The Commission said that, by last week, only five agencies had completed the registration pro- cess, and it had been in discussion with a further 40. The Commission has sent out registration forms to 50 agencies altogether.
Originally the Commission had said that any agencies that had not applied to register by the end of September would be deemed to be operating illegally, although it did not say what punitive measures it could take. But that deadline has been put back by two weeks until the middle of October.
As a result, the Commission will now have until 31 March 2004 to consider and make a decision on the applications received.
David Wallace, Care Commission spokesman, said, 'This is not a hard-line approach. Childcare agencies should not panic, as long as they come forward. They should just make themselves known to us so we can start the process.'
Margaret Davidson, partner with Iona's Childcare Agencies in Edinburgh, welcomed the registration process because, she said, it may help 'weed out some people that give the industry a bad name'. She said the two-week deadline extension was helping with her company's registration, as some of the information required had not been immediately available, and she criticised the Care Commission for adding to the delays.
Ms Davidson said she had been asking for the registration form since April, but the Care Commission 'only gave us two weeks to do it'. She added, 'We were not sure what would be involved.'
Ms Davidson also expressed concerns about the inspection process, as the criteria that the Care Commission would be using were unclear.
The biggest problem, Ms Davidson said, would come from registering babysitting agencies. 'There is a huge black market here and some cleaning and au pair agencies also send people out to do babysitting. The Commission does not know what it is dealing with until they start the process.'
Mr Wallace said that the Care Commission had sent out hundreds of packs to stakeholders to see if they knew anybody who should register. 'We have also sent a press release to local and regional papers,' he said. 'We hope to have as many registered as possible. We have extended the deadline into the middle of October, so by the end of October we know where we stand.
'This is the first time it has been done. We want to make sure that we give people as much time as possible. However, if agencies ignore it then they are operating illegally.'
The Care Commission sparked controversy back in July when it said that care agencies would have to pay more than 2,500 to register. Some agencies accused it of being out of touch with the sector, where some agencies employ just a handful of people and have an annual turnover of only a few thousand pounds. The Commission then backtracked and the fees charged are now just over 1,000 a year.
Any agencies with questions about registration can contact the Care Commission hotline on 01382 207270.
