It occurs to me there still so many contradictions in the minister's (Elizabeth Truss) revised proposals after their u-turn on ratios.
Ms Truss still seems hell bent on the introduction of childminder agencies claiming that these will increase the supply of childminders.
I can only think that by this that she means that more people who otherwise wouldn't have set up in business as a childminder will now be able to because they will be spoon fed by an agency. Although I'm not necessarily against this if people need this kind of support, do we really want to increase the number of practitioners who are not willing or able to invest their time and/or money in order to order to offer a high quality practice themselves. There are already tried and tested peer support networks in place which can offer help, support and advice to those who need it such as Pacey Local. Or is it just about attracting more individuals into the sector who will charge less than the more experienced and more qualified practitioners at the expense of quality?
If the minister is correct in saying that Childcare is in short supply then wouldn't we all be full to the brim with our 'phones ringing off the hook? I am certainly running a sustainable business but could increase my capacity if I were to employ more people which I actually think would help the whole employment situation because I would be creating more jobs. The rules of my childminder registration restricts the number of assistants I can have though, to a maximum of two at any one time, for reasons unknown. The issue of different registrations and why we need so many different ones with different rules I'll save for another day!
Suffice to say that if I did have more flexibility in the number of people I employ and in turn the number of children we look after (within current ratios) then I may well be able to charge a little less and still make a decent living who knows? Not that I feel I should...
Surely flooding the market with less experienced newbies who will probably charge less is not going to attract this new higher calibre of practitioner that they are after and may also make a lot of excellent existing practitioners rethink their careers. I have heard numerous childminders say that if they were forced to join an agency then they would give up altogether. Fortunately, the government are saying that belonging to a childminder agency will not be compulsory but they could certainly make it more difficult for us as independents....
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