Case Of The Disappearing Carers

Why has the number of childminders fallen by nearly a third in a decade … and should we be concerned? Jennifer Beckles reports

Nicola Lewis’s day begins early. By 8am the first child arrives, followed half an hour later by a three-year-old. By 8.40am Lewis, her own four-year-old son, and the two other children are heading for school drop-offs. Back at home, she has planned pre-school activities covering colours and numbers, and often makes written observations at the same time. Later in the day a baby arrives. And somehow she has to find time for her paperwork.

“My day is really busy,” says Lewis, from Surrey, who has been a registered childminder for five months and cares for one baby and three other children. “I need to be really organised to cope with all the additional paperwork. I often do it at 7.30am, but it is a lot to cope with.”

Like many childminders up and down the country, Lewis finds her work increasingly challenging. Others in her position find it all overwhelming and numbers are plummeting. In 1997 there were 98,500 registered childminders in England; today, according to Ofsted, which regulates them, there are 68,348.

Poor pay, concern about paperwork, regulations, career development and family matters are among the top reasons why childminders leave the workforce.

It is easy to see why parents choose childminding. They get a friendly family environment, affordable fees, flexible care and lots of attention for a child. On top of this, children can be looked after from infancy to school age, when after-school pick-ups are needed.

But pay and conditions need to be favourable if people are to remain motivated, work well and stay committed. To ease inexperienced childminders into their role, an introductory course is organised by local authorities. But the course is not designed to meet their continuing needs, says Alex Webber, training and quality assurance manager for the National Childminding Association (NCMA). “Due to the nature of the childminding role, ongoing support and mentoring, particularly during a childminder’s first year, are needed. An introductory course cannot provide this,” she says.

A year ago there was no support available for new childminder Ruth Sykes in Darlington. “I felt incredibly isolated. I didn’t know what to do or expect,” she says. Having someone to turn to for advice is crucial for new childminders. Webber says: “They work in isolation and need additional support. The Support Childminder Scheme, which offers one-to-one mentoring, alleviates this, but unfortunately it is not widely available.” Although the scheme was rolled out to local authorities in 2004, it is no longer widespread, says an NCMA spokesman.

A 2001 study by the Institute of Education cited reasons for the declining number of childminders: lack of support, low pay, regulatory demands and the changing nature of the role. In the same year Ofsted brought childminders and other daycare providers under its umbrella and the government introduced national standards for under-eights daycare and childminding.

Anna Howard, from Havering in Essex, who has been a registered childminder for nine years, says: “There is much more paperwork and emphasis on keeping records now.”

Another registered childminder, Mick Godber, from Nottingham, is thinking of leaving because of the bureaucracy. “I have always loved being a childminder, but there’s little joy in it now,” he says.

According to NCMA data, of all the reasons stated for giving up childminding, concern over Ofsted regulation and local authority requirements showed the biggest increase in the year to 2005. Poor pay was also among the top reasons. On average a childminder earns about £3 per hour caring for a child over two.

One way to keep childminders in the workforce is to link them to a local group led by a coordinator. Some groups are informal, others are quality-assured accredited networks that offer access to training and funding as well as opportunities to mix with others. A 2005 study by the National Children’s Bureau found that 71% of childminders would be more likely to stay in the job because of membership of an accredited network. Only one-third of Sure Start centres work with these networks, but a large majority are increasingly involved with childminders, according to research published by the NCMA this year.

Another approach is free training. The government’s £250m transformation fund, to be replaced by the £4bn Sure Start Early Years and Childcare Grant from 2008, allows childminders to apply for funding for courses at level 3 and above.

Funding is still an issue, says Webber. It is “often patchy and accessing this can be difficult for an individual childminder looking for training”.

Some worry about the introduction of the early years foundation stage, a framework from which all childminders and daycare providers will plan, teach and assess young children from next year.

“Childminding is becoming more nursery-school orientated, with more emphasis on pre-school education,” says Helen Flynn, from Spalding, Lincolnshire, who has been a registered childminder for two years. “I don’t think parents want this – after all, the reason they choose childminders is because it is different from a nursery school set-up.”

But if childminders continue to leave, parents will have less and less choice.