New Childminder agencies

[childminderfor6]

The government is proposing that child minders be given the option of joining Child minder agencies, these will be set up, registered and inspected by Ofsted. A lot of the detail is still to be finalised, but the bill has gone through the House of Commons and is due to go through the House of Lords in October. The intention is that it would provide help and support to child minders, if they join, obviously at a cost. My question is, what do parents think of joining an agency to find child minders, again probably at a cost, there may be several in any area? Also how would they feel about paying more per hour? Because the cost of the agency for the child minder may be between £500 and £1500, costs have not been finalised, I'm working for less than minimum wage and I would have to pass that cost on.

I will not pay to join an agency. All my business is word of mouth, I don't advertise anywhere (except that my details are with our local council-run childminder network and on Ofsted, which can be searched by postcode), I am full and I get at least two calls a week for new business. I don't have a website. It depends where you live and (I suppose) how good you are, but word of mouth is still the best option for me. I would not pay for an agency.

Hmm. I've been a child minder and am considering returning to child minding, I'm also a parent. I wouldn't use an agency as a child minder or as a parent, it's just another cost. Same as I won't pay for childcare.co.uk.

Curious about the Ofsted involvement. Will this inspecting the agencies mean less child minder inspections, or will ofsted just have more inspecting to do.If they are simply an agency putting parents in touch with CMs I don't see why they need inspecting.

I have been sent an invitation to join a trial agency. I am curious as to how it would work, but to be honest, I am full with regular enquiries and don't need the hassle of doing anything else. I don't feel I could justify paying an agency just so I didn't get inspected as often. (I heard on the grape vine that was one of the 'perks' to joining an agency.)

The 'advantage' would be that you don't get inspected by ofsted - it would be sort of like school inspections in that they would ask the agency to show them a good/outstanding/satisfactory childminder from their books and if they were right then the agency would be judged accordingly, and every minder on their books would get the same rating. And clients would be got through the agency too.
So it would only really be good for minders just starting out or those who can't find families for whatever reason. If you are good or outstanding and have a good amount of business coming your way then it won't be for you. However it will most likely cost to be inspected by Ofsted as an independent too.

I am registering right now although in NI so not Ofsted regulated but I wouldn't join an agency.

I know it's not the same but I am a cleaner at the minute with some agency work and I much prefer sorting my own work, setting my on rates etc. I feel far too much like an employee which isn't what I want.

Yourhandinmyhand agency childminders will register with the agency not Ofsted but the Agency itself will have to register with Ofsted. It will be the agencies responsibility to provide training and support to its members but as yet the specific minimum requirements as to how much/how often have not been determined. The method of operating (eg employing cms or contracting SE cms, matching cm to parent directly or providing a parent with an introduction to a selection of CMs for example) is also up to individual agencies. Individual agency childminders will not have an Ofsted grade, but the agency will. When the agency is inspected Ofsted will visit a random selection of cms on its books but not to assess the quality of care they deliver, but to assess whether the agency is supporting them effectively. This had led to a number of concerns as has what happens if a good or os agency is downgraded to satisfactory, as only good/os settings can normally deliver free entitlement for example.

Just found this thread but am very interested in the responses. I can see that the CM's that have posted so far have said that they wouldn't join an agency, fair enough can totally understand that. Also of course they have the right to opt out of joining an agency and continue as they are, as in by being individually inspected by Ofsted. I think however that Ofsted are going to introduce a hefty charge for individual inspections if you do decide to opt out - how do CM's feel about that?

Not that I'm an expert in the new legislations but obviously these new changes are being brought about as it has been deemed too expensive for Ofsted to carry out so many inspections and by inspecting the agencies only will cut costs massively. I think there will be things put in place to make things difficult for the CM's who opt out, i.e inspections charges etc.

The changes in the childcare industry were supposed to be saving parents money. Instead, they are increasing costs to parents, who will be expected to pay in order to use the agencies - that is what Liz Truss has said in her proposals.
Parents will be indirectly paying for training and support costs - all the things that LAs pay for now. Fees may well go up to cover the costs for childminders.
In addition to this, I understand parents will also have to pay towards their nanny's pension.

I'm struggling to see how this is going to benefit parents in any way, let alone childminders.
We won't be inspected as much by Ofsted but we will have monitoring visits from the agencies themselves. I also wonder if we'll see increased demands for paperwork and Quality schemes - it costs less to get us to fill in forms and schemes that they can show Ofsted rather than actually having to come out and see for themselves.

I cannot understand why parents are not screaming from the rooftops about this. I thought they were struggling with childcare costs - surely anything that increases those costs would be unpopular? It seems not!

Oh, and nothing about nurseries and their costs. Clearly they have better lobbyists

The pensions thing is nothing to do with costs to parents, it just applies to all employers and the nanny industry reps were probably fairly good at lobbying for nannies to be included because it benefits the nanny!

I will reserve judgement on agencies. I understand CMs are not keen for the most part but they may well prove a very viable model in the same way agencies which employ the nanny directly rather than the parent are becoming popular. It will very much depend on the setup adopted and the trial list is a very interesting spread.

Agencies will costs parents more and will reduce quality and choice.

They will also make it hard for CMs to make any money, choose the children that will fit with the group and set appropriate prices and activities.

Outstanding CMs will be downgraded by the unsatisfactory minders in the group and unsatisfactory (unsafe) minders will escape checks by being upgraded by the better ones.

I can't see how agencies are good for anyone except Ofsted!

I don't like to disagree with you HSMMaCM, but I can't see how agencies are any good for OFSTED either, assuming they take pride in doing a good job for the children they are supposed to be protecting.

Inspecting agencies might be easier/cheaper for OFSTED, but it simply can't achieve the same level of assurance for parents as inspecting the settings and interviewing the childcare providers. Having a half-baked inspection regime in place could give a false sense of security to parents. T

I think it would be more honest for OFSTED to say we can't afford to inspect childcare properly so we are not going to do it any more, so parents need to rely on their own checks, references and word-of-mouth, just as they did before OFSTED came along.

Minderjinx - I agree with you. I should have made it clear I meant Ofsted management rather than individual inspectors.