Childcare and Early Years

Children's Centre services

Sure Start Children's Centres provide access to a range of support and advice for parents and carers of children under five. The services are available from pregnancy right through until your child goes into reception class at primary school. 

Children's Centres bring different partner agencies together to provide easy access to all of the services a family might need. The City of London's Children's Centre works in this way. The majority of the services are provided at The City of London Child and Family Centre but there are a number of other locations around the City where services can also be accessed. 

Our Family Information Service (FIS) Directory can provide you with up to date details of all Children's Centres services in the City. 

You can also search the FIS Directory for Children's Centre services as well as many other groups and activities for parents and carers with under fives. 

Our Children's Centre timetable is printed every school term. It gives details of all the Children's Centres services and activities currently on offer and where to access them. Look out for a copy in all City lending libraries or contact FYi to request one. 

Early years childcare

You can access childcare for children from about three months old. The FIS Directory lists all registered childcare in the City. By registered, we mean childcare that is inspected and regulated by Ofsted. This includes nurseries, pre-schools and childminders. 

Nannies, au pairs, friends and family may also provide care for your child. However, as they are not legally required to register with Ofsted, they do not come under the title of registered childcare. This means that you can't claim financial support to help pay for these types of care. 

Out of school childcare

An after school club and holiday scheme is available at The City of London Child and Family Centre. Other out of school childcare options can be found on the FIS Directory. 

Childcare costs

There are a number of types of financial support available to help make childcare more affordable to families.

Contact

You can contact FIS any weekday from 9am - 5pm by telephone: 020 7332 1002 or contact the FIS Team.

Childcare sufficiency

Every local authority has a statutory duty to undertake an audit of the sufficiency of local childcare and to report on the findings.