Childcare Support Fund 

Family Referral Criteria

To be referred to the service, a family must meet one of the following criteria:

• Parents/carers of children who may be (or at risk of) experiencing child poverty, where childcare is needed to enable them to seek work, stay in work or undertake training or education.

• A change in their circumstances or employment – for example, they have recently been served notice on their current childcare arrangement, or they may need to cancel or reduce their current privately paid use of a childminder due to redundancy or a reduction in their hours/income.

• Cost of living increases are requiring them to reduce their childcare, but they are seeking to increase their working hours.

In addition, families must be in at least one of the following priority family groups, identified in the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan: 

• Lone parent families

• Families with a disabled person

• Families with three or more children

• Minority ethnic families

• Families with a parent aged 25 or under 

• Families with a baby/child under one 

What can the funding be used for? 

• Pay for childcare to enable a parent to attend interviews or training to improve employability.

• Provide transitional support to cover childcare while parents take up employment and until they can afford childcare.

• Reduce cost of living pressures caused by increasing childcare costs while parents secure higher paid employment.

• Maintain parents’ income during school holidays where they might have had to reduce working hours to cover childcare.

• Support with work-related developments which may cause an existing family in a childminding setting to reduce their childcare and risk going into child poverty.

COMING UP!
Childminder Information Session

SCMA is hosting an online information session for childminders who would like to learn more about CSF, including how it works and the role childminders can play in supporting eligible families through funded placements. 

Taking place on Monday 9 November 6.45pm – 7.45pm, the session will provide an overview of:

• An overview and the aims of the Childcare Support Fund.

•  Eligibility criteria for families and the referral process.

•  The childminder requirements for delivering funded placements.

•  Support available from SCMA throughout the placement process. 

If you would like to attend and find out more, please complete this short online form to register your interest. 

If you have any questions, please contact the team at ChildcareSupportFund@childminding.org.

Referral Process

Families can be referred to the CSF by their current childminder, their local authority, a third sector organisation, or by themselves as a self-referral. 

For childminders already working with an eligible family: 
1. Complete and submit our Family Eligibility Form. If the family meets the criteria, a full referral form will be issued for completion.

2. Once the referral form has been received, SCMA’s Childminding Placement Officer (CPO) will be in touch to:

• Check that you meet the childminder criteria (see FAQ below) and that you have capacity to accommodate the hours requested. 

• Discuss the placement with you in full detail.

3. If the placement is agreed, you will receive a contract outlining the terms and conditions of the placement.  Placements cannot start until this has been signed and returned to us.

4. Confirmation of the placement will be sent to you in writing via a contract summary. As part of your contract with SCMA you will be agreeing to provide evaluation and monitoring input from yourself as the childminder delivering the placement. The placement will not be confirmed until this is done.

5. Placement check-ins will take place between yourself and an SCMA staff member during the duration of the placement, if appropriate.


Self-Referral (by a parent or carer):
If you are a parent or carer who already uses a childminder, please ask your childminder to complete the referral form on your behalf as outlined above. If you do not currently use a childminder for childcare, you can self-refer using the following process:

1. Complete and submit our Family Eligibility Form. If you meet the criteria, a full referral form will be issued for completion.

2. Once the referral form has been received, SCMA’s Childminding Placement Officer (CPO) will be in touch to discuss your needs in full.

3. SCMA will work on matching your family with a local childminder who can deliver the placement. SCMA will deal with all payment and contract management with the childminder directly. 

4. Placement check-ins will take place between yourself and an SCMA staff member during the duration of the placement, if appropriate. 


Local Authorities, NHS and Third Sector Representatives 
1. Complete and submit our Family Eligibility Form. If the family meets the criteria, a full referral form will be issued for completion.

2. Once the referral form has been received, SCMA’s Childminding Placement Officer (CPO) will be in touch to discuss the placement in full.

3.  If the family is currently not placed with a childminder, SCMA will work on sourcing one to deliver the placement. SCMA will deal with all payment and contract management with the childminder directly. 

4.  Placement check-ins will take place between yourself and an SCMA staff member during the duration of the placement, if appropriate.