30 hours-a-week free childcare for Staffordshire families

The move is an extension of the 15 hours' free childcare that is already provided to three and four year olds in the county.

Staffordshire is one of eight areas, along with York, Northumberland, Newham, Hertfordshire, Wigan, Portsmouth and Swindon which has been chosen to pilot the extra 15 hours.

The government funded expansion will begin in September and will initially be targeted at families who already go out to work.

Cannock Chase MP Amanda Milling spoke of her delight after the scheme was announced.

She said: "I am delighted that parents in Cannock Chase will benefit earlier than the rest of the country, along with other areas in Staffordshire.

"I know how important accessing childcare can be for parents and this will help many people, both through making it easier to work and extra help with childcare costs.

"The government is investing heavily in childcare and helping hard working families and this is great news."

Staffordshire was chosen by central government to pilot the second phase of this initiative as they impressed during the original £15m pilot.

Mike Lawrence, Staffordshire County Council's cabinet member for children, said: "The extension to thirty hours is great news for Staffordshire parents; it helps give their children the best possible start in life and will make a real difference to working families.

"Around 86 per cent of the county's childcare providers are rated 'good' or 'outstanding' by Ofsted, so parents know their children are in safe hands and getting the best start they can."

The move, announced by childcare minister Sam Gyimah yesterday, is costing the government £13 million across the eight councils and education secretary Nicky Morgan said: "For too long, rising childcare costs have been a barrier preventing parents and particularly mothers from working. That's why I'm delighted that in just a few months' time, we will see the first families benefitting from the government's offer of 30 hours' free childcare for working parents.

"We have made a commitment to help working people, and through this extended offer we will help thousands more parents who want to return to work to do so.

"The government will also be looking at the issues that make it difficult for parents with particular challenges to access childcare, including Special Educational Needs and Disabilities."

The government is also rolling out several 'early innovators' which will be looking at how the offer of free child care works in specific circumstances such as for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Walsall will receive at least one of these early innovators.