The Scottish Childminding Association’s (SCMA) survey of 1,263 childcare professionals, looking at the future of inspection of early learning and childcare settings, finds that the current Care Inspectorate inspection system is not working for many Scottish childminders. It has been very inconsistent and a ‘significant’ increase in paperwork is contributing ‘heavily’ to the continued decline of the workforce.
According to the SCMA, the level of bureaucracy and paperwork childminders have to complete has ‘increased significantly’ due to the expansion of early learning and childcare, including the introduction of the 1,140 hours funded places. It says that the childminding workforce has declined by 30 per cent in the last five years, mainly due to bureaucracy.
Findings from the survey have been used to inform the association’s response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on the ‘Future of Inspection of ELC and School-age Childcare Services in Scotland’, which closes tomorrow (28 October).
Key findings from the ‘Tell SCMA – Childminding & You Survey 2022’ include:
- 53 per cent of childminders believe it is ‘very unlikely’ or ‘unlikely’ that they will be delivering funded childcare places in two to three years’ time if the level of paperwork is not reduced.
- Just one-in-three respondents believe the current inspection process is underpinned by a strong understanding of, focus on or relevancy to childminding. Childminders suggested that inspections are more geared towards nurseries.
- Scotland’s three separate systems of national and local self-evaluation, do not reflect a ‘high understanding’ of wider childminding practice due to the ‘narrow focus’ on funded childcare for two-to-four-year-olds and ‘nursery good practice.’ They are ‘duplicative’ and have led to a ‘significant increase’ in bureaucracy and paperwork.
- 27 per cent of all childminders that responded to the survey and 36 per cent of ‘partner provider childminders’ – those that deliver funded places – reported working an additional seven hours plus unpaid per week to cope with paperwork. Some childminders said they have had to, or believe they will have to, reduce their practice in order for them to complete all the paperwork required.
- The majority of childminders would support a national single/shared inspection complemented by a single/shared quality framework which would remove the need for duplicative quality assurance at a local level. For childminders, this would need to me a more childminding-specific, simpler and higher-level quality-assurance framework based on a rationalisation and reduce of related frameworks.
'I can't offer full-time places anymore.'
One childminder said, ‘I spend at least one-two days a week doing paperwork and am now reducing my working week to allow me to get all the paperwork done, as I can’t keep up. I can’t offer full-time places anymore’.
Another respondent commented, ‘It makes me ill thinking about all the paperwork. It excessive and increasing each year. The answer to everything seems to be to produce another ‘framework”, constant duplication of e-mails, duplicate evidence of practice, duplicate contracts, duplication of everything that has already been inspected by the Care Inspectorate.’
The SCMA has raised concern that without action from policymakers, fewer childminders will deliver funded hours, ‘impacting upon parental choice’.
Chief executive Graeme McAlister said, ‘Our survey is one of the most in-depth critiques of inspection and quality assurance of childcare in Scotland to date and provides much-needed independent scrutiny of the scrutiny bodies and their activities. SCMA has been leading nationally on raising awareness of the level of bureaucracy childminders have to cope with as a significant issue over the last few years. We now need urgent, affirmative action.
‘Responses within our survey are both a plea from childminders in helping to make this stop - and also a stark warning to policymakers. If they fail to act on this issue, childminders are clearly telling us they will no longer be able to help deliver funded ELC. This will impact on parental choice and the delivery of Programme for Government commitments. Failure to tackle this will also undermine ongoing and future recruitment of more childminders into the sector – something which is urgently needed.’