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By Rachel Lawler

Proposals aiming to increase the number of childminders in England risk “undermining the professionalism of the sector” the Alliance has warned.

Under the plans announced today, the government says it hopes to:

• reduce the cost upfront cost of becoming a childminder through financial support
• allow childminders to spend more of their time working from an increased number of locations, such as at a community centre or church hall
• give childminders greater flexibility within ratios when looking after their own children or siblings of other children
• working with Ofsted to reduce inspections
• slimming down the childminder-specific EYFS, reducing the framework by one third to ensure that it is “targeted and simpler to navigate”

Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Alliance, said: "Childminders, just like those who work in nurseries and pre-schools, are education professionals who provide vital learning and development opportunities for the children in their care. It is incredibly concerning therefore that so many of the government proposals published today to encourage more childminders to remain in the sector risk undermining the professionalism that this part of the sector has worked so hard to have recognised.

"While the government may have, at long last, realised that it needs to take action to tackle the huge decline in childminder numbers over recent years, retrograde steps like reducing the number of inspections, creating a separate, streamlined EYFS and wasting more energy on the damp squib of a policy that is childminder agencies are simply not the solution.

"If ministers really wanted to stem the flow of childminders out of the sector, they would have focused on changes that recognised and valued them as early years professionals, equal to those who work in nursery and pre-school settings. Much of what has been announced today does the exact opposite."

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