Free childcare could soon be available for nearly 90 more two to three year olds in Merthyr Tydfil. A report going to full council on Wednesday, January 11 recommends councillors approve an expansion to the Welsh Government’s Flying Start programme in the county borough.
If agreed, it would provide an additional 88 children aged 2-3 with access to free childcare each year. But the report said that these children and their families will not benefit from the full Flying Start programme due to the approach taken by Welsh Government to this phase of the expansion.
The report said there is a significant ‘offer’ change from what people would know as Flying Start as this expansion will only provide access for 2-3 year olds to the childcare element of the programme. When the full expansion has taken place, this will mean there will be equity in access to childcare for all families but there will not be equity in the ability to access the remaining three main elements of the Flying Start offer which are enhanced health visiting, parenting and early language development or other elements like midwifery, family support or speech and language therapists as these will only be available to those areas designated as Flying Start before April 2023.
