Government launches consultation on childminder agencies
Joe Lepper
Friday, March 28, 2014
The government has launched a consultation on plans to set up childminder agencies later this year.
The agencies are being set up from September in a bid to boost recruitment in the sector and offer parents more choice.
The consultation will ask the sector for their views on the number of hours of training and support that should be offered to childminders, the fees agencies should pay and the number of spot checks agencies should make on childminders.
In addition to this latest consultation, the government has proposed childminder agencies pay an annual fee of £220 to register with Ofsted, the same level as that for nurseries.
It also announced it would freeze for a fifth year in a row the £35 fee childminders pay to register with Ofsted.
Childcare minister Elizabeth Truss said: “I want parents to have better access to affordable, high-quality childcare. Freezing fees and reducing the bureaucracy will encourage new childminders to enter this vital profession.
“We know that good early education gives children the best possible start in life. Childminders are an important part of this and offer huge flexibility for parents, and we want to see their numbers increase.”
Agencies have been tested by 20 organisations, mostly councils, as part of a pilot ahead of September’s launch. The idea was first put forward in the Department for Education’s More Great Childcare report in January 2013.
Earlier this month, the National Day Nurseries Association voiced concerns about Ofsted’s proposed inspection arrangements for both agencies and individual childminders. The proposals make registration with the inspectorate optional for individual childminders who sign up with agencies.
Sue Robb, head of early years at the charity 4Children, added: “The draft regulations for childminder agencies have the potential to continuously monitor and evaluate quality, but Ofsted inspections must be robust and rigorous.”
Liz Bayram, chief executive of the Professional Association of Childcare and Early Years (Pacey), said: “This latest government consultation does little to settle Pacey's anxieties that childminder agencies will not help to raise quality of care for children or deliver the promised cost savings for families. Although it is encouraging to see that the fee levels for individual childminders to register with Ofsted will be frozen at £35, we are concerned that this is only guaranteed for one year.
“It is vital that the inspection and regulation of agencies is robust enough to offer parents adequate reassurance around the quality of care delivered by the childminders on its books. Pacey finds it particularly concerning that, after the initial year, the number of inspections an agency conducts with its childminders could be reduced to one per year. This will not be enough to convince parents of quality care and threatens the level of professional contact and support for agency-registered childminders.”
