Wraparound childcare guidance

Guidance has been issued on how schools should respond to requests for wraparound childcare.

The national wraparound childcare programme is part of the childcare reforms announced at the 2023 Spring Budget with the programme launch in September 2024.

The government’s ambition is that by 2026, all parents and carers of primary school-aged children who need it will be able to access term time childcare in their local area from 8am-6pm, so that parents can access employment and improve labour market participation.

Wraparound childcare is childcare that is provided before and after the conventional school day. It can also refer to provision in the school holidays. Many parents rely on the invaluable support from wraparound childcare to enable them to work, therefore it needs to be regular and dependable.

Wraparound and holiday childcare can either be:

• On a school’s site (run in-house by the school or in partnership with a provider)
• At a nearby school or private, voluntary or independent (PVI) provider.

Parents can request that the school their child attends considers establishing wraparound or holiday childcare, this includes prospective parents.

Schools and trusts should:

• Work with their local authority and any relevant landowner to consider these requests
• Respond to them in a transparent way
• Take the lead in managing the right to request process
• Make the final decision about what action to take.

Parents can make a request for children from reception up to the end of key stage 3 (year 9), and up to age 18 for disabled children. Where there is demand, schools may also want to consider wraparound or holiday childcare for the under 5s or for year 10 and above. A parent’s right to request only refers to the school that their child attends and only applies to childcare and doesn’t extend to extra-curricular activities.

If a school establishes wraparound childcare using the powers of the governing board, the provision is the legal responsibility of the governing board. The trust board can delegate decision-making authority to others, but ultimate responsibility remains with the trust board.