Some childminders claim they are being unfairly discriminated against because they are unable to benefit from the greater funding that nurseries receive, due to their higher staff-to-child ratios, when providing funded placements for two-year-olds.
Janet Glew, a childminder from Shropshire, said childminders should be recompensed because they operate at a ratio of 1:3 across the whole age range, not just for two-year-olds, and unlike nurseries cannot access eight lots of funding for threeand four-year-olds. Ms Glew was responding to Sarah Teather's column in Nursery World, in which the minister said that the higher rate of funding that nurseries receive for two-year-olds reflected the higher ratio requirements for this age group.
Ms Glew said, 'It's the first time that I've seen it acknowledged that the higher rate for two-year-olds reflects the difference in ratios. I thought "great, I can go to my local authority and use this to corroborate what I have been saying all along", but no, they said they were not required or prepared to pay me at a higher rate.'
One of the children in her care has just turned three and Ms Glew will receive less funding next term. Currently she receives £4.85 an hour of funding for disadvantaged two-year-olds, but after the Easter term this will drop to £3.31 an hour. She said, 'Many childminders don't even earn the minimum wage, but in order to deliver a quality service, I have high costs.'
Ms Glew has a BA honours degree in Early Childhood Studies, Early Years Professional Status and is a member of the NCMA's National Policy Forum.
She said childminders should be able to receive an enhanced rate in the Early Years Single Funding Formula to reflect ratios and had raised this point with her local authority, Telford and Wrekin, during the consultation on the EYSFF.
She argues that just as it is recognised that nursery schools have unavoidable costs - for example, they have to employ a head teacher - so too do childminders, through their 1:3 ratio. Childminders should similarly receive extra funding, she said, because under the EYSFF some are paid less than their advertised rate and their businesses could be deemed inviable.
Ms Glew said, 'The point I want to get across is that it's inequitable because we have to operate at 1:3, that's the law. If nurseries receive funding to recognise their higher ratios, why don't childminders? The Code of Practice should state that childminders operate at 1:3 and that LAs must take this into account when rates are set and funding is distributed.'
She added, 'As far as I'm aware, not one local authority has acknowledged this issue about childminders and ratios in the EYSFF.'
Childminder Caroline Baker, who has been awarded as outstanding in all areas of her inspection, said she would like to offer the funded places but is unable to do so because there is no accredited network in Lincolnshire.
She said there were 900 childminders in the county but none of them was able to offer the free entitlement.
Ms Baker explained, 'It's unfair to parents. Of course parents want the free hours but they don't have the choice. I provide exactly the same service as a nursery.' Ms Baker offers flexible hours, opening from 6am until 8pm for parents who work shifts.
She said one child she looks after is due to turn three, and although the parents would like him to stay with her, they would have to forgo the free entitlement of 15 hours a week.
Sandy McLeish, who runs a childminding business with her husband Bobby in Wokingham, said she would like to offer the free entitlement but under the EYSFF she would receive a lower rate and the lack of flexibility also meant that she could lose income.
'We have had a few children who have left when they turned three. What I'd like to be able to do is to offer the free entitlement to children who use the places at the moment.'
She said she could not risk offering the free entitlement to a parent with a full-time place because this could leave her open to a potential loss of income if subsequent parents chose to use only the 15 hours and she was unable to fill the rest of the day at the normal rate.
A network has recently been set up in Wokingham, but Ms McLeish said that as far as she was aware, no local childminders were offering the free entitlement places.
Catherine Farrell, joint chief executive of the NCMA, said, 'Registered childminders can play a key role in delivering the free entitlement as they offer flexible, affordable childcare in a home-based setting, and can tailor support for individual children and their families.
'However, in order to be able to deliver the free entitlement, childminders need to have access to an accredited childminding network, and at present many do not have this option.'
She added, 'The NCMA is keen to work with local authorities to help develop and deliver accredited networks to ensure that the opportunity to choose high-quality, home-based childcare is available to all families.'