Charity urges rethink of childminder grant scheme

Last month, Culture Secretary Maria Miller announced a £2m scheme to provide grants of up to £500 to encourage people to set up childminding or nursery businesses.

But June O’Sullivan, chief executive of the London Early Years Foundation, claimed that the plans are misguided, given that Ofsted's annual report raised concerns about the quality of childminding provision.

According to the Ofsted report published last week, childcare on non-domestic premises has out-performed childminding provision in every year since the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) was introduced.

Ofsted suggested that government should consider whether childminders should be expected to deliver all the requirements of the EYFS in the future, and argued that childminders who are struggling should be linked with high-quality early years settings, to help them improve.

“If you look at the recently published Ofsted report, the quality of childminding, particularly in areas of poverty, has actually declined,” O’Sullivan said.

“Why are we promoting a model of childcare that’s not necessarily going to be suitable to provide the kind of positive outcomes that they’re expecting from the rest of us? I’ve got nothing against childminders, but on the other hand there’s a real anxiety that the current model isn’t necessarily the right one.”

O’Sullivan argued that individuals hoping to establish themselves as childminders are more likely to apply to the £2m grant scheme than people wanting to start a nursery business, since the cash on offer would go further toward subsidising the costs of a small-scale venture.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is still finalising details of how the grant will be administered, but a spokeswoman said it does not plan to dictate how funding will be split between childminders and other settings.

“It’s about boosting more business and growth,” she said. “There’s also an element to it about having more childcare available, but it is mainly about boosting startup businesses.”