Ofsted taking over

From next month it's all change for the Childcare Approval Scheme in England. The scheme is coming under the voluntary part of the new Ofsted Childcare Register, to which applications will have to be made from September 2007, though they can start from 6 April. Or, until September, nannies can still apply to the Childcare Approval Scheme, and the last approvals are expected to come through by January 2008, to be good up to January 2009. As if the current 99 all-inclusive fee wasn't enough, from April 2008 the cost of approval will be 100 a year plus 36 on top for the enhanced Criminal Records Bureau disclosure, plus another 8 in administrative fees for doing the CRB check through the Post Offices Verify system. Not much of a way to attract nannies to a scheme that's totally voluntary, and all the more reason for employers who benefit from the resulting tax credits to help out with the fees, we think. Or as sa Nilsdotter at Nannytax says, 'For something that's actually less thorough than the present system, it's going to cause a bit of an uproar.' Details will appear on www.ofsted.gov.uk.