Urging All Childminders To Respond

[angeldelight]

Read this and see what you all think

They do want childminders to repsond if you look at the bottom of the page

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Childcare Act 2006: Future Approach to fees and subsidies - consultation
On 21 November 2007 the DCSF launched their consultation into a proposed new fees structure for the Early Years Register (EYR) and Ofsted Childcare Register (OCR). The government is seeking views on the following proposals for childminders:

To charge the same fee for both the voluntary and compulsory elements of the OCR, and for both new registrations and renewals;
To raise the fee for registering on the OCR to £103 as of September 2008;
To introduce gradual increases in registration fees for the EYR in 2008 and 2009 (to £25 and then £30) followed by a substantial increase in 2010 (to £100);
Those registering on both the OCR and EYR will only pay fees for the EYR;
Criminal Records Bureau checks will continue to be subsidised by Ofsted;
To utilise the savings that government will make by increasing the registration fees to provide additional resources to local authorities to provide grants and other assistance to early years providers, based on a local assessment of need.

The consultation notes that "…no proposed fee is more than approximately 1.5% of the mean net annual income for the relevant part of the sector…" and argues that a "simpler, fairer fees system… will provide a better balance between what childcare providers can afford to pay and support from the tax payer…".

NCMA is concerned that the new fees represent a significant new burden for childminders. An increase of 400 per cent for the EYR over three years and 686 per cent for the OCR over one year will come as a significant shock to childminders, half of whom earn less than £7000 per year. NCMA is particularly concerned that childminders currently caring for children aged 5-7 that will have little time to prepare for the higher OCR charges.

NCMA feels that this additional burden may undermine childminders' efforts to sustain their businesses, thereby hampering the government's aim to meet its target of increasing the availability and affordability of childcare – especially for hard-to-reach groups with whom childminders are particularly suited to working.

NCMA is not convinced that replacing discounted fees that apply to all providers with a new system of subsidies will benefit small businesses such as childminders. Larger businesses are better placed to bid for grants and aid, especially where they have dedicated administrators or managers able to pursue funds and meet officials. Childminders are often individuals working in their own home for whom running a business is secondary to their concern for the well-being of children and their relationship with the families with whom they work. NCMA is concerned that they may therefore miss out on the opportunities available.

NCMA will respond to the consultation in full before 20 February. Due to the importance of this consultation, we would urge all childminders to respond as well. The consultation can be seen online at www.dcsf.gov.uk

You can respond at online or in writing to:
Consultation Unit
Department for Children Schools and Families
Area 1A
Castle View House
East Lane
Runcorn
Cheshire
WA7 2GJ


or by e-mail to: [e-mail]



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You can find this information on the NCMA website I just could not get the link to work

Angel xx

[lorri]

Hi Angel

I tried to read it but didn't understand a word of it!

Sorry must be in a dippy mood again!

Lorri x

[smartimartie]

Angel, could you clarify. Have a read the above correctly.

I am currently on the EYR and that is my annual payment to Ofsted. This will increase to £25 in 2008 etc etc.

I will not have to pay the OCR fee as well. (Over 8's Register??)

PM me if I've missed the point.

Thanks.

[jo]

I couldn't make head nor tail of it.
Could you spell it out in black and white for us struggling please- Sorry!!!!!!

[Pauline]

as I understand it the fee will gradually increase during the next 3 years to £100

If you qualify to be on the EYR you won't need to be on (or pay) for the OCR

Think I'm right, but could be wrong!!

[angeldelight]

Sorry I had to rush off and did not get time to make a comment before

Basically I agree with what Pauline said

My point to the post though is that it is on the NCMA website and a lot of childminders are getting confused with it

Some think they have to pay both amounts

I thought it was hard to understand and was just wondering why they do not write it in a way most of us understand ?

Angel xx

[angela234]

Thanks for explaining i glad i wasn't the only one who found it hard to understand

Angela

[june]

Hi Pauline , June here. maybe this is where Childminder Who freaked me about over 8's rule got her info from and it confused her (like the rest of us)

[lorri]

Thank goodness I wasn't the only one who didn't understand it! I was feeling really dim!

I think £100 is very steep, isn't it £18 at the moment? That's very cheeky. Do they realise how many hours we have to work to get £100?

Why on earth don't people write things in plain, simple language so that everyone is clear what they are saying? Mind you, sometimes I think that is exactly the point - they write it like that on purpose so that people are confused and so don't make an issue of it as they don't know what they're on about in the first place!

(Like when I was at school and didn't know how to spell something so I would write the word all scrunched up so the teacher hopefully couldn't tell! Ha ha!)

Lorri x




Do you know what, I've decided that I gabble on too much and I'm going to make the rest of my replies today really short!

