Childcare minister Sam Gyimah said he believed that encouraging a new culture of social investment will support the sector to expand further.
The £500,000 Childcare Readiness Investment fund from the Department for Education will be open to existing providers.
Successful applicants will receive support from members of the business and financial world, who will act as consultants by helping them to develop their skills and prepare business cases to make them more attractive to investors.
Today (26 February), the minister hosted a roundtable event for early years providers and possible social investors to discuss how fostering a new culture of social investment could help grow the childcare market.
Successful bids for the Investment Readiness Fund will receive up to £45,000 each.
Applications for the fund will be assessed by an ‘investment panel’ made up of experts who will decide which bids would make future social investment most attractive to social investors.
Mr Gyimah said, ‘There is unprecedented demand for childcare – social investment would add to the record amount of money we are giving to the sector to help the market meet modern families’ needs.
‘Helping to improve a whole generation of children’s lives is something that I feel will be very appealing to many people.
‘The Childcare Investment Readiness Fund will help providers to work with people who can help them to continue to grow. Any resulting social investment would be in addition to Government funding.’
More details on how to apply for the fund will be released next month.
The scheme is modeled on a business support fund run by the Cabinet Office, the Investment and Contract Readiness Fund, which has so far supported more than 50 charities and social enterprises win deals worth £117m.
They include the Big Life Group, which received a £105,000 grant to help it win contracts worth £5m to run six nursery schools in deprived areas of Greater Manchester.
