Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what provisions are in place to enable access to 30 hours of free childcare for parents working unusual and anti-social hours.

The government is committed to ensuring that hardworking parents can access the flexible high-quality childcare they need, whilst protecting the wellbeing of children and ensuring a degree of stability for providers. Parents can stretch the offer to cover 52 weeks of the year and can take sessions over the weekend to cover a variety of working patterns.

Our statutory guidance states that local authorities should ensure that parents and providers are aware that, subject to the standards set out in the guidance, there is no requirement that free places must be taken on or delivered on particular days of the week or at particular times of the day. They should also support parents to identify providers who can offer places on the days and at the times needed by the parent.