Earlier in the year, SCMA recognised childminders were falling through the cracks between different potential sources of government funding or grants. We took the initiative, released funds from our own financial reserves and asked the Scottish Government to ‘match fund’ this. This enabled us to establish the Childminding Workforce Support Fund to help provide small grants for childminders experiencing financial strain due to COVID-19.
We recognise this won’t be a ‘cure all’ and that these small grants will only offer some financial support to those childminders experiencing extreme financial difficulties, nonetheless, SCMA is proud that our intervention has established this funding stream. The first round of the fund enabled 170 childminders to receive grants of £350 to assist with financial hardship.
This next round of funding from the Scottish Government will enable a further 940 childminders experiencing financial hardship to access small grants of £350.
What does this mean for me?
If you have previously been successful and received funding from the Childminding Workforce Support Fund, you cannot re-apply, as only one grant is available per setting. This is to ensure as many childminders as possible are able to benefit. If you require additional financial support, there may be other options still available to you.
If you previously applied and were unsuccessful in the first round of the Childminding Workforce Support Fund, you do not need to re-apply. Your application is still in the system as ‘pending’ and you will be contacted by email in due course with further information.
If you were previously unable to apply for the first round of the Childminding Workforce Support Fund, you are now invited to apply and submit your application from 9am on Thursday 15 October. The Childminding Workforce Support Fund is open to all childminders in Scotland, who meet the eligibility criteria detailed below:
Applicants must be registered childminders in Scotland who are currently open, or who are temporarily closed but planning to re-open
Applications will be considered from childminders who have been ineligible for other funding
Applications will be considered from childminders who have received some financial support, but this was less than anticipated
Applications will be considered from childminders experiencing hardship while working to re-establish their business operations
Priority will be given to applicants who can demonstrate that they are ineligible, or have reduced eligibility, for other external sources of financial support.
Visit childminding.org/covid-19/workforce-fund to find out more about the Childminding Workforce Support Fund. New applicants will be able to complete a short, online application form which will be accessible via a link at this webpage and available from 9am on Thursday 15 October. Applications close at 5pm on Monday 19 October.
We anticipate that demand will far exceed the number of grants available and we would therefore urge you to apply as soon as possible. There are only a limited number of grants available, so applications meeting the criteria for eligibility will then be allocated by order of date received.