Childcare Act 2006
Childcare sufficiency assessment guidance launched - February 2007
The new Childcare Act is a pioneering piece of legislation. It is the first ever act to be exclusively concerned with early years and childcare. The act will help transform childcare and early years services in England for generations to come, taking forward some of the key commitments from the Ten Year Childcare Strategy, published in December 2004.
Measures in the act formalise the important strategic role local authorities play through a set of new duties. These duties will require authorities to:
- Improve the five Every Child Matters outcomes for all pre-school
children and reduce inequalities in these outcomes
- Secure sufficient childcare for working parents
- Provide a better parental information service
The act also reforms and simplifies early years regulation and inspection arrangements, providing for a new integrated education and care quality framework for pre-school children and also for the new Ofsted Childcare Register. The aim is that the act's main provisions will come into effect in 2008.
Click to download the Childcare Act 2006 from the Office of Public Sector Information website.
Summary
of Childcare Act (2006)
Regulatory
impact assessment (2005)
This page was last updated on 14 February 2007
