Childminder Agencies etc.

Agency???? Unbelievable!!The gov has gone crazy. They try to get money from us. To pay bonuses and holidays for them. How can we pay for and agency? I am happy to pay ofsted.

I agree that childminders should be able to care for more children but I strongly believe this should be "policed" by Ofsted. I do not think there is any need to waste money setting up childminding agencies. Ofsted already have the trained staff who carry out inspections, they used to give permission to individual childminders to care for more than 3 children under age 5 and I think this has worked well. I strongly believe that Ofsted should continue to be the regulatory body. I was a childminder before Ofsted were introduced and saw a lot of poor childminders leave the profession because they knew the rigorous inspections would "weed" them out. I do not understand why the numbers of children we are registered to mind can't just be altered, I respectfully point out that childminders at the moment do all their own record keeping, accounts, tax returns etc etc and personally do not think the care of children will be improved by introducing "agencies"

How do providers (e.g., Sure Start Children's Centre) register there interest to support childminders through the agency model? I know my centre would be most interested in piloting this scheme. After searching the web I have been able to find very little information.

I like so many disagree with the Agency idea. It will only add to the cost of chldcare. I will not take a cut in what I earn now inorder to pay an agency to find me work. I can do that myself.
Childminders work for themselves for a reason they are in control and work to suit their own families as well as the families whose children they care for.

At the moment,(I currently do after school only childminding) I would probably stop being a childminder if I had to register with agency and share part of my income with them. It's fine for a one off yearly fee of £35 but charging a percentage of income sounds over the top and more likely to put new childminders off registering and making existing childminders rethink whether it's viable for them to be a childminder.

The childminder agencies is a backward move which will increase the costs to the childminder/parents as the agencies will have to charge to operate - they have to be self sufficent. There will be a two tier system at best - these who want to maintain their individual inspection and those that do not. If there is no model or minimum training stipulations for the staff or schildminders within the Agencies then the predicted two tier system with in fact be several tiers. Childminder Agencies if we must move in that direction should be run and managed bu Outstanding childminders with trainer qualifications. Running a Children's Centre or Day Nursery is one thing but Childmining is bespoke and can not be lead by other childcare experts.
There needs to be a minimum model for these Agencies to run to and outlining how much it will cost to join one and what childminders will get from this. Will they be employed by the agency? Will they get sick and holiday pay? As self employed people we do not get these. What then about pensions? Etc.......... It all needs to be a clear vision and currently this is not so.

Childminder agencies are one of the worst ideas I have heard in a long time. How on earth are parents expected to make a balanced judgement about which childcarer to use, when you could (for example) have 10 childminders on 1 street registered with 10 different agencies? How is EYE funding going to be distributed if the agency receives the funding and can apply it to all childminders under its umbrella? And what of childminders outside agencies - how will they receive EYE and any training/development support? How are parents going to claim WTC when the current system requires you to list an individual URN for individual childcarers used; both outstanding and inadequate practice could be hidden under the umbrella of a "good" agency, reducing parental confidence in quality; and are agencies going to develop childcare in areas where they might not get enough money from parents, despite any need for places?
It is very patronising to force a business model on childminders to say they need help running their businesses. And if the Government thinks parents want their precious children to receive LESS attention rather than MORE, via higher ratios, they haven't listened to the sector and parents at all! Why aren’t they looking at better regulation for nanny agencies rather than tinkering with a system that works.
The argument that childminder numbers have reduced corresponds with a rise in the daycare sector, and surely there are only so many extra places needed?
Agencies will pass the costs on somewhere - either to childminders (who will then pass costs onto parents) or to parents directly who will have to pay to either sign up to an agency or when childcare is found (a finders fee). So we get "More (expensive, not so) Great Childcare” that parents won't be able to easily find and compare, or have any confidence in its quality.
Leave the system alone, improve Ofsted (who are the big pushers of this as they obviously don't want the hassle of all those childminder inspections), improve qualification standards, more helo with childcare costs to help parents afford good quality care, and respect and enhance the sterling work of Local Authorities and Family Information Services who support childcarers, improve quality and help parents find childcare through comprehensive, impartial advice.

Hi - I can't see how this will do anything other than raise the costs of childminders. The 'fee' that the agency will have to take will end up being significant and the childminders won't continue in the business if they don't receive the same renumeration from their clients. Cots of heating and food has gone up so much recently, that adding any other 'management layers' into this system will simply add complexity red tape and more costs.
As a childminder, I want to run my own business, and my parents want to have a personal relationship witih me, by going through an agency, even more parts of the relationship will end up being further 'contracted' - which will prevent parents using us on adhoc basis.
This will more likely turn childminders into small nurseries, which is exactly what the parent doesn't want. The parent wants the childminder to feel like a friend, a relative - so that the child gets the 1 to 1 attention that the parent feels is important for under 5's.
I am also concerned that as a childminder, using an agency, I have very little control over my own advertising, and how I communicate with my future clients. My relationship (and other childminders) will become about building a relationship with an agency.... more time which we don't have..... as opposed to building relationships within the local community, where the contacts are made.
Childminding is a personal business, where personal recommendations are more valuable than an agency. Please don't take away this final frontier for childminders.

Surely you can see that all this does is build cost into the system. People are humans and they want to maintain the human contacts that they have in this world - by turning the first relationship a child has into a business one, you are removing the very essence of what it means to be a human being.

Like my colleagues, I am also against having an Agency for childminders.