Find Quality, Affordable Childcare in Oldham

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 sophisticated computer system that 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 guidance 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:

By Phone - call our freefone helpline on 0800 731 1518. Our phones are staffed from 08:40 - 17:00, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). Outside of these hours you can leave a message on our answer phone and one of our information workers will return your call the next working day.
In Person - We have a drop-in centre based at 5 Barn Street in Oldham town centre, which is open 09:00 - 17:00, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). No appointment is necessary.
Online - You can access details of childcare providers in Oldham through the national childcare link website; www.childcarelink.gov.uk/oldham - information on this website is updated daily.
Simply send us an e-mail and we will respond within 48 working hours. Please include details of your child’s age, school attended (if appropriate) and the area you live in. A daytime contact telephone number would also be very useful.

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.

Childcare Sufficiency Assessment

The Report is the first Childcare Sufficiency Assessment. It provides a comprehensive picture of the local childcare market 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 comes into force in full on April 1st 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 1st 2008 the Local Authority has a new duty to secure (as far as is as reasonably practical) sufficient childcare for any parent who needs it to work, or where a parent is undertaking a course of study that is expected to lead to employment. The term ‘childcare’ is made inclusive of 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 the childcare market 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- its overall direction having been steered by Oldham’s Childcare Action Partnership (CAP) – a cross sector, multi agency partnership whose remit is to ensure that childcare duties under the Childcare Act are adequately met.

Fundamentally, the report and its findings provide a baseline of information which will be used and developed from hereon to ensure that the childcare market 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.

Your views continue to be important to us.Please look out for the formal launch of our Childcare strategy in the future.

Find Quality, Affordable Childcare in Oldham

Childcare Sufficiency Assessment

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