Childcare Sufficiency Assessment

A good start in life is essential if children are to fulfil their potential, and high quality early education and childcare will result in better outcomes for children, their families and society. A childcare market that offers quality, accessibility, diversity and affordability, will produce the best outcomes for children, reduce inequality and contribute to ending child poverty. Provision should be reliable, flexible and sustainable, to enable parents to make real choices about balancing work and family life and to give every child the best possible start.

This assessment of childcare provision in Poole is being undertaken and will help us to determine what will be “sufficient” to meet the needs of parents locally.

In Poole, the Borough will take action to fill gaps in provision identified by its Childcare Sufficiency Assessment and meet the childcare needs of local families. Regular reviews of this assessment will enable the authority to monitor the effectiveness of its interventions and its progress towards sufficiency, and to make changes where necessary “so far as is reasonably practicable”.

The Childcare Sufficiency Assessment is split into 4 parts, each of which for the Borough of Poole can be accessed via the downloads on the right.

Following the Childcare Sufficiency Assessment, a number of priorities have been identified.