£11m childcare plan helps job hunters

Unemployed parents are being offered help to look for work with a new £11m scheme to assist with childcare costs.

Parents will be offered up to 25 hours of childcare for eight weeks, with the option to apply for longer-term help.

Communities Minister Lesley Griffiths said the cost of childcare had been identified as the "biggest barrier" stopping many parents taking up jobs.

Chwarae Teg, a charity which supports women in work, welcomed the programme as "a step in the right direction".

The scheme initially aims to help 6,400 parents across Wales over the age of 25 take up jobs or training over the next three years.

Support will be extended to parents aged 16 to 24 later in the year.

Chwarae Teg chief executive Joy Kent told BBC Radio Wales: "Any help in this area is welcome.

"Affordable, accessible childcare on a long term basis is really, really crucial to our economy.

"We invest in people's training and development and as soon as childcare comes into the frame we lose all those skills for the economy."