[lorraine2767]

Hi

I didn't understand it either, thanks for explaining.

Lorraine xx

[raggydolls]

I havent got my certificate yet so i have no idea whether im OCR or EYR??

I know i just paid an ofsted registration fee of 18 pound tho

I will be caring for under 8's and i also think i need to be on a register for over 8's

either way making us pay over 100 isnt fair :-(

[deeb66]

This is the direct link to the consultation on the dcsf website:

www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations/conDocument.cfm?consultationId=1512

NCMA are urging all childminders to respond by the closing date in February.

If you don't feel confident enough to complete the consultation do you belong to a group? - maybe you could fill it in as a group response.

Dee

[smartimartie]

I agree it is a steep increase in cost.

I will be voting with my fingers and will put in a written protest.

However !!!!!!

When I got over my OMG £100..

I broke it down to be equivilent to £2 per week over a 50 week period.

Broken down further it is 40p per day based on a 5 day week.

Broken down further it is 13p a day based on having 3 child minded children per day!!

What other club, I asked myself, costs so little?

The cost of being inspected every 3 years must cost more than £300 (?)

I do however, acknowledge and agree, that newly registered childminders can ill afford it and it will put some off minding because the set up costs are high.

AND - I dont particularly want to part with my hard earned cash to ANYBODY!

[lorri]

What worries me as well is how long will they leave it at £100 before they decide to increase it again and what will it end up at?

[deeb66]

lorri said:

What worries me as well is how long will they leave it at £100 before they decide to increase it again and what will it end up at?

Exactly - this is what worries me too

Before we know it we will be brought into line with daycare and will end up paying over £400!!!! (can't remember exactly what their figure will be)

Dee

[mayberry]

Hi Angel

I have just cut and paste this to every one in my email address hope you don’t mind


Dawn x

[mayberry]

www.dcsf.gov.uk/consultations/conDetails.cfm?consultationId=1512



Dawn xx

sorry need to read all posts before sending

[Pauline]

What annoys me is that nurseries, out of school clubs etc. etc. all get funding from various government sources which will help to pay for this sort of thing.

As always, we childminders must pay it out of our hard earned profits

[strawbs]

raggydolls said:

I havent got my certificate yet so i have no idea whether im OCR or EYR??

I know i just paid an ofsted registration fee of 18 pound tho

I will be caring for under 8's and i also think i need to be on a register for over 8's

either way making us pay over 100 isnt fair :-(

same here i dont even know what a early years register is

[lesley]

I am so glad I'm not the only one who doesn't understand it.

Lesley

[deeb66]

When you are registered by Ofsted you go on a register/list. At the moment this register is one list and covers all minders who look after children between the ages of 0-8.

Once you have gone through your start up inspection you should then have another inspection anywhere between 5-7 months after you start minding. Once you have had this inspection your name goes into the next cycle list.

The way it works is that the computer randomly pulls out minders names to be inspected. Each 'cycle' consists of three years so according to theory every childminder should be receive an inspection anywhere between 1-3 years.

Even though you might not have an inspection every year you still have to pay your fee every year on the anniversary of your inspection/last fee paid which currently stands at £20.00 (just gone up)

Next year the registers will be split into 2 different registers and now there is another also

These registers are:-

0-5
5-7

The new register is to cover over 8's but is completely voluntary as the childcare act only covers a child until they reach their 8th birthday (costs you £100 to get on this register).

If you are already registered Ofsted will automatically transfer you name to the 2 registers with no cost to you but you will still have to pay your yearly fee and this is what the consultation is about. The annual fee is due to rise in the next couple of years and it will cost:

2008 - £25.00
2009 - £30.00
2010 - £100.00!!

If you read the consulatation you will see that this is for childminders and that other carers such as nurseries and daycare have higher rates (around £450.00) which leads us childminders to think that eventually Ofsted will try and bring our fees in line with theirs.

I hope all this sheds a litle light on the situation but if you are still confused just yell.

Dee

[angeldelight]

I did mean to come and try to explain this and forgot

You have done it much better though Dee so thankyou

Hope everyone understands now

Angel xx

[karalh]

I was at an early years partnership meeting in Northampton 2 weeks ago where a talk was given by a woman from ofsted ( I forget exactly what her job title was) She said we will all automatically be transferred onto the 3 registers but we will still only pay the same fee we do know. She also said we can opt out of the voluntary part if we want to. She was very clear about the fee staying the same but its difficult to be sure until they contact us directly isn't it? We will probably find out for certain when we get the bill!

Kara

[deeb66]

Unfortunatley they are trying to increase our fees and that is what the consultation is for and unless we all put our opinion forward it will happen automatically and we will have no chance of stopping/blocking it!

Dee