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Title: Childminding Associations Respond To Childcare Costs Study
Date: 15th February 2006
News Details:
NICMA - the Childminding Association, the lead agency representing over 2,500 Registered Childminders across Northern Ireland, today responded to the recent study on childcare costs carried out by the Daycare Trust in Great Britain. NICMA’s Director Bridget Nodder says: “Registered Childminders in Northern Ireland charge the lowest fees across the United Kingdom. Current recommended charges are from £88 per child for a full time 40 hour place [or £110 for a 50 hour week] with a childminder. This equates to a minimum charge of £2.20 per hour, per child which is not a high wage bearing in mind the responsibility involved in caring for a child. Fortunately a Registered Childminder can care for more than 1 child although there are restrictions placed on the numbers so that children are provided with appropriate care and activities.
The cost of childcare can take a large chunk out of a family’s income although many families will be able to make use of the Tax Credit system to pay for a proportion of their childcare costs, as long as they use registered childcare; up to 70% of childcare costs can be claimed depending on family income. However, if you look at it from a different perspective, a Registered Childminder caring for 2 children on a full time basis is not even earning the equivalent of the national minimum wage. We need, therefore, to create a balance between the cost to the family, and the childminder earning a decent wage for the responsibility involved – and this means investing in a service that provides not only early learning experiences for children but also supports families in their working life”.
In Northern Ireland we have not had the investment in childcare that Great Britain has benefited from – the £17 billion spent on childcare by the Labour Government has not made its way to Northern Ireland and therefore our families and our childminders are missing out. Childminding is a very under resourced sector and yet provides 76% of full daycare provision with more than 22,000 places for pre-school and after-school children.
This lack of sustained investment in the sector was highlighted in NICMA’s report ‘A Way Forward for the Childminding Sector’ launched in 2005 which highlighted the need to:
• Invest in and sustain the Childminding sector
• Increase the number of Registered Childminders
• Raise the profile and recognise the status of Childminding
• Provide support for Childminders
• Commit to the need for Training and Quality Assurance for Childminders
Contact Name: Bridget Nodder
Contact Number: 028 9181 1015/07850 102561
Email: bridget.nodder@nicma.org
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