Draft Childcare Action Plan to address funding and regulation

CHILDREN’S Minister Katherine Zappone will today launch the Draft Childminding Action Plan, which will be put to public consultation.

The Draft Plan sets out proposals for improving access to high quality and affordable early learning and care, as well as school-age childcare through childminding.

As well as publishing the Draft Action Plan, the Minister will also launch a public consultation process on the proposals.

Work on the proposals began in 2016, when Ms Zappone established the Working Group on Reforms and Supports for the Childminding Sector.

Ms Zappone said: ‘Childminding is of huge importance to children, to parents, to our economy, and to our society. However, it has not received the support it deserves in our public funding or our system of regulation.

‘This Draft Action Plan aims to address this. It recognises the valuable work that childminders do and aims to ensure they can access the supports they need.

‘The Draft Action Plan sets out positive reform proposals to bring childminding into the mainstream of support, funding and regulation.’

The Working Group previously submitted a report of recommendations to the minister.

In line with the recommendations, the Draft Action Plan proposes to extend supports and regulation to all paid, non-relative childminders on a phased basis over a 10-year period.

A key benefit of the proposal to bring childminding into the scope of regulation is that it will allow parents who use childminders to access subsidies under the National Childcare Scheme, which will require the use of Tusla-registered service providers.

The plan will mainly address childminders who work in their own homes, who are self-employed.

It will not propose to regulate nannies or au pairs.