Childminders want insurance

Wednesday, January 8, 2003

The Northern Ireland Childminding Association (NICMA) is to lobby Health and Social Services Trusts' early years teams to make public liability insurance cover a mandatory requirement of the childminder registration process. Delegates at NICMA's annual conference voted unanimously for the resolution after Ballymena childminder Rhonda Hamill told them that evidence suggested that only just over half of childminders in Northern Ireland have appropriate insurance, putting '10,000 children and 1,800 childminders at risk'. She added, 'To protect both the childminder and the children, we believe it is essential for childminders to hold appropriate and adequate public liability insurance cover.'