Childcare Sufficiency Assessment
The local authority is legally required to complete a Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA) as a statutory duty of the Childcare Act 2006.
This will help us to better understand parents/carers’ use of childcare, the overall supply of childcare in the county and any factors likely to affect demand for childcare. The information that is gathered is used to create an action plan for Ceredigion’s Childcare Unit and the wider actions of the Council regarding childcare.
A full Childcare Sufficiency Assessment, including consultation with parents/carers, employers, children and young people, childcare providers and other professionals, is carried out every five years. An update on the assessment, looking at supply and demand, is carried out every year.
Childcare Statutory Guidance
The Childcare Statutory Guidance - explains what local authorities must do to support the development of childcare provision in the local area in order to make it flexible, sustainable and responsive to the needs of the community.
Childcare: statutory guidance for local authorities | GOV.WALES
Parent / Carer Survey (Welsh Government National Survey)
Open until 31 October 2026
Complete the Parent / Carer Survey available on our ‘Open Campaigns’ page
Survey of all parents and carers who use childcare in Wales
The Welsh Government Childcare, Play and Early Years Division and local authorities want to understand the childcare needs of Welsh families, with children aged 0 to 17 years old.
Your views are very important to us and we would like to know more about your experiences of using registered services (i.e. services which are registered with Care Inspectorate Wales) and unregistered childcare (nannies, au pairs and some activity/sports clubs fall into this category, for example) . Your views will help inform Welsh Government policies and to help local authorities plan childcare services. Although, local authorities can not guarantee that all requests for childcare provision will be able to be met.
The information collected during the project will be included in reports published on the Welsh Government and local authority websites.
Employer Survey
Open until 31 October 2026
- As an employer, is Childcare an issue for your organisation / business?
- Are your employees / potential employees finding it difficult to access Childcare?
- Do you think Childcare provision is sufficient in the county?
As employers it is important that you tell us your views.
Complete the Employer Survey available on our ‘Open Campaigns’ page
Under the Childcare Act 2006 it is a statutory duty that Local Authorities undertake a Childcare Sufficiency Assessment (CSA). The Act places a duty on Local Authorities in Wales “to secure, as far as is reasonably practical, sufficient childcare to meet the requirements of parents in their area who require childcare in order to train, to work or to prepare for work”.
The draft CSA was presented to Ceredigion County Council’s Learning Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on Wednesday 2nd March 2022 who agreed that the draft report went out to public consultation. This closed on 6th June 2022. The revised CSA was approved by Cabinet on 5th July 2022, and submitted to Welsh Government.
The report identifies gaps and makes recommendations that will, where reasonably practical, meet the needs of parents so that the Authority can fulfil the childcare sufficiency duty as set out in the Childcare Act.
The Childcare Act 2006 expands and clarifies in legislation the vital role Local Authorities play as strategic leaders in the provision of childcare locally. The Childcare Act reinforces the framework within which Local Authorities already work – in partnership with the private, voluntary, independent, community and maintained sector – to shape and secure children’s services, and focuses in particular on the provision of:
- sufficient, sustainable and flexible childcare that is responsive to parents’ needs; and
- information, advice and assistance to parents, prospective parents and those with parental responsibility or care of a child, relating to childcare.
To find the definition of each type of Childcare available please see our Childcare Types page.