A £250 grant is on offer to help people in Somerset take up childminding.

The incentive is being offered by Somerset Council to encourage people to take up the profession. The grant will help with associated training and set up costs.

Councillor Tessa Munt, Executive Lead for Children and Families at Somerset Council said “I know that childminding is so important to many working families – as I had a brilliant childminder when my children were young.

"Jenny, my childminder, became my children’s best friend and she helped us for nearly a decade. Childminders can make such a big difference to a young child’s development, giving them skills for life, and be a massive support to the hard-working families around them.”

The "golden hello" is part of a plan to reverse years of decline in the numbers of childminders across the county, and comes after new figures showed there were three times as many children as childcare places in Somerset.

The ratio of children to places in Somerset is worse than in many other parts of the country, with the national average at 2.4.

To find out more about becoming a childminder, call Somerset Council on 0300 123 2224.