Since the Government formally announced its plans to introduce childminder agencies at the start of this year, there has been growing confusion as to how this scheme will be rolled out, as well as what it means to childminders and the families who use them.
There appear to be a number of conflicting goals with agencies. First, the promise they will increase childminding quality while removing the current inspection framework for individual childminders; a framework proven to drive up quality. Second, the suggestion that agencies will reduce costs for parents by making it easier for more people to join the childminding profession, while still charging childminders a fee to join. More recently it has been suggested that agencies may not, after all, charge childminders a fee, but rather charge 'apparently' willing parents fees to access higher quality childminding.
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