Memorandum submitted by the National Childminding Association (NCMA)

Executive Summary

The purpose of children's centres when the concept was developed was as a hub for different types of provision and services including registered childminders. NCMA still feels that there is work to be done to ensure that childminders are given equal opportunity to deliver services in centres in the same way, and where appropriate, to the same extent that nurseries do. NCMA is supportive of the principle of children's centres and has worked with local authorities to support their roll out, and this work will continue. Childminders have a valuable role to play in delivering services within centres working alongside other providers as well as users including parents. NCMA would welcome further opportunity for childminders to be included within the centre, to ensure families have access to a choice of flexible, quality childcare options.

The key points made by the National Childminding Association in this submission are as follows:

· The approach of children's centres management to involving childminders is very mixed with the level of engagement varying greatly from centre to centre.

· Childminders are keen to be involved and respond well to having a dedicated childminding contact at the centre.

· There is a need for children's centres staff to understand and appreciate that childminders cannot attend training or meetings during the day when they are caring for children.

· There is a need for registered childminders to consider the best way of working collaboratively with their local centre and approach the team there to offer the best support for families and children.

1. Introduction

1.1 The National Childminding Association (NCMA) is the only national charity and membership organisation that represents home-based childcare in England and Wales, delivered by registered childminders and nannies, with approximately 43,000 members. We promote quality home-based childcare so that children, families and communities can benefit from the best in childcare and education. Working in partnership with Government, Ofsted, local authorities, children's centres, extended schools and other childcare organisations, we aim to ensure that every registered childminder has access to services, training, information

and support to enable them to provide a professional service. NCMA offers to work with all local authorities across England (and Wales). We also aim to ensure that everyone who supports registered childminding has access to the information, training and support they need.

1.2 NCMA welcomes the opportunity to submit evidence to this inquiry and would be willing to respond to any requests for further information which may assist the Committee's work or give oral evidence as appropriate. The Association is about to undertake further research which will look at 10 per cent of all children's centres covering many of the same points as this inquiry and further information will be available as a result towards the end of 2009.

One of the roles that children's centres perform is to help provide access to quality, affordable childcare. Some children's centres include integrated early education and childcare places on site, and may provide this themselves or in partnership with private, voluntary and independent providers. All centres are expected to provide information and advice for parents and carers on a range of services including local childcare options.

The Government's Ten Year Strategy for Childcare has a vision for children's centres acting as the focus for childcare activity in their neighbourhood, including providing support for childminders via quality assurance networks.

From discussions with children's centre staff and research, NCMA is aware that there is a very mixed approach to children's centres working with registered childminders and how far they are involved in the centres. Some children's centres managers believe that childminders are service users and should be able to use all the facilities the centre has whilst others believe they should not be able to use the facilities or should only have limited access.

It is clear that there is a need for children's centres to understand the contractual obligations that a childminder has with the families they work with - these could prevent them from being able to attend meetings or training during the day when they are caring for the children. In addition, feedback shows that when there is a named development worker specifically for childminders, they are prepared to travel further to a children's centre with this post than attend a more local one without any dedicated service.

In 2007 the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) asked NCMA to conduct an annual survey to review the extent to which children's centres are currently working with childminders, the quality of this relationship, and the degree to which childminding is viewed as an integral part of centres' childcare offer, so that progress can be tracked in the future. The third report was completed in February 2009

The DCSF provided NCMA with a list of 2918 children's centres across England. NCMA randomly selected 149 children's centres, with the sample stratified to reflect the distribution of children's centres across England. The survey was conducted in October 2008 by telephone.

Children's centres' contact with childminders

The survey found that 93 per cent of children's centres were working with registered childminders, compared to 91 per cent in 2007. Children's centres most commonly worked with childminders through a drop-in service or a childminding network, with these methods used by 79 per cent and 63 per cent of children's centres respectively. With regard to drop-in services, 61 per cent of children's centres questioned offered drop-in services for childminders alone, while 40 per cent offered a generic drop-in service, and 24 per cent offered both childminder-specific and generic drop-in services.

