October saw the Concilia municipal child-minding service scaled up to reach 19 city neighbourhoods. The number of points where the project is offered was increased from seven to nine, with two members of staff added who are trained in providing support for children with special education needs, plus four people with specific knowledge of children’s education.

During this time, the Concilia project has attended to 398 children, providing care on 2,984 occasions. The service attended to 611 children during the whole of last year, providing care on 7,819 occasions. In other words, in under three months the new service has reached the equivalent of 65% of children attended to last year and 38% of the volume of service.

In terms of families who use the municipal child-minding service:

• • In most cases the adult figure is the mother (368) rather than the father (28).
  • 52% of families are linked to other public services.
  • 58% are single-parent families headed by women.
  • 57% are families without others to turn to for support.
  • 38% are families out of work, while 33% are in precarious jobs.

The Concilia project was started last year as part of the shock social plan to tackle the Covid-19 crisis, particularly in areas covered by the Neighbourhood Plan, and to support single-parent families and those in vulnerable situations, helping with people’s work-life balance.