Childminder setting eligible for 'free' childcare from 3 years?

[LadyBee]

Hi there, I've got a DS aged 19mo who is cared for 4 days a week by a fabulous local CM. I'm thinking about ttc again and am trying to think about what will happen when I need to return to work after maternity leave. By then, DS1 would be 3, so eligible for some subsidized care, as far as I know. Do you know whether he would be able to take advantage of this while remaining with the CM? She's so great, I'm hoping she'll still be around and able to take both children. But if this isn't eligible, then I'd want to start looking for a suitable nursery, with the aim of doing maybe 1-2 sessions there in the year he's going 2-3.

This is what the BBC website says about it. From the below it looks like a single CM wouldn't be eligible, but on the other hand it says 'regularly inspected' and 'registered' and she is both, with an outstanding report in her last inspection.

Does anyone know??

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From BBC website:

What's on offer
All young children aged three and four in England are entitled to a free part-time early education place. This can be in a variety of settings, as long as it's registered by Government regulatory bodies and inspected regularly.

Type of care
The minimum requirement of a part-time place is five two-and-a-half hour sessions every week over 38 weeks (usually divided into 11-week terms). Each session is usually either in the morning or afternoon. These can be taken to suit your and your child's requirements; for example, two sessions a day for two days and one afternoon. You can't take more than two sessions in one day, however.

Eligibility
Your three-year-old or four-year-old is entitled to three terms of free part-time nursery education from the term after the relevant birthday, in the case of four-year-olds until compulsory education begins.

The place could be in a:

group of registered childminders
preschool or playgroup
day nursery
private nursery school
state nursery school
nursery class in a primary school
reception class in a primary school (four-year-olds only)

I believe this is only allowed if you're a 'Network Childminder'. I always wanted to be but my borough didn't have the funding for it. They are now starting this and I'm finally on the list! But your childminder would have a lot more work to do from what I gather and would have to WANT to do this. It's not just a matter of them getting the money and carrying on as normal iyswim

Do you mean it's more work to be a 'Network Childminder' or to take a child over 3? Is it to do with the 'education' v 'childcare' - it just seems that she already does so much to ensure she can show she's complying with the Early Years stuff that I can't see what would be different. That sounds wrong, I'm just saying, she already works hard to cover the requirements so hopefully by the time he's 3 it's not 'extra' hard work IFYSWIM.

I'm still trying to find out myself but yes, more paperwork and more to do with education from what I gather. Think also inspected every 6 weeks or certainly more often than the usual inspections but think this is not Ofsted who do this???? Someone on here will be along later as there are some who already do this here. I'm still waiting for full details. I know what you mean about what she does for EYFS but that's what we ALL have to do. I'm pretty sure there is further stuff to do with being Networked as lots of people I know who were interested changed their minds after finding out what was involved.

Anyway, sorry I can't say more about it, I may be all wrong, just saying how I believe it is.

How would a nursery place fit into your work routine? Would the subsidised hours have to be supplemented? If so, it may work out more expensive than just leaving him at the childminder.

Yes you usually join a network, make sure your standards are at a consistent level and then become accredited.

It is a lot more more paperwork and I think we are then inspected not just based on childcare but the "educational role".

I also think that the amount of money recevied from the government is lower than most hourly rates. Others more experienced on here will probably give you more detailed advice.

I know I looked into it for a family recently as they also assumed as we are all supposed to be doing the same thing, they wanted to leave their child with me, but I unfortunately don't have the time or energy to cope with extra paperwork at present so the lo goes to pre-school in the mornings.

Yep the voucher value is often less than the CM's hourly rate, so they make a loss on mindees within this category, their is more paperwork, quality assurance stuff and frequent visits, think it's every 10wks or so, but not all councils are accredited as Looney said, mine isn't but apparently may be some time in the future (been saying that for the last 6yrs apparently) so you will need to check with your CM to see if she is with an accredited authority and if so whether she is willing to a) make a loss b) endure more inspections c) do a lot more paperwork. The vouchers are also paid in arrears so it would mean that your CM would have to wait for part of your DC's fees.

Its nice to hear how highly you regard your CM BTW.

www.ncmaccf.org.uk/Templates/Information.asp?NodeID=90323

some info there

It is worth remembering that you will only be getting 15 hours free, your childminder may still work out to be ?cost effective? option ?if she is brilliant why not keep her for a little longer?

Well I used to be a network CM offering funded early years education but as of 18th Dec my network closes

As I have an outstanding (well 2 actually ) & a level 3 I can continue to offer funded EYE apparently but I haven't worked out how or why

Katymac - maybe THEY don't want to upset you, so will let you continue... They may be scared of you going to the media to moan!
Seriously though maybe they don't want Outstanding providers to stop doing something that is working, so somehow are getting around things in some way. How they are doing that remains a mystery.

Nick atm OFSTED like me - they changed my registration after all

DH can too - if he wants but he never could under the network system - too much extra work (even if I did it all) so I don't know

It all seems a bt

well, that's really disappointing. It just seems that every time there is some possibility of getting a bit of help from the state, it comes with so many restrictions all the choice is taken away from the parent...either I can go with a nursery, a preschool or something else that looks a lot like a nursery. But not my choice, a registered, inspected, high-quality, low-ratio, consistent-carer, home-from-home setting.

I'm astounded that the subsidy would be less than her hourly rate (which is not as low as some as I've seen here, but certainly not v high) - I'm now starting to understand the economics of nursery fees though.

What to do, what to do. I guess I'll go talk to some local nurseries and find out what their fees/hours etc are and then at least I know what the options are, and can start doing sums etc.

Stomp - yes, you're right, it may well be that she's still the most cost effective, even paying for two. I guess it would depend on whether she'd give a sibling discount though. And she is wonderful.

Damn, I was hoping the answer would be more positive eternal optimist

You can have your choice of childminder however she must have a level 3 & jump through hoops for the government

LadyBee - I agree that these things come with many restrictions. Thus why I'm not keen on the free childcare for 2 year olds thing the Government wants to start doing. Who will provide this Free childcare? They are already not paying enough to cover childcare for 3yr olds - in my area many parents taking up free education places are having to pay top-up fees, as many providers are not getting enough money to provide the service - so they offer 2.5 hours of care only if the parents use 3 hours, or 3.5 hours of care... then the provider charges a larger sum for that extra 30 mins/hour.

Sibling discounts - why would a childcare provider give one of those? Especially a provider who is limited in the number of children they can care for - the phrase "putting all your eggs in one basket" comes to mind. If you drop the eggs (the parent terminates the contract) instead of losing one child, you lose two... or more if the parent has more children.

Katymac i have a level 3 & 2 Outstandings (2006 & 2009 )& would love the chance to offer funded sessions without the hindence help of the network with their 'prove yourself worthy' paperwork....oh when oh when will CM's be treated as equal to nurseries and pre-schools. Is it really, really true that it might happen?

That's what I have been told - I need to attend training & something & Something (can you tell I haven't read it yet) & I will claim it straight off the council - termly in arrears

I'd be happy to pay top up on the subsidized hours, it's just the prospect of paying twice the amount we pay now is very daunting - my first instinct is that it's impossible, we just don't have that much slack in our current budget and can't see how we'd find it.
If a nursery gave a sibling discount as well as the subsidized hours then the financial picture starts looking quite different, and it would be hard to ignore. I appreciate each CM makes their own decisions about what they'll charge etc, but they're still competing with nurseries as a choice for parents, and cost is part of that. It's not the only basis for decision-making, but unfortunately in our case, it's not one that can be ignored.

Cat64, this does look like a good option and one that I'd definitely discuss with her.