New childminding agencies - what do you think?

Same as above. I don't see how it would reduce cost to parents, or improve quality. To me, it will have little benefit - all my clients are through recommendation, and if I was to advertise I'd receive many calls a day as there is a shortage of childminders/nurseries in our area.

One of the reasons why I love my job is because I am my own boss, I cannot see how it would benefit me to be part of an agency.

I am afraid that agencies will make promises they can't keep.

I don't know about other childminders, but once I have a family they tend to stay with me for one, two, three years so I don't have a big rotation of children and I don't ever 'look' for a new child. Therefore I don't see the need for a middle man to do any marketing for me.

I do think that all childminders should be inspected by the same organisation, and that's why I fundamentally disagree with the proposal.

I cannot see how Childminder Agencies will achieve the Government aims.
Costs: There are no subsidies or funding for them so they will have to be profit-making businesses to operate. The only clients will be parents and childminders who will presumably have to pay to access the agency's services, as the money isn't coming from anywhere else. The parent will lose out twice - paying the agency fee & the CM putting up their own fees to compensate for their lost income to the agency (figures upwards of £800 membership for CMs have been suggested).
Quality: Agencies will be responsible for regulating their members, not Ofsted. Ofsted will inspect the Agency leadership & management, not the quality of care provided although there is a proposed amendment in the Children & Families Bill to make agency childminders more accountable. Ofsted will inspect a random number of Agency minders but not for their quality of care, only to see how well the Agency deliver their services. From a safeguarding point of view this is VERY worrying. Currently all CMs get an individual inspection and grade and receive unbiased support from their Local Authority. With the advent of agencies this support is being slashed countrywide.
Easing burdens: It is actually quite easy to register as a Childminder already. It is mostly done via your Local authority Early Years Service who provide advice and support. It involves some time & effort but I don't see that as a negative thing. Being a Childminder requires time and effort too, not to mention a lot of patience, dedication and good knowledge of child development. This is not achieved overnight. Agency Childminders will still have to follow the same procedures and requirements to register as those who do it independently. The only difference is that all aspects will be through the Agency who will also be the registering body, rather than through Ofsted with LA support. Paperwork/admin burdens: most of the paperwork a CM does cannot be done by a third party like an agency, as it is based around children's development records: observations, assessments, planning, and self reflection. Other paperwork such as arranging insurance takes very little time. The only other paperwork is that of invoicing, chasing payments and keeping business accounts which an agency could help with but again most of it doesn't take that long and there are a number of dedicated cm accountants out there and accounts software available.
All in all I believe creating Agencies is just creating an unnecessary middle man which duplicate current services whilst decimating the existing support systems that could have been developed instead, such as the LA early years teams and development workers and Childminder Networks (a quality assurance scheme).
The greatest concern is that although agencies are not compulsory independent childminders will lose access to all current support and so will be forced into joining agencies in order to access this. I am not against agencies if the existing services for independent cms remain and their is a GENUINE choice BUT I am totally against the loss of individual inspections for ALL CMs by Ofsted. If agencies were simply an alternative model/quality assurance scheme but all it's members were still individually inspected by Ofsted I believe there would be nowhere near the resistance to them as now.

Interesting to see it is not compulsory as my cm had suggested it was or at least I have interpreted it as such. Was very angry at the idea I would have to pay more for an intermediary to manage a service I already pay for and have no problems with. Might point her here

I do not need an agency - I have been running a successful business for over a decade.
These are ill thought out plans and considering the implementation is less than 6 months away now there is an appalling lack of information for those who want agencies (although I am yet to meet with or talk to anyone who is in favour of them) and those who want to remain independent.

I worry about the future because I honestly believe the government will declare these a success (whether they are or not) and make them compulsory or make it very difficult to remain independent.

I also believe that the government is currently drip feeding the media puppies with all these recent bombardment of 'high cost childcare' stories. (perhaps I am just a bit jaded and cynical)

Ms Truss and her 'ideas' are ridiculous and the money should have been ploughed back into the many good LA networks/schemes and EY teams and helped to develop them in areas where there weren't any or any good ones.

There is a great campaign group over on facebook (not sure if I am allowed to put the link?) its called One Voice Together for Quality

I'm an ex childminder.

I fear it will run down quality.

I was inundated with requests and round here there seemed to be a shortage.Everybody wants the Outstanding childminders which I was,I fear if agencies don't have enough cm on their books they'll award higher grades than are warranted in order to attract parents fees.I think they could also pressurise families and cm to take each other on when perhaps not the best suited.Teaching supply agencies can be a bit like that just to get their fee.

How can childminders be the same standard if two different bodies are responsible/inspecting?

Ofsted is very stringent for a reason and inspectors are well qualified,the report is thorough.I think the weaker cm will be attracted to the agencies,maybe CMs will be pressurised to reduce fees which may reduce quality (less trips out,cheaper food etc)and you will get a two tier system.

I also think parents will get confused.

One strength of the independent childcare sector is that parents can choose a childminder whose personality, environment, methods of working and terms and conditions suit what the family needs and wants for their children. There is no real alternative to going out there and meeting potential childcare providers, and as a childminder, I would also want to choose my own customers. Matching is not an exact science, or something you can do at a distance on paper or at a screen - I have been known to make adjustments to my usual terms or arrangements to accommodate the needs of a family whose requirements were a close but not perfect match to what I then had to offer.

I really don't see how an agency adds any value to this very important process. but they might well add cost, as well as potentially limiting choice. They are going to struggle to understand and correctly represent the variety of services offered, and there is a very real chance that they will try to make their own lives easier by seeking to standardize the offering, quite possibly disadvantaging families who want something a little bit out of the ordinary.

The overwhelming strength of feeling amongst childminders I have encountered is that the political agenda to promote agencies is mainly about the government wanting to distance itself from the continuing effort and expense of regulation and inspection of providers, and that the arguments that the new scenario will somehow offer parents more choice or lower costs just do not hold up. If another layer of bureaucracy in the form of an agency is added in, of course it will have to be paid for.

Many independent childminders wish to stay independent, but there is concern that there will be pressures to fall in line - perhaps by raising the cost of inspection or by making the inspection regime even harsher on non-agency childminders. If the government ploughs on regardless in the face of opposition, I would expect many excellent childcarers will leave the profession, and parental choice will be irrevocably reduced.

I'm a childminder. I run a successful business and see no need to pay someone else to tell me how to do it. I also think it will make Childcare more expensive for parents.