Our National Support Programme for DfE

Who are Mott MacDonald, Coram Hempsall’s, and Coram?

The Childcare Works consortium is made up of Mott MacDonald, Coram Hempsall’s, and Coram. Together we have extensive experience and expertise in early years and childcare provision, with a track record of delivering contracts of national importance for local authorities such as: Childcare Works Holiday Activities and Food (HAF),30 hours childcare, and Achieving 2 Year Olds (A2YO) contracts. We specialise in providing expert advice and guidance to Local Authorities and working with the central government to deliver successful programmes. In January 2024, we were appointed by the Department for Education as the Delivery Support Contractor for the Early Years Entitlements and Wraparound Childcare expansions.

Childcare Works Consortium and what we are responsible for

Coram Hempsall’s

The Coram Hempsall’s team will lead Local Authority (LA) support, providing Local Authorities with a named adviser and with a team of specialist expert advisers who will be relied upon for targeted specialist support as required. The Coram Hempsall’s team will provide a universal support offer of regional and national network meetings, thematic support, and resources dependent on need. They will also deliver targeted support for those Local Authorities who identify as requiring more focused support based on a system of prioritisation. The Coram Hempsall’s team will also deliver provider support, through stakeholder engagement, through the development tools and documentation, as well delivery support.

Mott MacDonald

Mott MacDonald (MM) is the lead contractor for the Childcare Works consortium and leads the programme and contract management. MM activity includes the coordination of events and webinars, dissemination of information and learning, and monitoring milestones and deliverables. Mott Macdonald is also responsible for managing the Childcare Works helpdesk, updating content to K-hub and managing the SharePoint portal that will support data collection from Early Years and Wraparound Local Authority teams. MM also lead and manage the development of data collection and analysis across the length of the programme.

Coram

Coram will be responsible for collecting and collating learning and designing and maintaining our learning websites. The learning website will host resources (case studies, and best practice tools etc) in a variety of formats (podcast, blogs, videos etc.) for both Local Authorities and providers. The site will include a ‘LAB’ for local authorities and a ‘HUB’ for providers; two distinct areas to connect local authorities and providers to useful and reliable content. Coram are also responsible for collecting and sharing evidence and learning from the early adopters and convening an expert and stakeholder board to test and challenge assumptions and support with decisions.

How the consortium will work

The diagram below illustrates how the consortium partners will work together. The aim is to create efficiencies where possible between the two policy areas and enable Local Authorities to sustain activity beyond the life of the contract.

Getting in contact

Childcare Works helpdesk

Email: childcareworks@mottmac.com

Please contact us for support, including where you need to request one-to-one support or advice about how to implement DfE policy. These requests will be coordinated by the Childcare Works Project Management Office (PMO) team, who will forward on to the relevant Coram Hempsall’s advisers. We will also inform DfE of this request (and please note that DfE regional leads may also refer Local Authorities to Childcare Works for support).

DfE Helpdesk

Questions on policy design and funding, or any clarifications that you (the Local Authority) believe should come directly from DfE, should be sent to the relevant DfE mailbox or your regional lead within DfE.

For Early Years questions, these should be directed to:

Earlyyears.entitlements@education.gov.uk

For the wraparound programme they should be directed to: wraparound.programme@education.gov.uk or wraparound.finance@education.gov.uk

Please continue to engage with your DfE regional leads as you do now.

K-Hub

The DfE EY Team K-Hub site has changed to include Wraparound Childcare. For those who regularly access the K-Hub forum, the link will stay the same Home - DfE EY Team - Knowledge Hub (khub.net) but it will now be titled Early Years Expansion and Wraparound Programmes.