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Oldham Family Information Service (FIS) keeps a record of all registered childcare providers in the Oldham area as well as childcare vacancies. We use a database which allows us to do a personalised search to meet your needs. For example if you needed a Childminder who can drop off and collect your children from a particular school and is located in Failsworth – we will enter this into our system and help you find one. All of our information workers are friendly, helpful and highly trained, and will give you professional advice and assistance on finding the best solution to your childcare needs. Oldham FIS is a free, impartial service that is available to anyone who needs childcare in Oldham and you can access our services in four ways:
If you are unsure about the different types of childcare that are available to you, then why not check out our guide to childcare and the options available. With the grants that are currently available such as the childcare element of the Working Tax Credit and The Nursery Education Grant, you may also be able to get help with your childcare costs.
The report is the first Childcare Sufficiency Assessment. It provides a comprehensive picture of local childcare in Oldham and over time, will enable improved planning and targeting of resources to meet new statutory duties under the Childcare Act 2006.
The Childcare Act 2006 came into full force in April 2008. This new legislation is significant and gives a range of interlinking new duties to local authorities, which together must improve outcomes for children and close the gap between the most disadvantaged and the rest.
From April 2008 local authorities now have a duty to secure (as far as is as reasonably practical) sufficient childcare for working parents, or where a parent is undertaking a course of study that is expected to lead to employment. The term ‘childcare’ includes education for children under compulsory school age i.e. there is no longer a distinction between day care and educational activities for young children.
The backdrop to the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment is the council’s economic and regeneration strategy, underpinned by corporate aspirations to reduce disadvantage. It is expected that the improved information and local intelligence gained from the exercise over time, will result in more effective planning and management of childcare and thus contribute to improving the local employment profile and affluence of the borough.
In line with government expectations, the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment has been led by the local authority in partnership with Jobcentre Plus - it's overall direction having been steered by Oldham’s Childcare Action Partnership (CAP), a cross sector, multi-agency partnership whose responsibility it is to ensure that childcare duties under the Childcare Act are adequately met.
Fundamentally, the report and it's findings provide a baseline of information which will be used and developed to ensure that childcare in Oldham is managed. It will fulfil a number of expectations; namely it will meet the needs of children in terms of assisting improvements in the quality of registered provision, as well as ensuring that the new entitlements parents can expect are fulfilled. The needs and demands of employers and providers will be better met through a managed approach to childcare place planning, matching and take up.