Childcare Sufficiency
Section 11 of the Childcare Act 2006, placed a duty on all local authorities to undertake a Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA). This assessment is seen as a means to identify the availability of and demand for childcare.
The Department for Education (DfE) require councils to "report annually to elected council members on how they are meeting their duty to secure sufficient childcare and to make this report available and accessible to parents".
Sufficient childcare, in Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, is defined as 'sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in the local authority's area who require childcare in order to enable them to:
- take up, or remain in, work;
- undertake education or training which could reasonably be expected to assist them in obtaining work.'
Childcare for sufficiency purposes is not that used for parents for respite or to help in times of need or crisis.
Although a local authority must act to secure childcare to meet unmet needs of local parents as a group, it will not be failing to fulfil the duty solely on the grounds that an individual parent's particular need is not being met at a particular time.
When completing the CSA local authorities are responsible for determining the appropriate level of detail in their report, geographical division of the local authority area and date of publication.
Through undertaking the CSA, Together for Children, working on behalf of Sunderland Council, will be able to identify gaps in childcare provision and begin to develop a strategy to understand and meet the childcare demands of working parents so far as is reasonably practicable in order to fulfil the Section 6 Childcare Sufficiency Duty.
The CSA for Sunderland will explain the:
- make-up of the local childcare market by identifying the number and type of childcare places available (supply);
- number of places that are occupied (demand);
- quality of existing childcare provision;
- cost of childcare (affordability).
In Sunderland, we have a diverse market of childcare provision including schools, PVI day nurseries, childminders and preschools which is beneficial to meeting the differing needs of all families in the city.
Our city is divided into five localities; Coalfields, East, North, Washington and West. We review locality as well as city wide occupancy to highlight if there are any gaps or unmet needs in specific areas of the city.
The data in each of the five localities is based upon the information provided by those childminders, day nurseries, nursery schools and schools when submitting their childcare sufficiency return in June 2024. View the Childcare Sufficiency Report 2024 (PDF, 413 KB)
