29th April 2010

• DCATCH (Disabled Children’s Access to Childcare) is a 3-year programme aimed at improving the range and quality of childcare available to families with disabled children/young people.

  Under this initiative, Sheffield City Council has received a one-off grant payment of just under £120,000.

  A working group of officers and parents has been meeting since May 2010 to decide how this money could be used to improve childcare for disabled children in Sheffield in a sustainable way (bearing in mind that the grant is ringfenced and must be spent by April 2011!). As central government have made no commitment to continue the DCATCH funding, the group is keen to maximise this opportunity and leave a legacy that lives on beyond March 2011.

  So far, the group has approved the following proposals:

  The working group is currently looking at ways of improving childcare for parents whose children, for a variety of reasons, are unable to access regular childcare settings.

  Deborah Woodhouse is our parent lead on this group and would be more than happy to discuss the proposals with parents and feed back their comments. You can email her at deborahhwoodhouse@hotmail.co.uk, or ring our office on 0114 2521913 and we’ll put you in touch with her!