Frequently asked questions for practitioners

What should someone do who is interested in becoming a childminder?

They can visit the childcare careers website or contact the national recruitment helpline on 0800 99 66 00 for an information pack. They may also want to visit the Ofsted website to see the standards for registration as a childminder. The ChildcareLink website provides details of other childminders in their area and what services they offer, and charge.

The national campaign booklet, Work with children, is available as part of an information pack from the national campaign order line: 0800 99 66 00. It is available in alternative formats including Braille, audio tape and several translations. The information pack provides information about working in the sector case studies of existing childcare workers as well as contact details for LA and EYDCP recruitment marketing teams who can provide further information on local job & training opportunities.

Some LA and EYDCPs offer taster sessions such as the Making Choices orientation course. The course is intended to offer an insight into the nature of childcare jobs thus helping potential recruits to decide which area of the sector is best suited to their skills.

Children’s centres and extended schools are a threat to childminders?

The expansion of childcare provision is bound to have an impact on the way that childminders operate. There are two key issues, good planning, and partnership working. The Government expects LAs to look at what childcare provision already exists in the area and complement it, not replace it. Local partners must focus on the joining up of existing good quality provision from all sectors.

Partnership working between childminders, children’s centres and extended schools should bring opportunity, not threat. The Ten-Year Strategy for Childcare emphasises the key role which childminders will play in providing flexible, affordable and high quality childcare, and the Government expects this role to be recognised by local authorities in their childcare plans.

How do you see childminders working with children’s centres and extended schools?

Children’s centres and extended schools will work with local childminders as an essential element of their services for children and their parents, providing flexibility and choice. Children’s centres should play a valuable role in supporting the recruitment and retention of childminders. All are required to link with a childminders network. As part of their role to act as a base for childminder networks, the type of options centres will develop could include:

arrangements for childminders to use centre facilities, like toy libraries, meeting rooms, stay and play sessions and so on
vacancy co-ordination – helping parents to find the right childminder, including arrangements for cover if a childminder is on holiday or unavailable for any reason
inclusion in staff training and opportunities to meet other Early Years professionals, including teachers, with crèche facilities for the children the childminders are caring for while they are attending these sessions
representation at meetings for centre staff and agencies delivering children’s centre services.

Will the expansion in full day care continue?

The increase in childcare through neighbourhood nurseries and children’s centres was necessary to fulfil the Government’s commitments to increase choice for working parents. However the Government is satisfied that we have reached a stage in the childcare market where there is no longer a need to drive place creation through targets. LAs will now focus on sustaining and enhancing existing provision, while continuing to create places where demand exceeds supply. There are no childcare targets attached to children’s centre development between 2006 and 2008. In future the new duty to provide childcare will require local authorities to work with all partners to plan sufficient provision in their areas.

Many registered childminders still experience problems with planning permission. What more can be done to ensure local planning authorities support childminding businesses?

The Sure Start, Extended Schools and Childcare Group is aware that, in some cases, local planning policy can act as a barrier to the registration or expansion of childminding businesses. It is at the discretion of local planning authorities, having taken into account the individual circumstances of each case, to determine whether new childminding activity will constitute a ‘material change of use’ and therefore require planning permission. Planning Policy Guidance 4 (PPG4), issued to local planning authorities by the Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions in 1992, quotes childminding as an example of working from home where planning permission for change of use will not normally be required.

The Sure Start, Extended Schools and Childcare Group has worked closely with Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) and Ofsted in drafting a joint guidance document for local planning authorities, Ofsted regional teams and LA Early Years and childcare departments. This guidance encourages greater collaborative working between these parties in order to resolve conflicting objectives, for example Early Years and childcare departments will be encouraged to share information on the local supply of and demand for childcare with local planning authorities, and local planning authorities are encouraged to actively consider the local need for childcare when formulating planning policy.

What support is the Sure Start, Extended Schools and Childcare Group providing for childminders to help them run their businesses?

The business support contract provide specially designed workshops for registered childminders. There is also an information helpline funded through the NCMA strategic grant:

Freephone: 0800 169 4486

Monday to Friday: 10am to 4pm

In addition, all LA business support officers will be encouraged and supported in developing strategies for supporting childminders.

Can Jobcentre Plus help with recruiting childminders?

LAs will be responsible for local schemes to recruit childminders. Jobcentre Plus must be a key partner in all recruitment efforts and this can be true for childminders, although the normal approach where the provider notifies Jobcentre Plus of vacancies has to be adapted given the self-employed nature of this work.

Essentially, the LA will need to be accepted by the local Jobcentre Plus district as an intermediary employer so that they can phone the Employer Direct telephone vacancy notification service (0845 601 2001) to notify Jobcentre Plus of their childminder vacancies. This is something that should form part of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) or Memorandum of Understanding that is set up with the Jobcentre Plus District. Further guidance on this will be provided by the recruitment team and will be available from Jobcentre Plus or from the Sure Start website.

LAs should contact the Jobcentre Plus childcare partnership manager for more details of this arrangement.

How is the Government proposing to support childminders with their training and professional development so that they are able to play a full part in the integrated children's workforce?

The Department gives LAs funding for workforce development, the current allocation is £129.9m is for 2004 to 2006. The Government has also created a Transformation Fund that will come into effect from April 2006, and will offer £125 million a year to support investment by LAs in high quality, affordable, flexible and sustainable provision.

I've heard that the Government has introduced a new National Curriculum for babies and toddlers. What does this mean for childminders?

In September 2008 the Government introduced and established a coherent quality framework that defines progression for young children aged 0 to 5 years. The framework brought together the Birth to Three Matters Framework, the Foundation Stage and the national standards for day-care and childminding to create the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).

The EYFS is based on the following key principles:

supporting learning through play with enjoyment and challenge,
and meeting the diverse needs of individual children in inclusive and safe environments.

This will continue to be the approach we want to embed in all settings caring for children from birth to the end of reception year in schools. The EYFS acknowledges that, for young children, care and learning happen together and are indivisible and that young children learn best through play. It is not a curriculum and does not require formal teaching. It does not prescribe a particular approach or philosophy. It places strong emphasis on meeting in children’s individual needs and supporting to progress at the pace that is right for them. We will ensure that all settings including childminders have access to training, advice and support as they use the EYFS, whatever type of care they provide.

Parents are the most important people for children’s early learning. EYFS places strong emphasis on the importance of practitioners working closely with parents, children’s first and most important educators.

What is the Government's view on the suggestion that childminders are the best option for the care of very young children after parental care?

The Government is investing in a range of services to provide the best choices for families so they can decide what is best for their children, and give every child the chance to succeed. The approach is three-fold: more opportunities for working parents to stay at home, or work flexibly; measures such as tax credits to improve living standards; and making excellent integrated early learning and childcare available to all who want it.

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Last updated on 22/05/2009