Vox Pop: Would the Dutch model of childcare work in the UK?

No

Anand Shukla, chief executive, Daycare Trust

We agree with looking overseas for inspiration, but are concerned the Dutch model would damage the status of childminders and the quality of service they provide.

The 2005 Dutch Childcare Act was aimed at encouraging child-care marketisation. New child-minders flooded the market, as did private agencies brokering minders’ contacts with parents. There is so much ongoing concern about childminding quality that the Dutch government will inspect every childminder by the end of 2012 – only two years after a previous national inspection.

As shown by research from Eva Lloyd, reader in early childhood at the University of East London, the Dutch policy is seen to have failed. It led to an increase in spend by government, while not significantly promoting women’s participation in the labour market.



Yes

Elizabeth Truss, Conservative MP

A major cause of childcare inflation in Britain has been the squeezing-out of childminders, whose numbers have halved in the past decade. The Netherlands managed to increase supply and improve quality by licensing childminding agencies to train and support childminders.

There are twice as many child-minding places per head in the Netherlands as in Britain. In Britain, there are parents looking after their own children who would be interested in childminding if the structure, support and training was right.

Ofsted inspections are costly (£400 per minder) and infrequent (every 47 months). By Ofsted regulating agencies and nurseries, we could have more localised supervision combined with high quality childcare and a less bureaucratic burden on minders.



No

Liz Bayram, joint chief executive, NCMA

The Dutch government is reversing its policy because, while the number of childminders grew, quality for children was not improved. Our system is valued by parents and childminders and has raised quality. Today, 71 per cent of childminders are judged good or outstanding.

Regulation is wrongly blamed for a demise of childminding. It is often quoted that before Ofsted there were more than 100,000 childminders and now there are only 68,200. But before Ofsted, many council registers included people no longer childminding. 

Let’s focus on better use of funding and improve how local authorities meet their duties to support registered providers, provide sufficient childcare and use their fantastic childminders to support disadvantaged two-year-olds and more. 




No

Neil Leitch, chief executive, Pre-school Learning Alliance

A deregulated market would undermine years of progress and professionalism of early years services and fragment the sector by creating a two-tier childcare system. This would be particularly unwise as the government is advocating high-quality early years provision as a means of giving all children the best start in life. Deregulation following the Dutch model would also mean dismantling the Early Years Foundation Stage and staff-to-child ratios of 1:2 for babies, instead raising it to 1:4.

The alliance would, however, support Dutch childcare tax credit levels of up to 90 per cent of parental childcare costs – nearly 30 per cent higher than here.