Business skills support

Welcome to 4Children’s business management resource hub

This resource, launched in 2012, has been developed to give early years and childcare providers an easy way to access a wealth of online business support materials to help to plan for the future of your business.

You will find information and advice on all elements of business management by clicking on the topics in the menu on the left hand side of this page.  We have information on everything from managing your finances, to marketing and sales.

Developing good business planning and management skills will help to ensure the long-term sustainability of your setting.

A business plan will help you to:

• Know that your business is healthy
• Decide where you want the business to be in the future
• Plan for how to get there
• Manage the performance of your organisation
• Access funding streams and grants

You may have some ideas about what you expect from your business and how you want it to develop and operate in the future.  Writing these ideas down and pulling them together into an overall business plan will help you to think through your ideas and achieve your goals.

Our quick business health check will help you to think about where you are at the moment and provide you with some initial ideas for areas of the business plan that you might want to think about.  Alternatively, click on the menu to find out more about each topic area.

Adding resources

This site contains lots of links to materials and resources that have been developed to help all types of organisations to manage their business successfully, as well as material written specifically for the Early Years and Childcare sector.  Many Local Authorities have volunteered their resources and materials as links and downloads, but we’re always happy to have new resources to link to!  If you would like to recommend or volunteer some additional resources, please contact us.

This resource hub has been developed in partnership with the Office for Public Management with funding provided by the Department for Education.

Download the final evaluation report on the Business Skills Support project by the Office for Public Management. The report is a key document in outlining the purpose of the project and measuring its impact. This report would not have been possible without the involvement of many people in the childcare and early years sector. Thanks to all involved for the time and effort given freely.