Editor's letter

A report last week from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, 'Around the Clock: Childcare Services at Atypical Times', looks at the problems of parents who need their children cared for outside of traditional Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 hours, and how better services could be developed for them. The researchers surveyed early years partnerships and hundreds of childcare providers - but guess who they didn't consider? Nannies, of course - the same blind spot that the Government suffers from. Whenever academics or politicians think about childcare, nannies become invisible. Nannies are already willing and able to provide an extended service,...