Coronavirus: Parents' joy as free childcare resumes

A mother with two young children has said it was "incredibly stressful" trying to manage without free childcare during lockdown.

The Welsh Government's scheme was suspended in April, with funds redirected to pay for childcare for key workers' children.

Now the offer, available to working parents of three and four-year-olds, has been reinstated.

But there are concerns many nurseries have been operating at a loss.

Working parents of three and four-year-old children are able to claim up 30 hours of early-years education and childcare a week for 48 weeks a year under the Childcare Offer for Wales.

Those whose children become eligible in the autumn term, can apply from September.

Sara Powell-Davies, from Caerphilly, said it had been really hard to manage without the help during the coronavirus pandemic.

The mother to three-year-old Tirion and one-year-old Cadel said the free childcare saved the family about £200 a month.

"It does make a massive difference to our finances every month," she said.

Mrs Powell-Davies said, while she was lucky Cadel's nursery was open, after-school clubs would not run in September due to the coronavirus pandemic, which would make juggling childcare around work a challenge.

"It's incredibly stressful trying to manage this anyway," she said.

"We do rely on support like private nursery provision, after-school care [and] wraparound because we don't have any family that is able to support us.

"So, this is our lifeline."

Childcare providers are paid £4.50 per hour for every child who takes up a place through the childcare offer.

But the National Day Nurseries Association said many of its members were operating at a loss as fewer children had been attending and costs had gone up to comply with Covid-19 safety regulations.

Its chief executive Purnima Tanuku called on the Welsh Government to set up a "transformation fund to be able to support the sector until occupancy levels pick up and to really review the hourly rate to reflect the additional cost they've had to incur".

Before the coronavirus pandemic, around 70 children attended Britannia Day Nursery in Caerphilly - now there are about 40.

Owner Lyn Bourne said the nursery was losing money every week, but was determined to keep going."It is hard financially and emotionally, but we decided we wanted to keep going so we've just done our best to do that," she said.Ms Bourne said she hoped the childcare offer would help some parents to bring children back, but said nurseries needed extra financial help from the government too."Nurseries are closing every week," she said."We seem to be a forgotten industry, but we're so important."

The Welsh Government confirmed that coronavirus guidance restricting children to groups of eight in childcare would be lifted.

Deputy Minister for Social Care Julie Morgan said: "Bringing the offer back will not only help parents, but it is crucial for providers too in supporting their businesses to recover after what has been a period of great uncertainty and anxiety for many."

A Welsh Government spokesman said the hourly rate was under review and it was considering extending the offer to parents in education or training or "on the cusp" of returning to work.

He added: "The childcare offer being restarted funded childcare for an average of 13,000 children per month before the pandemic, a significant investment in the Welsh childcare sector.

"We have also relaxed some of the regulatory requirements on childcare settings in the national minimum standards to make it easier for them to operate under the current restrictions."