Table 1: children's centres' methods of working with childminders

Information provision to parents

Children's centres were asked about the information they provided to parents about childminders. Responses showed that children's centres were most likely to use notice boards to provide information about childminding to parents (with 54 per cent of children's centres doing so), followed by newsletters (32 per cent), telephone information lines (20 per cent) and a website (11 per cent). It was rarer for children's centres to use these methods to provide information on vacancies with local childminders, although 36 per cent of children's centres reported that details of vacancies with childminders were posted on their websites.

Work with childminding networks

Among children's centres which provided details about the network with which they worked, the mean number of childminders within the network was 16. 41 per cent of children's centres claimed that their network was quality assured, while a slightly higher number reported that the network was managed by a dedicated network coordinator (42 per cent). Among centres using networks managed by a dedicated coordinator, 27 per cent (equivalent to 11 per cent of the total sample) stated that the coordinator was based within the children's centre.

Just under a third of children's centres who were working with networks stated that their network offered childcare on behalf of social services (equivalent to 20 per cent of the total sample), while 16 per cent stated that childminders in their network provided care for disabled children (equivalent to 10 per cent of the total sample). In a substantial proportion of cases, however, children's centres were unsure whether or not their networks provided such services.

Childminders' involvement in training at children's centres

Children's centres were asked about the training they offered to childminders, with responses suggesting that childminders are increasingly being trained separately from other stakeholders. 40 per cent of children's centres were training childminders by themselves, an increase from 11 per cent in 2007. In contrast, the numbers stating that they trained childminders alongside children's centre staff had fallen from 52 per cent in 2007 to 22 per cent in 2008. There was also a decline in the numbers training childminders alongside parents, which fell from 41 per cent in 2007 to 21 per cent in 2008. A further 20 per cent stated that they did not provide training for childminders.

Table 2: children's centres' provision of training to childminders

* Question not asked in 2007

The survey also explored whether childminders were involved in the formal organisation of children's centres alongside other staff. Responses revealed that 15 per cent of children's centres involved childminders in meetings with centre staff, while 20 per cent of children's centres invited childminders to meetings of other stakeholders. 17 per cent of children's centres gave childminders a role on their management board.

Recommendations for action

Childminders consistently offer high quality provision. Ofsted figures show that last year more than 60 per cent of registered childminders received a "good" or "outstanding" grading. NCMA recommends the following actions to ensure parents have access to all forms of childcare potentially available.

1. NCMA recommends strengthening the links between children's centres and childminders to ensure children's centres provide information about childminding and about local vacancies and ensure childminders are involved as part of the centres' core offer.

Currently the extent to which information is provided about childminding is low and this may represent a missed opportunity to match the needs of parents and children with the opportunities available in home-based childcare settings. Seven in 10 Family Information Services (FIS) in England and Wales report that parents were concerned by a lack of childcare in their area,[1] yet 36 per cent of childminders have vacancies that they wish to fill.[2] Parents are more likely to visit children's centres than they are to contact the FIS directly. Consequently, while children's centres have no obligation to provide any of this information, doing so would be valuable in helping parents to find suitable childcare.

2. NCMA recommends that all children's centres link with formal quality improvement networks locally, as a means of providing parents with greater childcare choice and improving the quality of childminding practice

While the numbers working with networks has increased, there has been a decline in the proportion working with other local childminding groups and associations or bringing childminders into general drop-in services alongside other users.

3. NCMA recommends children's centres involve childminders in meetings alongside staff and provide training for childminders.

Research shows that fewer childminders than previously are being involved in meetings with centre staff and parents. This raises concerns that there has been a more general shift in attitudes towards childminders away from treating them as core to the service delivery of children's centres to seeing them as extraneous.

October 2009

[1] Childcare costs survey 2009, Daycare Trust, January 2009.

[2] NCMA Membership Survey 2009, National Childminding Association.