Precipitous decline in the number of UK childminders

The problem of childcare is a perennial one for working parents. Who takes care of the children during the day while they are at work? The situation is somewhat attenuated once the children are old enough to attend nursery - but this won`t be an option until they are three or four years old, and even then their classes may end at 3pm in the afternoon (or even earlier), long before a typical working day concludes.

There are facilities available to help - daycare centres or `creches` are places where children can be cared for. Many of these centres can be paid for using government childcare vouchers, and are seen by many working parents as the ideal solution to their childcare concerns. With an abundance of parents however living too far from one of these centres, not to mention the traffic problems every morning, these cr ches don`t offer the ideal solution to their childcare problems.

Many parents choose to employ childminders: these are qualified, Ofsted registered professionals, who remain in the home with the children while the parents are away at work. ; Normally booked through an agency, they will be DBS registered, and possess the all the relevant childcare qualifications.

Recent information published by Ofsted has however revealed a precipitous drop in the number of registered childminders in the UK. Compared to 6 years ago there are now 16,000 fewer childminders - with an astonishing 1300 leaving the sector since December 2017.

The Pre-School Learning Alliance - an educational early-years registered charity, and voluntary sector provider of childcare for young children in England - have expressed their concern over this huge decline. Their Chief Executive Neil Leitch recently said:

`It is incredibly concerning to see that the number of childminders has continued to decline. To lose 27% of a workforce over less than six years is simply unacceptable, and it beggars belief that the government has still not seen fit to do anything to tackle this ongoing trend.`

`Childminders offer parents a vital source of quality, flexible care and education and the services they provide are absolutely crucial to the sector as a whole, especially at a time when the government is trying to expand the childcare offer in this country.`

The reasons for so many childminders leaving their profession is unclear, but it may well be to do with the decline in average disposable income for working families since the financial crisis of 2007. Of course it doesn`t help that the UK has the highest childcare costs in the whole world. According to the OECD, UK parents (and guardians) pay far more than any other country for home childcare and nurseries. With two children (aged two and three) being sent to a childcare centre for 40 hours a week, the fees reach an astonishing 55% of the average income for a couple. When it comes to childcares costs the UK isn`t just the most expensive country in the world, it is way out in the lead, being 15% more expensive than New Zealand, the very next most costly country.

For 10 years I worked in the NHS as Lab Technician, and many of my colleagues would leave their children at a cr che - a nursery conveniently located on hospital grounds. I recall thinking how nice and convenient it was for my colleagues, not being obliged to drive to a nursery far away, but having a suitable place near their workplace to leave their children. They were able to pop in for a visit during their breaks, and the cr che stayed open all the way through their work shifts. I then discovered just how much this service cost - I believe it was around around £800 per month, a huge portion of their monthly income. Some of my colleagues told me that when they added up the costs of childcare, travel expenses, and the yearly accreditation fee required to work in the lab, it actually cost them money to come to work.

The rapid exodus of childminders will of course only increase demand, and thus increase the price for those choosing to remain in this profession. Neil Leith of the Pre-School Learning Alliance said the government must take steps to address this issue:

`We urge the government to finally take some action on this issue - and addressing concerns over excessive paperwork, substantially increasing hourly funding rates and, crucially, removing unfair rules preventing childminders from claiming funding for related children would be a good start.`

Ofsted researchers said that those childminders who have left the profession during the timeframe of the study (December 2017 to March 2018) had been working in the field for around nine years on average. The recent the `Labour Force Survey,` conducted by the Office for National Statistics, and the annual `Family Resources Survey,` carried out by the Department for Education suggests that the deficient childcare system is preventing 450,000 mothers with children under the age of five either finding work, or increasing their working hours. The two reports suggest that working mothers may be missing out on £3,400 to £11,400 a year. Extrapolated to the whole of the UK this could mean that UK mothers are potentially losing as much as £1.2 billion per year.