I was annoyed to read two 'In my views' on the difficulty of working with management committees (28 August and 10 July). Without such committees there would be many fewer childcare places and fewer jobs for playworkers.
Having spent a great deal of my 'free' time over the past two years on committee business, I must point out that the work I and my fellow committee members do is entirely voluntary and we receive no financial recompense - unlike the nursery assistants we employ. We run a nursery (commissioned by Argyll and Bute Council), an after-school club and holiday clubs, and employ 12 staff. We are also working towards an Investors in People qualification.
While no-one on the committee has childcare qualifications, two of us have a lot of experience in management and finance. We respect the fact that our staff know much more about working with children, but they appreciate our business skills and experience. The idea is to work in partnership.
I am aware there are problems. For example, as a registered charity our constitution states that no member can serve on the committee for more than two years. This causes lack of continuity. Also, most members work and are unavailable on a day-to-day basis, which can cause a lack of communication.
I have a demanding full-time job and two young children to look after. Every weekend and most evenings I apply for grants, reply to letters and stockpile the huge amount of evidence the Care Commission requires for its annual inspection. My annual leave is spent going to meetings and conferences for the family centre. Indeed, my summer holidays were spent dealing with registering the after-school club with the Care Commission.
How can anybody be expected to do this amount of work on a voluntary basis? I don't know, but we have to carry on hoping somebody will because, if nobody comes forward, lots of children will lose their pre-five education and nursery, after-school and holiday club staff will lose their jobs.
It is important to me and to my fellow committee members to have a well-run establishment. But the work is immense and I am already worried about finding a replacement chairperson next year, when I must resign from the committee.
