A plea from the early years sector for more financial support and guidance

From lack of PPE [personal protective equipment] to use in an emergency, to schools banning childminders from their playgrounds, to lack of clarity on further extensions to first aid certificates from HSE, to lack of clear written guidance from the Department for Educationon using cars to transport children and taking children on outings - these are just some of them.

Despite this, many thousands of childminders are ready to return to work on Monday (1 June) and are feeling confident that they can meet the needs of the children who attend their settings.

However, for childminders and many of our other early years colleagues, one of the most pressing concerns is the lack of information about further Government self-employment payments if they are forced to close now the ‘track and trace’ system has been introduced.

The ‘track and trace’ system could potentially see childminders shutting their doors for long periods of time, self-isolating without showing any symptoms of the virus and unable to charge parents for their services because they are closed.

As one childminder shared recently in an anguished Facebook post: ‘We will be opening and closing like a revolving door and we cannot charge parents if we are closed – what are we going to do for money if the Government will not help us?’

Childcare.co.uk has raised this issue in a recent open letter to the prime minister, the treasury and DfE. The campaign aims to address all the urgent childminder questions in one go, in the hopes that urgent replies will be forthcoming.

As Richard Conway, CEO and Founder of Childcare.co.uk said, 'Childminders are valuable, self-employed, key workers, many of whom have been risking their lives, working throughout the Coronavirus pandemic to provide care to the children of NHS staff and other key workers. As childminders start to reopen for more children, there are still a number of important, unanswered questions that they urgently need answers to.

'The vast majority of childminders are suffering financial hardship as a result of their forced closure to most children. Government initiatives such as the Self-employment Income Support Scheme have provided some help but most childminders don't make huge profits as they plough most of their revenue back into their businesses.

'Childminders face increasing costs and significantly reduced revenue and the government should urgently step-in and provide further financial support as soon as possible. We are witnessing many childminders closing their doors forever and this is not being replaced by new childminders joining the sector. The net result is a reduction in the overall number of childminders which will impact upon families and the overall economy of the nation.'

• The open letter from Childcare.co.uk has been sent to to Boris Johnson, Chancellor Rishi Sunak, education secretary Gavin Williamson, children and families minister Vicky Ford, and health secretary Matt Hancock