Nannies snubbed in move on new status

The snub came last week in a consultation paper on Government plans to introduce payment for 'home childcarers' by the childcare tax credit element of Working Families Tax Credit from April 2003. But nannies, who already work with children in their parents' homes, will be excluded from the initiative unless they first become registered childminders. Even then, registered childminders will be given first priority to be registered as home childcarers, the consultation said.

In her foreword to the paper, Supporting the cost of home-based childcare, early years minister Catherine Ashton described the proposals for home carers as 'a key development in our National Childcare Strategy' and admitted that formal childcare provision is 'not always accessible or affordable' to many parents who work long hours, shifts or at weekends. She said home childcarers would also work with families with children who have disabilities as they 'are less likely to be able to access childcare because of a lack of disabled access and facilities, or perhaps because of a lack of suitably qualified staff'.