General Discussion

Child care provision and cost in Dawlish

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12 Posts

Lynne

08 Jul 2022 16:33

Hi all,

What with all the new houses 'n all (which usually mean more young children) I have started to do some research on child care provision in the parish.

Do any of the schools here offer breakfast clubs/afterschool clubs/school holiday clubs and if so what are the costs? Are there enough registered childminders in Dawlish or not? Do we have enough nursery school places? How much do childminders and nursery schools charge? What hours/days of the week/weeks of the year do they offer child care?

Lots of info in the national press of late about the paucity and high cost of child care provision so I am interested to know what the local situation is like.

Not totally an academic exercise on my part .......

Any info would be gratefully appreciated.

Many thanks

Lynne

12 Jul 2022 07:45

The issue of affordable and plentiful child care is not only a matter of concern for the present but also for the future as there can be knock on effects when it comes to pension provision.

This is from the i newspaper 1.6.22. “There are huge differences in the value of men’s and women’s pensions in the UK. In some regions the gender pension gap is almost 50% meaning that some women will retire with half of what men do. One of the reasons for this is the fact that women are paid less than men overall. Women are more likely to work part-time and they are also more likely to be the main carer for ill and elderly relatives and to take time out of work to look after young children.”

Lynne

14 Jul 2022 05:11

Have been watching the Tory party leadership contest. I totally get that there are an awful lot of very important issues at the moment. But as I haven't heard a dicky bird about childcare costs and provision do I presume that it is not thought an important enough issue to be highlighted by the Tory leadership hopefuls? I thought Conservatives were into people being economically active and doing things like saving for the future (pensions). If you are a main childcarer there is only one way of being able to do both of those things and that is by having access to affordable and plentiful supply of childcare.

Lynne

15 Jul 2022 07:16

The government is presently running a consultation about how childcare provision can be improved (consultation ends in September) https://consult.education.gov.uk/childcare-futures-unit/childcare-regulatory-changes/supporting_documents/Childcare%20Consultation%20040722.pdf

One of the government proposals is that the ratio of adult carers to the number of two year old children should be altered from 1 to 4 to 1 to 5.

Anyone reading this who has had experience of supervising one two year old let alone five(!) will know that you have to have eyes in the back of your head.

As someone said about this proposal " It's not exactly a childminder/nursery selling point is it? Come to us because we've got fewer staff per children".

Lynne

15 Jul 2022 17:38

This is a very useful link for anyone wishing to find out about various forms of childcare available in Devon. https://www.pinpointdevon.co.uk/parents-and-families/

You'll need to click on the link and then on the particular aspect of childcare that you are looking for. Then you 'll have to scroll down to see what is available in the Dawlish area. (Note - the list is not in alphabetical order of, for example, name of town - more like name of provider and in the case of childminders the first name of the childminder.) You will find details of how to contact childminders/nurseries/school holiday activities/breakfast&afterschool clubs etc.

I intend collating all the information concerning childcare facilities specifically available in Starcross & Dawlish* (I include Starcross as most of the new housing developments in the parish have been/are being/will be built to the north of the town going towards Starcross) and it may well be the case that those living in Dawlish seeking childcare of some kind will need to look outside the parish (which I understand is already the case!).

* Does this geographically specific information already exist somewhere? If it does, I could not find it. Might it be a very useful piece of information to have to hand?

Lynne

18 Jul 2022 04:57

Has anyone in government thought to crunch the numbers and work out how much every pound invested in childcare would benefit the economy?

"Canada has pledged to invest $30 billion to create a system that costs just $10 a day and they haven't done this out of the goodness of their hearts.

They've done it because they've crunched the numbers and they've found that for every dollar you invest in childcare they get between $1.50 and $2.80 back in to the economy."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-62179825

Lynne

23 Jul 2022 05:23

I was just trawling through previous threads looking for something completely different when I came across this posting by me which I had totally forgotten about. I'll try and find out what the outcome was. (the links on the post no longer work by the way).

Do we have enough pre school child care provision in Dawlish?

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Lynne

31 Jul 2021 07:03

How apt! Just as we are being asked to consider more house building in the parish so Devon County Council decides to do a survey asking about pre-school child care provision.

I'd say Dawlish needs more as we only have the one nursery at the moment and what with all the new houses already having been built, scheduled to be built, and possibly to be built sometime in the future it won't only be new primary schools that we will be needing!

click on this link to register your thoughts. Survey closes 13th August.

https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/ParentsChildcareSurveySummer2021/

For those presently needing childcare but having difficulty finding it click on this link https://www.devon.gov.uk/educationandfamilies/early-years-and-childcare/devon-family-information-directory/childcare-brokerage/unable-to-find-suitable-childcare ;

Lynne

18 Aug 2022 15:08

Some woman in Dawlish has written a piece about this childcare business (or should that be lack of business?) in the latest edition of the Dawlish Gazette.

