Specialist agencies urge government to look at gaps in childcare provision

RA Now

Rapid expansion of the childcare workforce is needed to cope with the expanding population across the UK, specialist recruitment agencies have told the Department for Education.

REC Childcare, the REC’s specialist sector group that represents recruitment agencies who deal with childcare staff, domestic workers, nannies and au pairs, met senior government officials in October to discuss the government’s flagship childminder agency proposals.

The UK had the highest number of births for 40 years recorded in mid-2012. At the same time as this increase, the Department for Education highlighted that childminder numbers have declined over the last two decades, with fewer younger childminders entering the workforce. The number of registered childminders has almost halved between 1992 and 2011, from 106,000 to around 57,000.

The Institute of Recruitment Professionals said that it believes the launch of childminder agencies is a positive step to raising the status of childcare as a role and illustrates that the government is finally starting to take action in meeting the UK childcare gap.

The organisation has urged the government to go further in looking at the role nanny agencies and other intermediaries could play in tackling the childcare gap so families can participate fully in the economy.

“It is time government and the industry bust some of the myths out there surrounding the development of new forms of supply in the childcare space,” said Yvette Oliver-Mighten, an executive committee member of the REC Childcare sector group currently participating in the government pilots of childminder agencies in the East Midlands.

This includes proceeding with the implementation of the recommendations of the Nutbrown independent review into the childcare workforce, Foundations for Quality, including raising the status and qualifications of the workforce in the medium to long-term.

“Recruitment agencies are experts at sourcing candidates with the right skills as and when they are needed,” Oliver-Mighten added. “They have a major role to play in an evolving childcare market.”