Parents, your childcare could be in jeopardy

Dear Parents,

Do you know that your childcare could be in jeopardy? Why? Because a decision made in 2014 by the then minister for childcare is having a detrimental effect on recruitment? She required all childcare students and apprentices to have a GCSE Level A to C in English and Maths in order to complete their Level 3 Diploma in Childcare but as we warned then there were insufficient numbers of students available to complete a childcare qualification with both those grades.

The sector can't fix in a short time what 11 years of schooling have failed to achieve., We have suggested a practical solution which was allowing us to use the Functional Skills as an alternative entry requirement. These qualifications are government approved and the acceptable entry requirement for all other apprenticeships. Sadly, this was refused and the consequence is a catastrophic decline in available qualified staff.