NCMA voices concerns over declining number of registered childminders
Ross Watson
Friday, April 30, 2010
The continual decline in the number of registered childminders does not look like ending, as the latest figures from Ofsted show a drop of more than 900 since the start of the year.
Published yesterday, the figures show there were 56,881 childminders registered by Ofsted at 31 March 2010, compared to 57,798 at 31 December 2009.
A spokesman for the National Childminding Association (NCMA) described the decline as "worrying".
"NCMA will be monitoring the situation closely and will be getting feedback from former childminders as to why they have left the profession. What is encouraging is that, although overall the number of practising childminders is falling, more than 1,600 new childminders have chosen to join the profession this quarter," he added.
The latest figures on inspection outcomes for childcare providers, also published by Ofsted yesterday, show little change. But the NCMA was heartened by figures showing that 70 per cent of providers delivering childcare on domestic premises, where more than four childminders care for children together, are achieving "good" or "outstanding" results.
