SCMA is delighted to share information about a new opportunity for SCMA members across Scotland to provide funded, short-term childcare placements for children of all ages, as part of the Scottish Government’s Third Sector ‘Childcare Support Fund’ (CSF).
What is it?
The CSF was recently launched to support low-income families who are living in poverty or are at risk of living in poverty, by helping them to manage the cost of childcare and reduce financial pressures during times of challenge or transition.
This could include families you are already working with, or potentially new families who would benefit from receiving flexible, funded childcare to enable parents and carers to attend job interviews or participate in training opportunities that will support their employability and longer-term financial stability.
What can the Fund help with?
- Paying for childcare to attend interviews or training courses to improve employability
- Covering childcare costs while parents take up employment until they can afford childcare
- Reducing cost of living pressures caused by increasing childcare costs while parents secure higher paid employment
- Maintaining parents’ income during school holidays where they might have had to reduce working hours to cover childcare
- Supporting with work-related developments which may cause a family to reduce their childcare and risk going into child poverty (e.g. where a family has had to reduce or give up childcare due to changes in parental employment).
What is the eligibility criteria?
Families can apply if they are in need of temporary, funded childcare for one of the reasons outlined in the list above, and they meet at least one of the following criteria 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
Next Steps...
We are also emailing all SCMA members this afternoon, and we will be in touch later this month with further information about how you can get involved and the referral process for families.
Please keep an eye on your email inbox.