Childminders Association issues standards warning over new regulations

Higher costs of regulation and the new Childminders Agencies seeking profits will lead to already hard pressed parents and childminders meeting additional costs says childminders body.

The Independent Childminders trade association (ICM), representing 600 self-employed childminders in England and Wales, is warning that the new regulatory regime for child-minding now coming into force since September 2014 runs a serious risk of lowering standards and increasing costs due to lack of uniform standards, loss of economies of scale and potential conflicts of interests.

From 1st September 2014 the role of Ofsted in regulating and registering more than 45,000 childminders in England and Wales was diluted when Childminders Agencies recognized by Ofsted were allowed to take over this regulatory and registration role.  To date only one Child minders Agency has been recognized by Ofsted. That is St Bedes Academy in Bolton. A private company Home Childcare and a number of other organizations are in the process of applying for recognition.

The regulatory role covers checks that childminders are: suitable persons; that they follow early years foundation stage; that they and other persons resident in the premises used for child-minding pass DBS checks; that they have relevant first aid qualifications and that the premises is suitable. Those who clear these checks are entered onto a register.

Childminders will be able to register with a Childminder Agency rather than Ofsted. While agencies will be inspected by Ofsted, childminders registered with an agency would be monitored by the agency itself.

To date only one Child minders Agencies have been recognized by Ofsted. That is St Bedes Academy in Bolton. A private company Home Childcare and a number of other organizations are in the process of applying for recognition.

One body applying to be a Child-minder Agency is a company established by Richmond and Kingston Councils called Achieving for Children. They hope to be recognized by 1st April 2015. This new company run by Richmond and Kingston councils will do the checks rather than Ofsted.

Councils still have a continuing role when people want to become childminders. First they do a general briefing explaining the regulatory regime. Second they do detailed training and instruction to get childminders ready for the Ofsted application. See notes to editors 1 for details on continuing role for councils.

Bea Heath, Director of ICM, said “Registration with Ofsted became mandatory in 2001 replacing the local authority led childminder registration process. This was to achieve uniform and higher standards.

Government made the change in 2001 because it considered that the variety of approaches that the localised system allowed did not provide a reliable and transparent measure of quality. Neither did it serve to provide parents with confidence that the differing approaches to regulation and inspection and lack of common standards would deliver quality childcare. Childminders themselves found problems in the localised system. There were often long delays in registration and the differing and often high costs of registration prevented them from entering the profession.

The new system means a return to the very system that not only has failed in the Netherlands but also was considered ineffective before 2001 in the UK.

Childminders are baffled as to what has changed government thinking. They fear that lower standards will be the outcome.

Another worry is increased costs of regulation due to lack of economies of scale and the need for organizations to make profits.  It is already hard pressed parents and childminders who will have to fund these costs.

Agencies will not receive any government funding unlike Ofsted. Agencies will have high fixed costs because of the requirement to monitor and provide continuing professional development and other support to those childminders registered with them. Agencies will also be allowed to offer other services.

Ofsted currently spend £708 per independent child-minder inspection. Agencies are unlikely to be able to do the job properly for less.

ICM believes this new regime will lead to potential conflict between an agency’s business need to make a profit and their duty to ensure quality of care. An agency will be allowed effectively to regulate itself by providing the only inspection judgement of their registered childminders.  

ICM see an additional problem in that councils will have an ongoing role in regulation so how will council run agencies handle the dual role fairly? See notes to editor 2 for case study. There has to be concerns that a council will be tempted to use childminding as a way of raising revenue to fund other parts of the council. ”