Wales behind with after-school clubs

A total of £14.3m is available for 26,000 new places

As National Childcare Week gets under way, it is being claimed that money to start up after-school clubs in Wales is not being spent quickly enough to help working parents.

There are calls for the millions of pounds allocated for the out-of-school scheme to be freed up more quickly to allow parents access to an extra 26,000 places for their children.

Less than 5% has been spent in Wales

There are already 450 out-of-school clubs across Wales catering for around 9,000 children.

But under a scheme run by the New Opportunities Fund and the National Lotteries Charities Board, even more communities could benefit.

At the moment there is £14.3m available to develop the new child care places but Chwarae Teg - the organisation in Wales which works for equality - said Wales is lagging behind in using the money. So far, less than 5% has been spent.

England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, have all have spent greater percentages of their allocations.

A spokesman for the New Opportunities Fund - a lottery distributor created to award grants to health, education and environment projects - said they would look into the reasons why Wales was lagging behind.

But, the organisation stressed, bids for the money were welcome from all areas.