Govt u-turn on Ofsted child care rules
Dear all,
You will recall the publicity nearly two weeks ago about DC Leanne Shepherd and DC Lucy Jarrett from Thames Valley Police who were told that new Ofsted guidelines meant they were banned from the reciprocal working arrangement to look after each others children as they were not registered child minders.
The Ofsted rules state that friends cannot gain a 'reward' by looking after a child for more than two hours outside the child's home unless they register with Ofsted and follow the same regulations as normal child minders. Under the rules, reward is defined as 'the supply of service or goods' or 'reciprocal arrangement'. The officers were told their 'reward' was free care for their daughters.
The officers were rightly not prepared to just accept this bureaucratic nonsense and challenged the decision. They set up an e-petition on the 10 Downing Street site and attracted national media attention - featuring on GMTV, BBC News, as well as national and local newspapers; all with much help, support and advice from Thames Valley JBB, particularly secretary Andy Viney.
The following week national Federation General Secretary, Ian Rennie and Chairman, Paul McKeever met with the Minister of Schools, Children and Families, Vernon Coaker MP at the Labour Party conference in Brighton to discuss the issue. The Minister agreed that the law was never intended to be interpreted as had been in this case and would look into it.
Today I am pleased to report that the following announcement has been circulated to all those who signed the e-petition and it now appears on the 10 Downing Street website. This is excellent news and testament to the courage of DC Shepherd and DC Jarrett ably assisted by the Police Federation locally and nationally. We are delighted that common sense has prevailed, welcome the announcement and will watch closely to ensure that Ofsted now operate under this new direction.
The Government's response
The Childcare Act 2006 requires anyone providing 'childcare for reward' to register with Ofsted, with the aim of ensuring every child in a commercial childcare service is safe and well cared for. Parents would expect no less. However, our intention has always been that friends and families caring for children through informal arrangements should be exempt from having to register and we believed that was what always happened. In the light of this recent case we are talking to Ofsted about how we can make sure there's a shared understanding with Ofsted, and with parents, of what the law means and how it should interpreted.
Since 1997 we have invested £25bn in childcare and early years services, doubling the number of childcare places available for children under 8 to support working families and providing more support than ever before with childcare costs, with over £3.8 million a day going directly into parents hands to help pay for childcare through tax credits.
Regards
Metin Enver
Head of Communications
The Police Federation of England and Wales
