My Lords, Amendments 259, 269, 270, 301, 314 and 316 in the name of my noble friend Lady Scott of Bybrook will give childminders greater flexibility to expand and grow their businesses, and will remove barriers to registration.
Childminders are important because they provide parents with childcare that is more affordable and flexible than other kinds of childcare provision. They follow the same requirements as nurseries to promote the learning and development of all children in their care, and they follow the same requirements for safeguarding children and promoting their welfare. Like nurseries, childminders are routinely inspected, with 97% of Ofsted-registered childminders judged “good” or “outstanding” at their last inspection. However, the number of childminders has more than halved over the past decade, which is reducing choice for parents, and addressing this decline is key to improving choice and affordability for parents.
In March, the Government announced the biggest ever expansion in funded early education from April 2024, with 30 hours of free childcare for every child over the age of nine months with eligible working parents by September 2025. The Office for Budget Responsibility believes that this will have by far the largest impact on potential output in this Budget by increasing labour market participation of parents with young children. By 2027-28, the OBR expects around 60,000 to enter employment, working an average of around 16 hours a week, with an equivalent effect on total hours coming from mothers already in work. This will significantly increase demand for childcare places. Therefore, it is important that we have a vibrant sector where all providers are in a position to expand and grow their businesses to meet that additional demand. As such, it is even more important to maintain the number of existing childminders and increase the number of new childminders coming into the sector. These amendments are part of a suite of measures that the Government are introducing to encourage more people to become childminders and to support existing childminders—childminding is a predominantly female profession—by helping them to expand and to grow their businesses.
Amendment 270 will increase the total number of people who can work together under a childminder’s registration from three to four. Amendments 259 and 269 will allow childminders on domestic premises to spend more of their time working on non-domestic premises, including an option for childminders to operate solely from non-domestic premises, such as a local community centre or village hall, by replacing the existing single childminder category with two new categories: childminders with domestic premises who provide at least some or all of their childminding on domestic premises, and childminders without domestic premises who provide all the childminding on non-domestic premises.
Allowing childminders to work with more people means that they could care for more children, as regulations permit each childminder’s assistant to care for the same number of children as childminders, and thereby increase the number of places available to parents, or they could provide more one-to-one support to children who would benefit from a greater level of help or personal care, such as children with special educational needs or an education, health and care plan.
Allowing childminders to operate from non-domestic premises for more of their time means that they could offer childcare on bigger premises, to work with more people and care for more children, or on premises that better meet the needs of the children whom they care for: for example, more indoor or outdoor space, better disabled access, and dedicated car parking for staff and parents. It would also allow childminders to operate from premises that may be more conveniently located for parents, such as closer to their home or work or close to the school of any older children, particularly if parents want their childminder to provide wraparound care for any of their school-age children too. Allowing a person to register as a childminder without domestic premises will support more people to become childminders by providing applicants with a route into the profession where the availability or suitability of their domestic premises may be their only barrier to entering the childminding profession—for example, where their domestic premises are too small or do not comply with health and safety regulations, such as fire safety and hygiene requirements, or where they cannot obtain permission from their landlord to operate a childminding business from their home.
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We know that there is demand for these amendments, including from childminders, with some saying that without them their businesses will struggle and they may be forced to close. There is also support from other key sector parties, including Ofsted, childminder agencies and the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years, which represents over 14,000 childminders. Like us, PACEY believes that these amendments can help us to address the rapid decline in childminder numbers, because its members have long called for changes like this, which give them greater choice and flexibility in running their crucial childcare businesses. Furthermore, the recent Education Select Committee report on support for childcare and early years also recommended that the Government
work to remove or reduce barriers preventing childminders setting up or continuing in businesses, including allowing them to work in a way that aligns with the scheme in France, whereby up to four childminders can work together on premises outside of their own homes, which these amendments will permit. The scheme in France has seen steady growth, with the number of childminding groups increasing from 160 in 2010 to over 3,700 in 2020.
We know that people register to become a childminder for a variety of reasons. For example, some people may wish to earn money caring for other people’s children while also caring for their own, or because of the flexibility to be able to work from home, or because they previously worked in a nursery setting or worked as an assistant to another childminder and would like the freedom and flexibility to set up and manage their own childcare business. Therefore, it is difficult to quantify how many childminders are likely to take advantage of the additional flexibilities afforded by these amendments, but we estimate that more than 500 existing childminders who already operate with the maximum number of other people permitted by the existing legislation may choose to extend that number further as a result of these amendments; and around 600 existing childminders and childcare on domestic premises businesses that already operate from non-domestic premises for up to half of their time may choose to spend more time operating outside of their homes.
We know that allowing childminders to operate solely from non-domestic premises is a big issue, with one childminding agency citing landlord and local authority objections as among the most common reasons for prospective childminders to drop out of the registration process. However, this issue could be even greater, as many local authorities tend to forewarn prospective childminder applicants that they will need to seek permission from their landlord before applying to register as a childminder. Therefore, there could be many prospective childminders who never even start the application process. As such, these changes could benefit hundreds of existing childminders and support many more prospective childminders to help create thousands of additional places for parents over time.
Amendments 301, 314 and 316 relate to the extent and commencement of the amendments and the Title respectively. Amendment 276 has been tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman of Ullock, and would remove any restrictions on local authorities providing childcare. I will listen carefully to her remarks on that. I beg to move.