Thanks to funding from the Department for Education, PACEY will be able to provide more support and advice to childminders, pre-schools and nurseries in England as they recover from the pandemic and try to support more families to bring their children back to their early education place.

Working in partnership with Relate, I CAN and academics from the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University, PACEY will use the funding to develop a range of services and support that will particularly help disadvantaged families to take up their early education entitlements and help providers support the needs of children and families as they emerge from months of lockdown.

Liz Bayram, Chief Executive of PACEY said:
“Securing this grant – part of the additional funding HM Treasury released to support charities tackle the impact of Covid-19 – means we can more rapidly and effectively respond to the needs of so many children and the providers caring for them. Working with our insight panel (made up of childminders, pre-schools and nurseries) we will get first hand insight into the emerging issues they most need support with and then work with our partners to rapidly develop this into the information, guidance and tools they need to support children and families in their local communities.

“We know disadvantaged families have had multiple challenges to overcome during this pandemic. Using our expertise, tried and tested interventions as well as those of our partners, we will provide a range of digital and telephone support as well as work with local authority partners to help them deliver targeted interventions to support disadvantaged families to take up or return to their early years setting.”