Thousands of children benefit from funded care

New figures show 25,067 children are said to have benefitted from the government's rollout of funded childcare in the North East.

- by Gazette Reporter

The move was made to ease pressure on household finances and give children access to high-quality early education and support parents to work.

A statement from the Department of Education said the rollout has far surpassed the target of 500,000 children nationally set when the 30 hours started at the beginning of this month, with 530,000 children in place.

According to the latest figures, schools are now providing more than 5,200 new childcare places from September, well above the original school forecasts of 4,000.