See bottom page 19.

Lynne

15 Dec 2022 10:14

Info here about help with child care costs.

https://www.dawlish-today.co.uk/news/help-for-parents-to-save-on-costs-of-childcare-583062 ;

Lynne

16 Dec 2022 08:19

Here is the text of the article that was published in the Dawlish Gazette in August of this year.

"New housing very often brings with it young families. The south west is an area where salaries are low and house prices and rents are high. No doubt two salaries are very often needed in order to meet household outgoings. But what happens when the need for child care kicks in? Is it available in the immediate area? Is it affordable? If the answer to one or both of those questions is ‘No’ does that mean that one parent must stop working in order to undertake childcare thus leading to a drop in the family income, financial strain, and a drop in the local workforce numbers? Don’t we have a shortage of labour at the moment? Aren’t we facing a cost of living crisis right now? Don’t families need every penny they can get?

I believe that just like housing, childcare needs to be both available and affordable. This would benefit not only families but also the wider economy.

I have recently researched childcare provision for those in Dawlish aged under 5. This is a town which has had, is having, and no doubt will have in the future, a lot of new housing. The population is expanding and so are the numbers of children. But is there a sufficient and affordable childcare infrastructure to go along with it?

From what I can ascertain, Dawlish has only 4 OFSTED registered childminders. The hours of the day, days of the week, weeks of the year they offer childcare varies but it seems that only one of them offers childcare during the school holidays and not all offer childcare after school hours. The two Dawlish pre-schools which take children aged 2-4 years also only offer term time child care albeit with a slight extension on school hours. So what are those with children aged under 5 supposed to do about childcare when it comes to school holidays and/or if they need childcare after the school day and/or at weekends?

Dawlish does have a day nursery offering year round child care for those aged 3 months upwards but it seems that it is only that one facility and the one child minder that does. Which makes me wonder if Dawlish has all the early years childcare provision that it needs? It strikes me that it probably does not and certainly it does not for school holidays and after the school day.

If the availability of childcare in Dawlish is not as it should be what about its affordability? Well, the situation is slightly better in that financial help is available for children aged 2 who come from low income families, and there is also 15 or 30 hours worth of free childcare, depending on family circumstances, for children aged 3-4 years. However, what’s the point in being entitled to financial help if there is not enough of, and the right type of, local childcare to spend it on? That’s like saying to those of state pension age that they are able to get a bus pass entitling them to free bus travel but then not providing them with a bus service!

The minimum charge for childcare is £5.50 - £6.00 per hour. If the amount of childcare needed per day is, say, 10 hours from 8.00am to 6.00pm Mon-Fri (assuming of course that those hours are on offer) that works out at a minimum cost of £55.00 per day.

Readers may be interested to know that the government is presently doing a survey on child care. This is a quote from it: “The government is aware of the high costs of childcare in this country and recognises that the benefits of attending childcare for children cannot be realised if parents cannot afford to use it. Nor can it help parents to work if it costs more than the income they would receive. Parents in the UK pay among the highest net costs for childcare in the OECD, with much of a second earner’s wages going just to pay child care costs.”

I understand from Devon County Council that it has a duty to identify child care needs and has identified Dawlish as being a hotspot. Unfortunately, DCC can only encourage private sector child care supply. It (DCC) cannot itself meet the demand. As this policy, just like housing policy, emanates from central government, it is only central government that can change it. Both need to be available and affordable.

I thank all those already providing early years child care in Dawlish but it seems we need more of you offering more hours per day and also throughout school holidays.

So if anyone reading this letter is interested in becoming a childminder or can in any other way increase the Dawlish under age 5 child care provision please get in contact with Children’s Services at Devon County Council and let them know."

Lynne

27 Jan 2023 07:43

From Cllr Martin Wrigley's written report to DTC for Feb 1st 2023 full council meeting; ('the administration' to which Cllr Wrigley refers is Devon County Council)

Following a sufficiency report on early years provision, which the administration were congratulating themselves on, I pointed out that provision in Dawlish (and other areas of Teignbridge) were designated as Hotspots again. Dawlish has one full time nursery and just three childminders and since Christmas a full-time nursey in Teignmouth has closed. I am now working with the officers to see what we can do, and we are exploring a number of avenues.

Lynne

28 Jan 2023 18:31

A thread was running on Eyes of Dawlish earlier today concerning child minders in Dawlish.

It seems we now only have two childminders in Dawlish and two in Starcross.

All four are full.

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