A SCHEME offering parents of three and four-year-olds in Wales 30 hours of free childcare is to be introduced in parts of Newport and all of Torfaen.

The Welsh Government scheme, already in place in Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly, will be expanded to the Rogerstone, Lliswerry, Malpas, St Julians, Stow Hill, Maesglas, Shaftsbury and Gaer areas of Newport, as well as the entirety of Torfaen, from September.

Through the scheme parents are able to access 30 hours of Welsh Government-funded childcare 48 weeks of the year.

Other areas here it will be introduced in September include part of Cardiff, Neath Port Talbot, Conwy and Wrexham, as well as the entirety of Ceredigion.

To be eligible, parents must work more than 16 hours a week at national minimum wage. The childcare itself does not need to be located within the local authority area the family live, however.

In Torfaen the scheme will be administered by Blaenau Gwent council, which will deal with applications, determining eligibility and issuing childcare booking forms, as well as signing up childcare providers in Torfaen and dealing with payments and providing information to Welsh Government.

Torfaen council's executive member for children and young people Cllr Mandy Owen said: "This scheme genuinely helps working parents and is a real incentive for parents wishing to return to work as wages are not immediately swallowed up by childcare.

"We have been consulting with local childcare providers and feedback received from both parents and providers in Blaenau Gwent has been very positive.

"We are very pleased to be working in collaboration with Blaenau Gwent who have been successfully managing their own scheme for over a year."

Torfaen County Borough Council has said there are currently around 1,000 children in the area who may be eligible for the scheme.

Announcing the scheme's expansion, children, older people and social care minister Huw Irranca-Davies said: “Our ground-breaking childcare offer is making a real difference to parents right across Wales, reducing the strain on family income and helping ensure childcare is not a barrier to them taking up employment or increasing their hours.

“I’m delighted to confirm the offer is being rolled out to seven more local authorities across Wales, as we continue the work to roll out the offer across the entire country by September 2020.”

The offer is also already available in Anglesey, Gwynedd, Flintshire, Rhondda Cynon Taff and Swansea, and is expected to be expanded to more areas in September 2019, before covering the whole of Wales by the following year.

Since the pilot scheme was launched 308 children in Blaenau Gwent have been given free childcare with 46 providers.

Newport City Council had not responded to request for comment as the Argus went to press.