Insurance mandatory for all childminders in Northern Ireland

Northern Trust had been the only health and social care trust in Northern Ireland that did not require registered childminders to have public liability insurance. But in a letter to the Northern Ireland Childminding Association, the Trust's director of children's services Cecil Worthington said that public liability insurance would become a requirement for all new and existing registered childminders with immediate effect.

"Northern Ireland now joins England, Scotland and Wales in having a mandatory requirement that all registered childminders are insured," said NICMA's director Bridget Nodder. "When a childminder isn't insured, families run the risk of being unable to obtain fair compensation in the event of an accident, and the childminder is putting his or her own family and business at risk."

The issue of insurance is being raised by the trust with registered childminders at their individual annual inspections that will take place over the coming year.