TO THE OUTCOMES: 9) Affordability - Improve affordability of childcare through working with providers and increasing awareness of the childcare element of the working tax credit



Time-scale

Comments RAGQ1

Q2

Q3

Q4

By 2014, reduce the proportion of parents/who strongly agree/agree that

childcare in Wrexham is too expensive from 56% to 52%.

By April 2014 reduce the proportion of parents not

using childcare because it is too expensive from 20% to

15%.

By 2014 increase the take-up of the childcare element of

the Working Tax Credit from 28% to 35%, using HMRC

data as a baseline.

By 2014 increase employer engagement to increase the distribution of and uptake of

childcare vouchers and other entitlements (WFIS as part of

FF to establish baselines)

9a) Work with employers to raise awareness and promotion of WFIS, support with childcare costs such as WTCs and benefits of providing flexible hours, salary sacrifice, childcare vouchers, WLB.

Link in with jobs fairs to provide information to employers and potential employees.

WFIS

WFISLead Orgs

March 2012

March 2012

March 12 - findings from Sparks project included in the refresh.Feb 12 - MM - Provide leaflets but awaiting new development officer to fulfil this role.Feb 12 - WFIS - Sparks continues to progress with positive work with employers taking place. Findings from the project are not available due to early stage of project, but case studies and initial successes will be reported in the refresh.Oct 11 - WFIS - The Sparks Project funded through FF started in October and will be working with employers to raise awareness of various issues affecting parents.

9b) Establish baselines for existing number of employers providing voucher schemes and existing number of employees using them.

WFIS / FF March 2012

Feb 12 - WFIS - early case studies and findings to be reported in the CSA refresh and targeted through future Sparks project work. The project is in its early stages and so the baseline and data will be available as the project continues.Oct 11 - WFIS -The Sparks Project will be carrying out a questionnaire at initial contact stage with employers to establish baseline.

9c) Produce and distribute information to providers to hand out to parents on Welfare Rights, financial support for low income families and tax credits to support childcare e.g. after school clubs/hol clubs.

WFIS,WR,

Leads, settings

March 2012

Feb 12 - WR - Developing draft leaflets that will be promoted in schools re. financial help available for childcare. Needs co-discussions with WFIS.Feb 12 - WFIS updated guide for distribution.Oct 11 - JR - PGs to distribute info to parents.Dec 11 - WFIS - Updated funding guide and currently in print.Dec 11 - JS - Links in terms of increasing income and reducing expenditure.

9d) Work with Welfare Rights to develop training on financial support and tax credits, and rollout the course to all providers and organisations working with families, esp. those working in areas of unemployment/low incomes/CF areas.

(Low income / high unemployment / affordability

WFISWelfare Rights

Dec 2011

Feb 12 - WR - Overall WRU Training programme (which includes courses aimed at professionals working with families/children who have childcare issues) is being developed. Full roll-out expected by June 12.Oct 11 and Jan 12 - WFIS - FF has been

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issues: Acton, Brymbo, Brynyffynnon, Bryn Cefn, Cartrefle, Cefn, Ceiriog Valley, Chirk North, Coedpoeth, Garden Village, Gwenfro, Gwersyllt North, Gwersyllt West, Hermitage, Maesydre, Marchwiel, New Broughton, Offa, Pant, Penycae, Plas Madoc, Ponciau, Queensway, Ruabon, Smithfield, Whitegate, Wynnstay).

running a series of workshops for professionals working with parents.

9e) Undertake research to determine the needs of shift workers & examine how to address these locally.

WFIS March 2012

Feb 12 - WFIS - The Sparks Project will gather this information and report back findings for subsequent reports and reviews.Oct 11 - WFIS - The Sparks Project will assist with this piece of work.

9f) Monitor and influence policy and sustain and increase the number of assisted places in Wrexham.

Lead OrgsWFIS

March 2012

March 12 - Tenders due out. Assisted places schemes to continue into 2012.Feb 12 - NCMA - The NCMA Cymru Dev Worker attended the Sustainability Panel in November 2011.Feb 12 - WFIS - Contracts currently being reviewed and Manager of WFIS overseeing the development and the importance of Assisted Places.Oct 11 - NCMA - The Dev Worker works with orgs in Wrexham to influence policy and was included in Consultations around the FF Plan.

