It is exciting to see information about the new level 3 qualification for the children's workforce finally coming into the public domain (Analysis, 30 April). It represents a huge achievement for the early years sector, which has consistently campaigned for and supported higher standards and accessible, quality training opportunities over many years. And, as your article points out, it's good to see that there appears to be widespread support for the principles behind the new CWDC qualification from key players.
However, concerns about the timescale and the need to take time to consult with the sector to make sure it works in practice must be taken very seriously indeed. The timeline for project planning and collaboration, according to the article, runs from April to September, covering the summer months, which are notoriously difficult for consultation exercises - and it's already May! Is it really possible to have a meaningful consultation with the sector in such a short time?
Raising questions about timescales has to be seen as a legitimate response to these proposals. It is sometimes easy to dismiss concerns as 'vested interests' or inbuilt resistance to change. However, in my experience (for example, with the rushed implementation of the changeover to Ofsted in 2001), it is the practitioners on the ground who end up paying the price of over-ambitious, Government- driven timetables, together with children and families who may experience the unintended consequences of the change.
I am sure CWDC are only too well aware of these issues, and will take the sector's views on board, including the likely need for transitional arrangements. This is a fantastic opportunity, and it's really important that we do work together to make it happen.
Gill Haynes, independent consultant (former chief executive, NCMA)
IN-HOUSE VOUCHERS
Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, is a sage who must be psychic. In her first monthly column (To the Point, 30 April), she judges the code of practice under development by some childcare voucher providers 'a chance to make vouchers a great benefit' because the code will, she says, outline what a childcare provider 'can expect from a company who who has signed up to the code'.
Trouble is, the code doesn't yet exist. So how does Ms Tanuku know what it will say? What if it simply endorses motherhood and apple pie - as Ms Tanuku puts it, if the code simply 'calls for better referencing payments so nurseries can see whose vouchers have been processed'?
We shan't be signing up to the code. But that's because we're not a voucher provider. Instead, what we provide are the simple tools an employer needs to run its scheme entirely in-house. The tools include a form of remittance advice for carers. There is then no need to involve a third party whose role would be to pass on to carers the money representing each parent's voucher.
Far from childcare providers highlighting to parents why they should encourage their employer to choose a company that adheres to the code, they should be highlighting to parents the money that employers are wasting by using a voucher provider at all. If an employer can remit to the Revenue the tax and NI deducted from gross pay, surely it can just as easily remit to the carer nominated by each parent the value of the voucher taken from gross pay?
Anthony Rentoul, senior partner, Abacus Voucher Solutions
NO MORE MILK?
I am an undergraduate student doing an early years childhood studies degree and a full-time mother to a six-month-old baby and a five-year-old. I live in Hertfordshire and was disgusted to be informed by my daughter's school that the borough will no longer be providing milk free to any children, including the nursery, and that parents are not allowed to supply their children with milk. I thought that within schools a child's health was paramount to their development. Has anyone else experienced this recently?
Stephanie Gajic, Stevenage, Hertfordshire
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