The local authority is legally required to complete a Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA) as a statutory duty of the Childcare Act 2006.
This will help us to better understand parents/carers’ use of childcare, the overall supply of childcare in the county and any factors likely to affect demand for childcare. The information that is gathered is used to create an action plan for Ceredigion’s Childcare Unit and the wider actions of the Council regarding childcare.
A full Childcare Sufficiency Assessment, including consultation with parents/carers, employers, children and young people, childcare providers and other professionals, is carried out every five years. An update on the assessment, looking at supply and demand, is carried out every year.
The Childcare Statutory Guidance - explains what local authorities must do to support the development of childcare provision in the local area in order to make it flexible, sustainable and responsive to the needs of the community.
Childcare: statutory guidance for local authorities (gov.wales)
Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA) 2022: supplementary guidance for local authorities
The Childcare Act 2006 expands and clarifies in legislation the vital role Local Authorities play as strategic leaders in the provision of childcare locally. The Childcare Act reinforces the framework within which Local Authorities already work – in partnership with the private, voluntary, independent, community and maintained sector – to shape and secure children’s services, and focuses in particular on the provision of:
- sufficient, sustainable and flexible childcare that is responsive to parents’ needs; and
- information, advice and assistance to parents, prospective parents and those with parental responsibility or care of a child, relating to childcare.
To find the definition of each type of Childcare available please see our Childcare Types page.
Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA)
Under the Childcare Act 2006 it is a statutory duty that Local Authorities undertake a Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA). The Act places a duty on Local Authorities in Wales “to secure, as far as is reasonably practical, sufficient childcare to meet the requirements of parents in their area who require childcare in order to train, to work or to prepare for work”.
The draft CSA was presented to Ceredigion County Council’s Learning Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on Wednesday 2nd March 2022 who agreed that the draft report went out to public consultation. This closed on 6th June 2022. The revised CSA was approved by Cabinet on 5th July 2022, and submitted to Welsh Government.
The report identifies gaps and makes recommendations that will, where reasonably practical, meet the needs of parents so that the Authority can fulfil the childcare sufficiency duty as set out in the Childcare Act.