Double time: 30 hours in Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a diverse and extensive geographical area, which is comparatively huge in scale, and characterised by rural areas and urban pockets. Despite these challenges, it has frequently been at the top of the league tables for take-up of the two-year-old entitlement for the least advantaged.

Their plan was to find families eligible for the 30 hours by contacting their employers first. This was innovative – I have never heard of such a thing being done before – and was done because they rightly recognised that employers too have a stake in quality and reliable childcare when working parents need it.

Initially employers were the larger ones in the county such as Tesco and Amazon. The team informed them of the programme and asked them to share information, as an employment benefit, to raise awareness of the funding, and support parents to access additional childcare – potentially helping parents to increase or protect their working hours. This was a great strategy. Information was provided to HR teams, presentations were given, and information events delivered in staff rooms and canteens. This found many eligible parents.