Accreditation - Is it worth it?

[Rosiegirl]

I have some coming around from my LA next week, she is going to try and talk me into becoming accredited again!!

Is it worth it?

I have two possible children that will benefit from summer this year, but am not sure if its worth it due to extra paperwork etc. Last time I was asked I was also concerned about meetings and extra training, as I live in a rural area and would have to travel at least an hour to get to meetings and also don't have any local minders who could help me to cover should there be extra training.

They are on a real push around here, lots of childminders are being "encouraged" to do it.

Any advice?

It was never worth it for me as I would have earnt less per hour as you can only charge the set rates for the 15 hours and then only your advertised rates at other times, you can't make up the difference between the two rates. I would have lost out and we also have a very good local playgroup that most local children attend.

No, it isn't worth it. You have to do more work, more planning, pay for more resources, fill in more paperwork and all for less money. That'll be why they're desperate
In my area, they also insist that you have to do the tedious Quality scheme run by the council. More paperwork, reflective accounts, evidence, monitoring...

Council subsidised nurseries are having to close because they can't make the sums add up at nursery ratios so they expect childminders to take up the slack at childminder ratios??? Councils need to stop creaming off the Funding Formula and regulations need to change to allow top-up payment.

IMHO.

If you charged a day rate for these children, could you not just subtract the £9 (or whatever rate you get funded for the 'free hours') from your day rate? Then you wouldn't lose out financially. I know some local nurseries do that. You would have to consider how you organised contracts though, so it'd be 2.5 hrs p.d. funded, not 15 p.w. IYSWIM

As to whether its worth doing, are you struggling to find work? If so then maybe it is, if not then it sounds like lots of work for more stress and limited reward.

leeloo1 It may be that some places are doing that but it does break the rules of accreditation.

That's a good point leeloo, as I remember it the rules are fairly tight but there must be a way of arranging things so it works. Isn't there some kind of organisation that represents childminders interests that ought to be getting something together

We used to be able to charge top-up fees, but they've now tightened up the rules. The EYFE must be seen by the parents to be free at the point of delivery: no charging in advance, no top-ups and funded children must be otherwise charged exactly the same as non-funded children. In other words, we can't charge in advance then refund the parent when the grant comes in nor can we charge a different rate for funded children. Parents must not be pressured into taking additional hours.

The only way round it I've heard is to charge all children of that age a higher rate, which is unfair on any non-funded children of the same age (they're paying for the funding shortfall).

Don't get me wrong: I think the EYFE is a very good thing for parents. That's why I still offer it. I just think it should be properly funded and not rely on settings to subsidise it behind the scenes.

I really am getting very annoyed with all the extra paperwork and Quality stuff they're increasingly demanding, though. Makes me wonder if they're trying to get rid of the EYFE by the back door.

This is what I have been concerned about. I am worried I may loose children to pre-school/nursery, but I think many parents look at them so their child can get some experience in a larger setting with more children.

When I spoke to a friend who is setting up as a childminder about it (she has lots of experience in teaching/pre-schools) she actually asked me "what is in it for you?" and apart from the advantage of keeping some of the children some of the time I answered "nothing", but more paperwork, training, expectations etc etc. She thought it was really cheeky what was expected, and I had to admit I really like being self-employed and feel it may make me feel employed but without the benefits.