As part of our ongoing commitment to secure action to reduce childminders’ unsustainable workloads SCMA has continued to layer on the evidence for change and to influence this in different ways –
Education Reform: SCMA submission on impact of bureaucracy on childminders
Following our earlier submission to the Expert Group on Education Reform (which will make recommendations as to what scrutiny activity will replace the removal of the inspection function from Education Scotland), we made a further and more detailed submission in response to the Expert Group’s consultation exercise on Education Reform which closed last Friday. This included additional information requested from SCMA during a recent meeting led by the Expert Group’s Chair, Prof Ken Muir. Within our response we have stated advised that:-
- action is urgently required to reduce duplicative scrutiny and quality assurance at national and local levels which has arisen during Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) expansion and which has had a significant adverse effect on the childminding workforce. This has significantly increased workload and the number of childminders leaving our workforce - 26% decline (1457 childminders) in the last five years, with the levels of bureaucracy and paperwork associated with childminding practice cited as the main reason that childminders have left or are considering leaving our workforce. This has significant implications for families, access to childcare, parental choice and for the delivery of future Scottish Government policy ambitions;
- there is a need to deliver a single or shared inspection covering both early childcare (Care Inspectorate) and learning (Education Scotland);
- there is a need to reduce duplicative inspection and quality assurance at national and local levels, between the Care Inspectorate (nationally) and local authorities (who also have a legal responsibility to oversee quality locally) resulting in duplicative inspection and quality assurance activity;
- there is an urgent need to review the wider scrutiny landscape BEFORE creating any additional scrutiny through Education Reform, the National Care Service and the development of the Programme for Government’s commitments to extend ELC to one year-olds and to develop a new system of wraparound school aged childcare (SAC). These are very significant policy developments and areas in their own right and all of which have the potential to adversely impact further on childminders’ workloads. This also built on our recent response to the Scottish Government consultation on the National Care Service in which we ensured the voice of childminders’ was heard.
SCMA ELC Audit 2021
Last Thursday we also published our latest ELC Audit in which we also captured data about the impact of delivering funded hours on childminders’ workloads. Our linked survey of childminders found that:-
- 86.3% of childminders involved in delivering funded ELC reported a significant increase/increase in paperwork.
- 93.3% of childminders not involved in delivering funded ELC believed it would result in a significant increase in paperwork; respondents also reported this as the main factor in deciding not to get involved in ELC).
- only 57.3% of childminders involved in delivering funded ELC would recommend doing so.
- 40+% of childminders involved at different stages of funded ELC still find the tendering exercises and documentation very difficult/difficult.
We have fed these results back to the Scottish Government and also shared our ELC Audit 2021 findings with a range of stakeholders including the Care Inspectorate, COSLA, all 32 Scottish local authorities and the Scottish Parliament.
Upcoming SCMA Action
- Later this week the Scottish Government’s Action Plan on Childminding Monitoring Group will meet. During its last meeting SCMA secured agreement that the main priority on tackling bureaucracy needs to be reducing duplicative quality assurance systems at a national and local level. Discussion will continue on this and on the findings of our ELC Audit 2021. Members will already be aware of SCMA’s role in advocating for and securing the Action Plan in response to our large-scale survey which found the level of bureaucracy and paperwork associated with childminding practice was the main reason childminders had been leaving our workforce or are planning to do so in the next five years.
- Since shining a light nationally on this by making an earlier written submission to the Independent Expert Group on Education Reform, sharing our submission with the Scottish Government, Care Inspectorate and widely across our sector, urging senior stakeholders to recognise the problems and to commit to working with SCMA to addressing them, a range of other organisations have added their voice to our concerns and spoken about this issue both within childminding and beyond.
- This is an issue which is affecting all childcare providers, but childminding is being affected much more due to the majority of you being sole workers, being expected to meet the same standards and undertake the same work as other providers with teams of staff. We’ve worked to push this issue up the agenda and this has become one of the most important items of discussion in a range of national meetings and consultation exercises.
- The independent research into our workforce trends, recommended by SCMA, has continued to be undertaken by Ipsos/MORI and to be overseen jointly by the Scottish Government, Care Inspectorate and SCMA, and is expected to be published by the end of this year.
Members should be assured no one else has been doing, is doing or will do more to support childminders in Scotland.