Nursery World - NCMA gives MPs the childminders' manifesto

Childminders and the babies and children they care for gathered at the House of Commons last week to lobby their MPs and launch the National Childminding Association's election manifesto, Childcare Choices for Children.

The manifesto calls on all political parties to ensure parents have access to a choice of quality home-based childcare.

Speakers at the launch, sponsored by Joan Humble, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Childcare, included Maria Miller, shadow minister for the family, and Baroness Walmsley, Liberal Democrat peer and spokesperson for children, schools and families.

NCMA president Dame Gillian Pugh said that 'every family, in every community', should have access to a childminder.

'We need to address the decline in childminder numbers,' she said. 'It's really important that we reverse this decline to meet the needs of local families.'

The manifesto highlights four key issues for childminders: accessibility, quality, affordability and recognition. It states that parents should have the option to use childminders to provide the funded free entitlement places.

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