The majority of care professionals working with younger children oppose government plans to change childcare policy, a charity has claimed.
The Pre-School Learning Alliance is a charity representing ‘early years’ childcare specialists, and has over 14,000 member organisations.
In a newly published survey, members expressed firm opposition to a variety of changes planned by the government. Eighty-five per cent said they were not in favour of plans to remove staff-to-child ratio and qualification requirements for care out-of-hours, while 86 per of childminders said they would not join new childminder agencies. Eight out of ten also said they expected such agencies to encourage a further rise in the cost of childcare.
A proposal which would exempt childminders from Ofsted inspection, meanwhile, was also opposed by 85 per cent of the respondents.
Nick Leitch, chief executive of the Alliance, said the government was trying to introduce “childcare on the cheap”.
“The first five years of a child’s life are crucial to their long-term development. As such, early years policy should be based on the knowledge and expertise of experienced childcare professionals who know what is best for young children’s learning and development. These results prove that government reforms are taking childcare in this country in completely the wrong direction.”
