Childcare for children with special educational needs and disabilities aged 0-18 years old
Bristol City Council wanted to work with us to understand more about childcare for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in our city. The aim was to shape proposals for how childcare could be improved, making it more accessible and inclusive for parents and carers who really need it, ahead of a wider consultation in April 2025.
To engage the wider parent carer community, we advertised and ran two listening events, where parent carers shared their views and experiences of childcare for their children with SEND (aged 0-18). This included both pre-school and early years childcare, as well as childcare for school-aged children, such as after-school clubs and holiday provision.
We heard that there is a huge need for more specialised SEND childcare options across the city. Many parent carers wanted to see more training for childcare staff on neurodiversity and more flexibility with wraparound and holiday provision, both in terms of the activities offered to children and the operating hours working around full-time employment. We also heard about the importance of effective communication between parent carers and childcare providers and the barriers to accessing funding and securing adequate 1:1 support.
Bristol City Council will now examine our feedback and consider what the new service will look like and what childcare support it will provide. This will go out to public consultation, where you can see what is proposed and give your thoughts on it here (due to be launched on 7th April): https://www.ask.bristol.gov.uk/
To read more about our work on this project, please see our report below.