Our National Support Programme for DfE

The Childcare Works consortium is made up of Mott MacDonald, Coram Hempsall’s, and Coram Family and Childcare. Together we have extensive experience and expertise in early education and childcare provision, with a Childcare Works track record of delivering contracts of national importance for local authorities such as: Holiday Activities and Food (HAF), 30 hours childcare, and 15 hours for disadvantaged two-year-olds (Achieving 2 Year Olds A2YO).

We specialise in providing expert advice and guidance to local authorities and working with 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 leads local authority (LA) support and challenge, providing a named adviser alongside a team of specialist expert advisers who offer targeted specialist support as required. The Coram Hempsall’s team provides a universal offer of regional and national network meetings, thematic support, and resources dependent upon need. We also deliver targeted support for those LAs who are identified as requiring more focused support based on a system of prioritisation. The Coram Hempsall’s team also delivers provider support, through stakeholder engagement, and the development tools and documentation as found on our HUB www.childcareworks.org.uk

Mott MacDonald

Mott MacDonald (MM) is the prime 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 LA Early Years and Wraparound teams. MM also leads and manages the development of data collection and analysis across the length of the programme.

Coram Family and Childcare (CFC)

Coram is responsible for collecting and collating learning and designing and maintaining our learning websites. The learning website hosts resources (case studies, and best practice tools etc) in a variety of formats (podcast, blogs, videos etc.) for both LAs and providers. The site includes a ‘LAB’ for local authorities and a ‘HUB’ for providers and schools; two distinct areas to connect local authorities and providers to useful and reliable content. CFC is 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.

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 LAs 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

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 is now titled Early Years Expansion and Wraparound Programmes.