Government plans give parents right to request wraparound care
Parents will have the right to request out-of-school care under new plans proposed by David Cameron.
The proposals will see primary schools, academies and free schools offering breakfast, after-school and holiday club provision at the request of parents.
While schools will not be under obligation to offer wraparound care, they would be required to give reasons for refusing to grant a formal request for out-of-school care.
Schools will be expected to respond to requests from groups of parents for breakfast and/or after-school childcare and consider either offering the care themselves or using an external provider to offer care on the school site.
The prime minister said the plan would increase out-of-school childcare provision and enable parents to work longer hours should they wish to.
He stated: 鈥淲e want to help hard-working parents with their childcare plans, so we will give families the right to request that their schools provide childcare for a full working day, before and after school and during the school holidays.鈥
But Alliance chief executive Neil Leitch expressed concern that the proposal is simply driven by getting parents back to work, 鈥渞ather than what is best for children鈥.
He said: Given that government opted to remove staff qualification and ratio requirements for out-of-hours providers last year - despite significant opposition to the proposal - we are concerned that the quality of wraparound provision available to children and families is likely to be highly variable.鈥