Coronavirus Updates - Childcare Support

Information for Registered Childcare Settings

If you are registered with CIW you must notify them of any changes or incidents at your service

You should notify CIW of confirmed and suspected cases of COVID-19 of people using the service, staff and the family of staff. By suspected, we mean people showing symptoms of the virus (new continuous cough and high temperature). 

Please use CIW Online to notify us and report as you would any infectious disease. If your childcare and play service (including childminders) is now closed please inform us, the relevant notification can be found under "Leadership and Management" on CIW Online.

Information on the support for childcare providers during the coronavirus pandemic from Welsh Goverment can be found here.

Childcare Grant for Providers

The Welsh Government have launched the Childcare Provider Grant to help childcare providers with the economic consequences of coronavirus (Covid-19).

The purpose of the grant is to provide financial assistance for CIW-registered childcare businesses which have experienced a reduction in net income as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak and have not been able to access grants from other UK or Welsh Government schemes.

The grant compliments other Government support measures (such as the Job Retention Scheme to cover ‘furloughed’ employees) for people and business.

You are not eligible for this grant if you have received, or have been successful in applying for support from:

• The business rate grant from your Local Authority
• Economic resilience fund for SME and microbusinesses
• Self-Employment Income Support Scheme
• Welsh Government Start Up Grant
• Third Sector Resilience Fund

In addition to the schemes above, you will not be eligible if you have received funding under the Mudiad Meithrin grant scheme as this is funded via the Third Sector Resilience Fund.

What will the grant cover?

A grant of up to £5,000 is available to CIW registered childcare businesses that have been affected by the Covid-19 outbreak. Your net income for April to June 2020 must have reduced compared to April-June 2019 due to COVID-19 and you must not have been able to access the various other grant schemes offered by UK and Welsh Governments. Or, alternatively, if you started trading on or after 2 April 2019, you may be eligible for a grant of up to £2,500 if you suffered a net loss for the period 1 April 2020 to 30 June 2020

This grant can only be claimed by businesses that meet the following criteria detailed in the Welsh Government guidance.

How do I apply?

Childcare providers can apply for the grant by using the eligibility checker on the Business Wales website.

Scanned documents and photos are acceptable forms of evidence for this purpose.

If you are eligible for the grant please complete the Childcare Provider Grant Application Form and email along with your supporting documents to EarlyYearsABSHub2@torfaen.gov.uk

You must include your supporting evidence with your application. Applications without supporting evidence will not be considered.

Receipt of your application will be acknowledged within 10 working days.

Decisions on applications will be made based on the information provided in the application form, associated evidence and information checks that are conducted from other business data sources. If any data in incomplete or incorrect or the evidence provided is insufficient the application will not be processed and it will be rejected.

The team will aim to process grant applications within 30 days of receipt.

If your application is approved you will receive a grant offer by email notifying you of the award of the grant. Grant offers will be open for 14 days – if not accepted within this period the offer will be withdrawn.

Grants will be paid on the basis that 100% of the grant is paid up front.

Applicants must accept the grant offer by e-mail before payment can be made.

If your application is unsuccessful, you will receive an email outlining the reason[s] for rejection.  There is no appeal process.

The Childcare Provider Grant is open to applications from the 24thAugust 2020 until the fund is fully committed or 31stOctober 2020, whichever is earlier. Applications will be dealt with on a first come first served basis. This may lead to applications not being appraised after they have been submitted if the fund is fully committed. The Welsh Government has absolute discretion on the duration and terms of the fund.