Childminder agency plans risk creating a two-tier system, Alliance warns
28th March 2014
The Alliance has criticised the Department for Education for taking a “disjointed and contradictory” approach to quality improvement in the early years following the launch of its consultation on the introduction of childminder agencies and changes to the role of local authorities.
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Alliance, said:
“The consultation highlights a concerning contradiction in government policy. On one hand we are told that local authorities are no longer required to take on a quality improvement role as °ϲʹ will now be the “sole arbiter of quality” in the early years. On the other hand, now that it’s been confirmed that °ϲʹ won’t be inspecting individual agency-registered childminders (in what many suspect is a bid to cut °ϲʹ’s costs), we find out that agencies will, in fact, also be taking on a quality improvement role, providing support, quality assurance and continuous professional development to registered childminders.
“While these proposals may provide some comfort to childminders who choose to join an agency, where does this leave their independent counterparts? Such a disjointed and contradictory approach risks creating a two-tier system, where agency-registered childminders have access to regular support, training and guidance via their agencies, while independent childminders are expected to make do with an inspection every four years. The consultation document itself states that agency-registered childminders will “have much more regular contact and visits than childminders currently have with °ϲʹ”. While the government may stress that agencies will not be compulsory to join, many childminders will be concerned that these changes will increase the pressure on them to do so.”
Neil also questioned the value of the consultation as a whole, saying:
“Government guidance states that consultations must be “easy to comprehend” but anyone who has read through this document will have seen that it’s anything but. Not only does it conflate two largely separate early years issues into one lengthy document, but it also requires respondents to wade through dense legislative copy in order to answer several of the questions, which is likely to deter many potential respondents — most of whom are likely to be busy practitioners — from responding.
“Unfortunately we’ve reached a point where sector confidence in the effectiveness of government consultations is at an all-time low — and understandably so. Experience shows that when the government wants to push through a new policy, it will do so regardless of the feedback it receives from providers and sector professionals. The government needs to seriously reassess the way in which it engages with providers during the policy-making process if it is to regain the sector’s trust.”
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Notes for editors
- The Pre-school Learning Alliance is the largest voluntary sector provider of quality affordable childcare and education in England.
- Through direct provision and its membership of 14,000 nurseries, sessional pre-schools and parent and toddler groups, the Alliance supports over 800,000 children and their families in England. The Alliance also develops and runs family learning programmes, offers information and advice, runs acclaimed training and accreditation programmes and campaigns to influence early years policy and practice.
- For information about the Pre-school Learning Alliance, visit our website: