Ď㽶ĘÓƵapp

by Jess Gibson

Childminders who live in rented housing should be allowed to run their business from home, the government has said. 

Claire Coutinho, the children, families and wellbeing minister, has written to social landlords, developers, and housing associations in England to call for reforms to restrictive tenant clauses preventing childminders from running their businesses from home.   

The call comes on the heels of data revealing the number of childminders in England has more than halved in the last decade, according to the Department for Education (DfE). 

One reason behind this is blanket bans being placed in tenancy agreements to prevent using rented homes for business purposes.  

Data collected by childminding agency Tiney highlights that one in eight childminders who failed to complete the registration process stated that restrictions in their leasehold tenancy agreement prevented them from doing so. Others found that their landlords’ mortgage agreements had their own restrictions from lenders. 

The call from Coutinho to landlords follows other government proposals for childminders and the early years sector at large: 

• Funding rates for 15- and 30-hour entitlements increased from a national average of ÂŁ5.29 to ÂŁ5.62 for three- and four-year-olds and ÂŁ6 to ÂŁ7.95 for two-year-olds 

• Relaxed rules to allow up to four childminders to work together in groups and spend more time working outside of their own homes 

• Early years start-up grants worth up to ÂŁ1,200 

The government has also stated plans to consult on reducing registration times to 10 weeks and ensure that local authorities pay childminders monthly. 

The government says that the aim of these proposals is “to help encourage entry into the profession and increase availability of childcare for parents”. However, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, has warned that the plans fall far short of what is needed. 

He said: “Today’s announcement will fail to rectify or even slightly remedy the issues facing England’s childminding sector.   

“Childminders are a crucial part of the early years sector, but they continue to be underfunded, undervalued and underappreciated. Yet, rather than addressing or even acknowledging this, the government has instead wasted time and resources by putting forward changes to minor challenges that in reality, will make a small amount of difference.   

“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, 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.  

“Let’s be clear, what childminders, and the rest of the early years sector urgently need, is a long-term plan supported by realistic funding. Anything less not only entirely underestimates the severity of the challenges the sector is facing but prompt even more to leave."