Coutinho is urging the housing sector to support childminders by allowing them to operate their business in rented properties, noting that one in eight childminders are being prevented from working in their homes.
“By allowing a childminder to work from your property, you are not only giving them the opportunity to run a successful business, but you are also improving the life chances of families who use their service,” she said in a letter to housing associations, home builders and landlords.
It calls on housing association members and individual landlords not to turn away prospective childminders, and asks freeholders and home builders to consider the importance of early education and childcare when drafting leases on their properties.
The letter also calls for local authority social housing and planning departments to work with housing associations and new build developers to ensure that childminders are supported to operate in their area.
I want to see more childminders supporting children with high quality education and care.
— Claire Coutinho MP (@ClaireCoutinho) August 21, 2023
Today, I’ve written to housing associations, home builders and landlords to make sure childminder can use their properties wherever they can. pic.twitter.com/ZwRng6sqOX
“Too often prospective childminders are having the door slammed in their faces because they face a blanket ban on working from home,” Coutinho said. “However, parents tell us time and again how much they value the flexibility and quality that childminders bring so we are making sure that we are supporting the workforce to deliver what parents need.”
This comes as part of the government’s rollout of its childcare reforms, which include measures aimed at supporting childminders such as plans to allow childminders to work together in groups outside of their own homes, with the government having tabled amendments to the Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill which will let childminders operate in groups of up to four in community or village halls.
The government also plans to consult on reducing registration times for childminders to around 10 weeks, ensuring childminders receive their pay monthly from local authorities, and plans to launch a childminder start-up grant of up to £1,200 for those who have joined the profession since Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt's latest Budget.
Coutinho has said that she plans to write separately to local authorities about ensuring that childminders are paid monthly for their work.
Coutinho added: “We are addressing the challenges childminders face including loneliness, where they work, long registration times and local authority pay timetables. Through our support of the sector, we will deliver the flexible care that parents need.”
The announcement has come under fire from early years leaders, with Neil Leitch, chief executive of Early Years Alliance, saying it will “fail to rectify or even slightly remedy the issues facing England’s childminding sector”.
“We know that, while property restrictions may be an issue for a small proportion of childminders, it will do little, if anything at all to prompt lasting and effective change.
“In addition, simply reminding when local authorities should pay entitlement payments to childminders, and marginally speeding up the approval process does not go far enough to even temporarily ease pressures,” Leitch said.
He added that childminders and the wider early years sector needs a “long-term plan supported by realistic funding”.
Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of National Day Nurseries Association, said: “With thousands of childminders and hundreds of nurseries closing last year it is clear that more needs to be done to support the early years sector. While the government is looking at barriers which stop childminders they should also consider the burdens on other childcare providers like the costs of Business Rates and VAT."
