Report suggests relaxing ratios and giving childminder agencies greater powers will ease childcare costs

Within its ‘Better Childcare – putting families first’ report, Policy Exchange says that 'good settings' wanting to further relax ratios should be able to do so, but with Ofsted approval.

It explains that this could be accomplished by changing wording in EYFS guidance from allowing settings to relax ratios "in exceptional circumstances" to 'where there is a legitimate educational or developmental aim.'

The authors of the report include former secretary of state for education, Ruth Kelly.

It is the second think tank to back the Government’s proposal to reduce staff: child ratios in childcare settings in England. Last month, a report from the Institute of Economic Affairs appeared to suggest it was in favour of the Government reducing childcare ratios.

However, the Policy Exchange does acknowledge that in other countries there are higher qualification requirements for early years practitioners than in England.

The report, which argues that Government should take steps to reform the childcare market, also recommends children of nursery staff or childminders not be included in the overall ratio. For childminders, specifically it says that they should be ‘compensated’ for looking after relatives that are not ‘direct relations’, who make use of their services and count towards ratios.’ It argues that if childminders are unable to receive Government funding for related children, then these children shouldn’t be included within ratio.

Childminder agencies 

It goes on to promote childminder agencies as the way forward for increasing the number of childminders within the sector, referring to the Netherlands where it says the model has been very successful.

The report recommends childminder agencies register all new childminders, rather than Ofsted, which should also withdraw from inspecting them. Also, that all childminders should have to register with an agency, giving them five years to do so.

PACEY (Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years) was very critical of the report however, accusing the think tank of ‘dusting off’ 10-year-old proposals with childminder agencies and making ‘incorrect assumptions’ about childminders feeling overburdened by regulation.

Chief executive Liz Bayram explained, ‘While we agree with the ambition to increase the number of registered childminders in England, this re-hash of old ideas and tinkering around the edges on a “cost neutral” basis is pointless.

‘There remains so much in the proposals that will just be rejected again by registered childminders and for good reasons – further reducing their status; taking away the Ofsted registration and grade that they value so much and which parents rely on; removing the parity they value with nurseries and forcing childminders to join agencies which require them to pay hundreds of pounds more to register with than Ofsted. 

‘Childminder agencies have existed for around eight years now and there are still only seven registered in England. That speaks volumes itself.’

In contrast, Brett Wigdortz, chief executive of Tiney childminder agency, backed the Policy Exchange's proposals. He did however flag that obstacles to becoming a childminder faced by those living in privately rented accommodation or social housing needed to be addressed.

Other recommendations within the report include:

• Phasing out Tax-Free Childcare due to its lack of take-up to all families apart from those with disabled children who receive a more generous top-up through the scheme.
• Moving money (£900m) used for the Tax-Free Childcare scheme to Child Benefit, increasing the amount families receive to ‘reflect the increased costs of parenting young children.’
• Using the remaining Tax-Free Childcare spending of £100m to boost childminder recruitment.
• Introducing a ‘Baby Boost’ for parents claiming Child Benefit for the first time.

In the foreword to the report, Dame Rachel de Souza, children’s commissioner for England, states, ‘I am delighted that Policy Exchange are focusing on tackling some of the big questions about how we can support families. It is vital we take seriously the need to think radically about how we improve children’s experiences and outcomes. We must all be bold, ambitious, and reformist when considering how to do this. Placing children, their needs, happiness, wellbeing and outcomes at the heart of our thinking and ideas.'

Commenting National Day Nurseries Association's director of quality and workforce development Stella Ziolkowski said, 'Tinkering with ratios in isolation does not work. We have also highlighted the differences between provision in Scotland and England in terms of regulation, registration, and qualification levels for the workforce. That’s why reforms should not look at ratios without also considering workforce strategies, space requirements, approaches to qualification and funding.'

• The report is available here