NOSY

9g) Monitor and promote relevant projects that provide childcare and support parents into work / training.

WFIS July 2011

Oct 11 and Feb 12 - WFIS - Monitoring systems in place for Opening Doors and Sparks and promoted at Outreach sessions alongside WFIS services.

9h) Encourage all providers to register to enable them to accept childcare vouchers (salary sacrifice) to increase affordability for parents.

WFIS March 2012

Feb 12 - WFIS - In the process of developing an information sheet that can be sent out to all providers and included in future newsletters.Oct 11 - NCMA - The Dev Worker delivers business support to new registered cms and explains how they can accept vouchers. It also encourages childminders to ask parents if their employers provide childcare vouchers.

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Recommendations

This Annual Review 2012 has identified a number of key areas for development in Wrexham, many of which are extensions of those identified in the 2011 CSA due to further work required. These will be added to the Year 2 Childcare Action Plan for 2012-13 and monitored quarterly via progress updates, 6 monthly via performance measures and annually via headline indicators, thus ensuring that the action plan is a live document and new actions are added as necessary to address new and evolving issues and gaps in the childcare market. Key recommendations for 2012-13:

Holiday provision - Continue to develop sustainable and accessible holiday provision for the over 8s in areas of low supply and high demand in Wrexham.

After school provision - Continue to develop accessible after school provision for secondary school aged children in Wrexham that is appropriate to meet their needs.

Flexibility/time - Continue to work with childcare settings and employers to offer more flexible childcare and working patterns to meet local demand; particularly demand from parents working atypical hours or from parents who commute a distance to work.

Sustainability - Take a more pro-active approach in managing the childcare market and reducing the chances of market failure (sustainability, business support, ensuring systems are in place to identify potential issues early).

Provision for disabled children - Continue to improve childcare options for disabled children and work with providers to improve knowledge, skills and confidence in caring for disabled children.

Welsh - Support the development of Welsh language and bilingual childcare, as well as the use of Welsh across all settings and the recruitment of Welsh speaking staff into the workforce.

Quality workforce – Continue to provide a wide range of effective, appropriate and up to date training courses, information and opportunities for professional development to improve quality.

Information - Continue to work with partners to raise awareness of the childcare and financial support available, particularly targeting seldom heard groups, parents of disabled children, parents on low incomes, employers and organisations working with families in order to improve access to information.

Affordability - Improve affordability of childcare through working with providers and increasing awareness of financial support for childcare and particularly the Childcare Element of the Working Tax Credit.

Seldom heard groups - Continue to engage and involve seldom heard groups, such as Gypsy and Travellers, BME Groups and Migrant Workers, and support these groups of children and young people in accessing childcare provision.

Childcare coordination - Improve the development and coordination of external and internal childcare business support and development in Wrexham.

We are confident that because of the commitment from all stakeholders and our close monitoring processes in Wrexham, we will be successful in improving our performance and progressing our recommendations set for 2012-2013, to ultimately improve the provision of childcare for our children, young people, parents and carers in Wrexham. Progress against the recommendations will be reported in the next CSA Annual Review 2013.

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Appendices

Appendix 1 – Location of Settings per Age Group Mapping

The following maps indicate the estimated distribution of children and young people aged 0-14 across Wrexham wards, with the general locations of childcare settings identified by the coloured symbols

Number of children and young people aged 0-14 across Wrexham wards – Location of after school clubs


Number of children and young people aged 0-14 across Wrexham wards – Location of before school clubs


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Number of children and young people aged 0-14 across Wrexham wards – Location of childminders


Number of children and young people aged 0-14 across Wrexham wards –Location of holiday clubs


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The additional maps below were developed following the 2011 CSA and are currently being updated to reflect the changing number of day nursery and sessional care settings. The maps indicate the estimated distribution of children aged 0-4 across Wrexham wards, with the general location of sessional care and day nursery settings identified by the coloured symbols. However, since these maps were with increases in sessional care settings across Wrexham, and one less day nursery in 2012. Changes in day nursery settings include a reduction from 4 to 3 settings in Grosvenor and from 2 to 1 setting in Llay, and an increase from 1 to 2 settings in Overton.

Number of children aged 0-4 across Wrexham wards –Location of sessional Care


Number of children aged 0-4 across Wrexham wards –Location of day nurseries

Source: ONS Mid 2009 Quinary Estimates98

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