Seeing double

Anand Shukla is experiencing double vision of sorts. As the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve, he became chief executive of two merging charities. The Daycare Trust – Shukla’s place of work for more than four years – and the Family and Parenting Institute (FPI) are now officially one. Outside of work, Shukla recently became a father to twins. “Cheaper childcare within the next year is definitely high on the Shukla agenda,” he jokes. Unlike most parents, he actually has a stake in making that happen.

The Daycare Trust’s offices in London Bridge are quiet. Yellowed press cuttings on the wall boast the charity’s past achievements. Many of the desks are empty and there is a sense of anticipation in the air. “Everything seems to need doing straight away,” says Shukla, who admits numerous decisions are yet to be made about the new organisation. Its official launch will be in April, but it still does not have a name and the location of its offices are yet to be confirmed.

The purpose of the new charity, he says, will be to strengthen family life in the UK. The extent of any job losses is yet to be finalised.

When the intention to merge was first announced in July 2012, some professionals raised concerns. Children England chief executive Maggie Jones warned that the Daycare Trust had a “unique role within charities”, which must not be lost. “There is not another charity campaigning and involving parents and changing policy specifically around daycare,” she said.

But Shukla insists that the new organisation will not “dilute” this part of the charity’s work.

“Childcare is going to be at the heart of the brand and the new strategy,” he says. ?“It is not the only thing we’ll be doing, but one of the key areas of focus.” He adds, smiling: “It’s interesting that my colleagues find time to comment on other organisation’s strategies.”

Improving care for older children will be one of his first major jobs at the new organisation, Shukla says. The charity is planning to “investigate” how to make schools more family-friendly, and is considering suggesting changes to the length of the school day and term times.

“There is a sense in which long holidays promote inequalities,” he explains, referring ?to studies that suggest that some pupils’ educational progress suffers during the summer holidays. “I am certainly not advocating 10-hour school days for 50 weeks a year – absolutely not. But we need to have a look at this because I don’t think the system works in the interests of children, and particularly families.”

As Shukla is speaking, he glances down at notes prepared by an “FPI colleague”.

“We need the school day to reflect the reality of parent’s lives,” he goes on. “But we also need employers to be as family-friendly as possible and to recognise parents’ commitments outside the workplace.”

Care for school-aged children is one of the issues that was earmarked for investigation by the government’s Childcare Commission. But much of the coalition’s policy announcements on childcare so far have focused on provision for under-fives, and the full report on the commission is yet to be published.

Better staff qualifications
Last week, the government unveiled plans to require all new nursery staff to have at least a grade C in GCSE English and maths, as part of the two-year Early Years Educator (Eye) qualification to be introduced from 2014.

Childcare minister Elizabeth Truss believes that more rigorous training will mean adult staff will be able to care for increased numbers of children, while professionals will be paid a higher wage, in a similar system to the one used in France. Truss argues that this will make childcare more affordable for parents. Under the plans, settings where better-qualified staff are employed will be able to relax their staff-to-child ratios. One nursery worker will be able to look after four babies or one-year-olds rather than three.

“We think the focus on the quality of the profession, increasing staff qualifications, raising the status of the profession and looking to increase the pay is all good stuff,” Shukla says. “We need to see the detail, but we also think rationalising the qualifications into a single qualification, which we hope will be robust and command the confidence of the sector, is a good thing.”

But the proposals to change staff-to-child ratios have proven much more contentious.

“The principal worry we have is in relation to quality being defined quite narrowly around staff qualifications, where actually one-to-one interaction is hugely important, especially for the younger children,” Shukla explains.

“That is something that gives us cause for concern and we want to make sure it ?is properly explored during the consultation on ratios.

“We’re also very sceptical that the ratios change would save money for parents. That money will have to fund higher staff salaries, and would also be used to bolster the wafer-thin margins of providers and childminders. So there’s no guarantee that these savings will be passed onto parents.”

Shukla says he wants his new organisation to lead on influenc