Nearly a third of former local authority inspectors have opted for redundancy rather than transfer to the Commission.
A Care Commission spokes-man said last week, 'A temporary shortage of staff has affected the level of inspections, but we have adjusted our focus with the priority of achieving one regulatory visit to each provider this year.'
He revealed that 121 staff - 29 per cent of the inspectors - had taken redundancy under a deal on offer from April to September this year. He said the Commission was 'actively recruiting' staff and 90 replacements had so far been found. But there are concerns that training new recruits will mean the pace of inspection will not quicken dramatically.
The backlog of inspections is intimated in a letter to childminders from director of operations David Wiseman, which states, 'Changes in the way we are conducting routine, announced inspections are being made in order that we can contact all registered services this year and increase and maximise our inspection rate.'
From October until April next year the commission is asking childminders only to supply basic information for its database, rather than complete self-evaluation forms.
A similar letter has been sent to providers of other care services. They should all receive a pre-inspection questionnaire by mid-December to complete and return to the Commission, as well as a self-evaluation form.
Both letters are available on the website www.carecommission.com.
Drew McCanney, the former senior inspector with Fife Council and now an independent trainer and consultant, said, 'These letters can be read as an admission of a Care Commission crisis. Everyone knows there are problems and these should now be acknowledged and made known to Scottish ministers.
'The Care Commission inherited problems. Some local authorities stopped completing inspections, leading to an inherited backlog, and the Regulation of Care Project failed to deliver on key operational aspects of the Commission's work. The Commission has also had problems in retaining experienced staff.
'However, none of these problems justify singling out childminders for a diluted inspection process. I only hope that childminders themselves do not interpret their letter as the Care Commission labelling them as a second-rate service. It seems that the quality of care for children is being sacrificed to try to achieve an improved statistical inspection rate.'
But Maggie Simpson, national development officer for the Scottish Childminding Association, said the staff shortage was 'a temporary glitch'
and the Commission was 'right to prioritise at this stage and not carry out unnecessary inspections'.
She said it was unfortunate the commission had not heeded advice from the SCMA and others on the Care Standards Group who suggested the self-evaluation process should be phased in.
In its letter to childminders the Commission states that those not currently looking after children, but who want to remain registered, may not have to be inspected 'at this stage'. Maggie Simpson said the SCMA was not worried about this, as local authorities were obliged to 'flag up anyone about whom there were concerns' when they handed over responsibility for inspections to the Commission.