A Scottish Executive spokesperson confirmed that the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care, which takes over regulation from 1 April, would pay for childminders' criminal records checks and in time would also pay for checks on other adults in their homes.
However, other providers, managers and employees will have to pay for the checks themselves unless their employer decides to reimburse them, even if the Commission countersigns their application. The fee for a check is likely to be around 12.
Maggie Simpson, national development officer for the Scottish Childminding Association, said, 'This is very welcome. In my response to the consultation on this I said that anybody going into childminding was effectively discriminated against if they had a partner and four adult children living at home and had to pay the fees for all of them.
'Also, childminders would have been the only people who had to pay for their own checks. In other situations, someone else is footing the bill. With a community playgroup you would pay it out of funds; in nurseries, employers would pay it.'
Ms Simpson added that she was extremely pleased that the Commission was to act as the registered body required to countersign childminders' and other childcarers' applications for criminal records checks.
She said, 'There have been a number of private companies setting up to act as registered bodies. We have had a number of them contacting us and saying, we'll act as the registered body for you. I was pleased to be able to knock them back and say the Commission will do this. There's been so much concern that this information would go astray.'
There will be a short delay between the Commission taking over regulation of childcare from local authorities on 1 April and the implementation of Part V of the Police Act 1997, under which Disclosure Scotland has been set up, which comes into effect on 29 April. During this time the Commission with carry out criminal records checks relating to the registration of childcare services.
A Scottish Executive spokesperson said that this would not create any delays. 'There is a contingency plan in place.'
