Bolton Council provides childminders with £99,000 to buy play equipment

Registered childminders who are part of Bolton's NCMA-run Children Come First network will share £99,000 in capital grants.

Grants of up to £3,000 can be applied for through the project, which draws on the council’s Sure Start, early years and childcare capital grant funding.

Sue Coates, NCMA communications director, said: "While a grant of this amount awarded to a network is not unheard of, it is unusual, and shows recognition of the important role childminders play in supporting local communities."

She added that the move also highlighted the benefits for joining a childminding network.

A spokeswoman for Bolton Council said: "What we wanted to do was give childminders the support they need to buy equipment and toys. Childminders have perhaps not benefited from such funding in the same way as schools and nurseries and we felt it was time to address that."