The Department for Education (DfE) has today launched a new consultation to consider ways in which childminders can be supported to join or continue in the profession.
The consultation seeks the views of childminders, parents, providers and local authorities for their thoughts on how Government can further support more childminders to join and stay in the profession.
Proposed changes include:
- Enabling regulated healthcare professionals, and not just GPs, to complete GP health declarations for new childminders.
- Giving childminder agencies new flexibilities to enable them to 'thrive and grow' - reducing quality assurance visits of individual childminders to once every two years, rather than annually and making 'practice support' to members optional rather than a legal requirement.
- Ensuring childminders, and potentially all providers, are paid funding monthly, rather than termly, by their local authority if they request it.
