Commentary on Sections Section 1 –Funding of childcare for children of working parents
7.Section 1(1) requires the Welsh Ministers to provide funding for childcare for qualifying children of working parents. Section 1(2) requires the Welsh Ministers to specify in regulations the amount of childcare to be secured in accordance with the funding provided under section 1(1). Section 1 (3) specifies certain fundamental requirements that a child must meet to be provided with funded childcare (including that the child is under compulsory school age, a child of working parents, and in Wales). It also provides the Welsh Ministers to impose other requirements in regulations. These requirements may (subsection (5)) relate to a parent of the child.
8.Regulations made by the Welsh Ministers under this section will flesh out these requirements, for instance by specifying when a person is to be treated as being in paid work, when a child is to be treated as being in Wales, and when a person is to be treated as being another’s partner. For example, the regulations may specify that a person who is temporarily away from the workplace in certain circumstances, such as taking parental leave, will be considered to be in work for the purposes of determining eligibility for funding.