With a flourish, the Chancellor announced in his recent budget some eye-catching new provisions designed to help parents back into the workplace. Ruth McDonald, a busy childminder in Hertfordshire, told David Patey what she thought of these changes, and how they will affect her work.
DP: What do you think about this new free childcare that the Government has announced?
RM: Well, for a start it isn’t free, and it can’t be. It’s funded – parents don’t pay, but the childcare provider gets funding via the local authority. And with that funding comes a load of obligations.
DP: Such as?
RM: All childcare providers have to be registered with OFSTED. To be eligible for funding you have to be rated Good or above. So a poor OFSTED inspection (and these can be unfairly conducted and subject to interpretation by the individual inspector) means you can’t provide funded childcare until your rating improves, leaving you and your parents in the lurch.
You have to submit figures for funded children per term, in advance. If a child then leaves, you have to repay the unused funding, leaving the childcare provider out of pocket as parents don’t understand why this contravenes their notice period agreement.
You don’t know exactly when the funding will be paid. So childcare providers need to manage their cashflow to meet outgoings, but without certainty about when their income will arrive. If the number of funded hours increases then more of my income is unpredictable, unlike payment made directly by parents, which I have more control over. There are also other support systems in place for parents regarding childcare costs, such as the Tax Free Childcare, but payment can be delayed if the parents don’t apply promptly.
DP: Are there other hoops you have to jump through?
RM: Yes! Childcare is not, as many assume, “simply babysitting”. We deliver for each child the age-appropriate Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum. So I have to have at least NVQ level 3. And that minimum qualification is also required to do any routine daily tasks – changing a nappy, mopping up an accident, taking a child to the toilet, or any other personal care. We have record what we do and the progress each child is making. We have to have a paediatric first aid qualification, which has to be renewed every 3 years, and is an expensive course. And we need enhanced DBS checks to make sure we are safe to be looking after children – and one for anyone over the age of 16 in the household.
DP: Definitely not just babysitting! You are in effect running a one-person small business.
RM: Indeed. And like every other business our costs have gone up. I need insurance, you won’t be surprised to hear. And I provide meals, and need to pay for heat and light. The rate at which funding is paid is different in each local authority in the country, but for me it is a shortfall of around £1.50 per hour compared to my hourly rate. So there is a gap to be made up somehow. It’s a condition of receiving funding that parents do not have to pay additional amounts, but paying for extras is the only way to bridge that gap. Funded children can and do have the option to bring their own food instead of paying the consumables fee. Farm trips and visits to playgroups, however, can’t happen if the parents can’t or don’t pay, and resources and craft supplies can’t be regularly updated.
DP: Are there ways you can get help to run the business?
RM: The Government is keen on childminding agencies. It means there is a single point of contact for multiple childminders, which simplifies things administratively. The agency is assessed by OFSTED and the childminders share its score. Consultants employed by the agency liaise with settings and keep them up to scratch. For that they take 10–12% of your income.
It stops working if the agency is downgraded by OFSTED, though. This happened to a big one last year: all its 766 childminders lost the ability to provide funded childcare overnight when it was downgraded to Ineffective.
DP: One of the ways of making the available providers go further is to allow them to look after more children. Is that a good idea?
RM: OFSTED already allows a bit of flexibility to childminders provided we risk assess and are able to meet the needs of all children in our care. But more work for less money is not the most enticing offer! Think what it would be like to have a room full of children with one childminder, and a child is sick or has an accident. It is an educational setting, not firefighting, and there’s a limit to what one person can do. Will parents be persuaded to return to work by the prospect of their child getting scant attention from an overstretched minder?
DP: You left a job in retail to take up childcare. I imagine that as an employee you were sheltered from a lot of the things which you are responsible for now?
RM: Yes. And I was earning significantly more an hour more than I do as a childminder! It’s not a quick route to riches, but it’s truly rewarding if you love working with children and parents.
I’m not sure how the Government’s objective to attract more women into the workforce will work out, though. As the information below from the annual Coram Childcare Survey shows, there simply aren’t enough childcare providers, and numbers are falling. (“Sufficiency” is a measure of whether a Local Authority has sufficient childcare to meet its legal duties)
In March 2021 there were 15,100 fewer registered childminders than in March 2015, and up to date figures are due to be published any day. The shortfall includes 13,100 childminders who have left, and headlines have indicated that the cost of living crisis has caused many more nurseries to close in recent months.
The ‘free’ hours will mean nothing if the sector continues to be underfunded and cannot attract workers with competitive and attractive wage packets. Some of the returners to work will need to go into childcare to ensure provision. And you want the right people, not just anybody.
DP: Any last thoughts?
RM: There has been much discussion on childminding forums and among childminders I know. One thought that sticks with me is that free doesn’t always mean good quality, and I provide good quality childcare.
