Osborne looks to extend Childcare Business Grant
Friday, October 24, 2014
Chancellor George Osborne is considering boosting the Childcare Business Grant scheme by £2m as part of a drive to increase female employment.
The grant scheme offers £250 to new childminders and £500 for nursery start-ups or for those providing childcare for disabled children. From 1 September, those launching childminding agencies have also been eligible to apply.
The deadline for applications for the initial fund of £2m is 31 December 2014. The Government said recently that £1m has been allocated so far to 4.500 entrepreneurs, which it claimed had supported 29,000 new childcare places.
Take-up of the funding has been relatively slow, however, and there has been criticism from some in the early years sector that the amounts awarded are too small to give significant help.
Extending the scheme for another year would support a further 50,000 places, the Treasury said.
The Childcare Business Grant scheme is part of a package of measures aimed at increasing female employment, including gthe new tax-free childcare policy, worth up to £1,200 a year. The Government is hoping to get 450,000 more women into work, which would give the UK a female employment rate equal to Germany.
