新澳门六合彩官网开奖

Please find below a comment from the Early Years Alliance responding to the release of a consultation to increase the number of childminders and improve childminder retention.

The consultation, which can be accessed here: includes proposals to strengthen expectations or require local authorities to pay childminders monthly and reduce the frequency of quality assurance visits for childminder agencies (CMAs).

Commenting Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said:

鈥淚t is extremely disappointing that today鈥檚 consultation does not include plans to allow childminding professionals to claim early entitlement funding for related children. This is something which has been long called for by the sector and which would have brought childminders in line with the rest of the sector, and so it is difficult to understand why the government has chosen not to even consult on a potential change to this policy. 

鈥淥n top of this, proposals to water down requirements for childminding agencies are extremely concerning and misguided. Given the inherent conflict of interest within the agency model, there is a real risk that such a proposal will drive down quality and unfairly undermine the professionalism of this key section of the early years workforce.  

鈥淭hat said, we welcome plans to encourage monthly payments from local authorities. Such a change would help ease cash flow concerns and provide much-needed financial certainty, though we would urge the government to ensure that such a policy is applied to all early years providers, rather than limiting it to childminders. 

鈥淯ltimately, however, if the government truly wants to show it values this vital part of the sector and encourage high-quality childminder professionals to both join and remain in the sector, it must commit to properly funding them 鈥� along with the rest of the sector 鈥� and implement long-term support which acknowledges and values the crucial role they play in children鈥檚 care, education and development.鈥