This U-turn has come after much lobbying by the National Childminding Association, childminders, the support of the NSPCC and other organisations, articles in Nursery World and shifting public opinion. As a result, we childminders in England have finally achieved true equality and validity in the professional way that we seek the best for all children.
It is now several years since childminders first began saying the Government would have to make a U-turn over its stance regarding letting childminders in England smack and smoke when no other childcare providers were allowed to do so under its then-new national standards for under-eights daycare and childminding.
It is only by everyone's sheer determination that the Government has decided to overturn this inequality in the national standards, which just goes to show the depth of belief in good practice, and the power and scale of the commitment to quality childminding by so many childminders.
The job in hand to change Government policy was a large one, but it has now been achieved. And at the heart of the achievement, families are still being offered high-quality childminding care.
Annette Dawson Basingstoke, Hampshire
