How we support childcare providers

The Early Years Team in Caerphilly can help your business to overcome the many hurdles you may face and support you to run a successful childcare business.

Whether you are looking to setup a new childcare business or develop an existing one, we can offer a range of support to help ensure you achieve a healthy and sustainable quality childcare provision.

If you have, or are thinking of setting up any of the following businesses, we can offer support: –

• Day nurseries
• After school clubs
• Holiday clubs
• Playgroup/wraparound
• Cylch Meithrin
• Clwb Meithrin
• Clwb Gwyliau
• Clwb Carco
• Childminding

How we can help you

We can offer information and practical advice on all aspects of running your business, including: –

• Qualifications required
• Legal structure of your business
• Business planning
• Budgets and cashflows
• Funding available to set up new childcare businesses and expand existing businesses
• Marketing
• Recruitment
• Registrations and variations with Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW)
• Policies and procedures
• Training and continued professional development
• Good practice information
• Quality schemes

As well as the business support that the Caerphilly Early Years Team can offer, the council’s Business Enterprise Renewal Team can provide new and existing businesses with detailed advice and guidance to suit their individual needs. The team can also put you in touch with partner organisations and support services with expertise on all aspects of business including Business Wales.

Registration with Care Inspectorate Wales (CIW)

All childcare settings looking after children under the age of 12 and operating for more than two hours per day must be registered with the Care Inspectorate for Wales.

The registration process if there to promote quality and to protect children, ensuring that they are cared for in safe and suitable surroundings. A childcare setting must meet the CIW National Minimum Standards before registration can be granted.

Other online resources for childcare providers

The organisations below all offer comprehensive support and guidance for their members.

• NDNA | National Day Nurseries Association can provide help, support and guidance on setting up a nursery and has a comprehensive website with useful information on policies, procedures and good practice.
• Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years | PACEY Cymru. This organisation can support everyone involved in childcare and early education to provide high quality services, information, and advice.
• Clybiau Plant Cymru Kids’ Clubs are the national organisation that helps to set up, develop and support Out of School Childcare clubs across Wales.
• Early Years Wales | membership services to the Early Years sector in Wales. This organisation’s main aim is to enhance the development of pre school children in Wales by encouraging parents to understand and provide for their needs through high quality pre-school provision and childcare.
• Menter Caerffili – Welsh Language Initiative Menter Iaith Sir Caerffili aims to promote and increase the use of the Welsh language on a community level within Caerphilly County Borough, by ensuring that the language becomes a central part of life within the county and that communities share the responsibility for its future and development. They support childcare schemes before school, after school, during the school holidays and wraparound schemes through the medium of Welsh.
• Mudiad Meithrin is a voluntary organisation specialising in Welsh-medium early year’s provision. It aims to give every young child in Wales the opportunity to benefit from early years services and experiences through the medium of Welsh.
• Play Wales | Chwarae Cymru work to raise awareness of children and young people’s need and right to play and to promote good practice at every level of decision making and, in every place, where children might play. They provide advice and guidance to support all those who have an interest in, or responsibility for, providing for children’s play so that one day Wales will be a place where we all recognise and provide well for every child’s play needs.