Thousands of new childminders are being prevented from starting work because of delays in the registration process carried out by schools watchdog Ofsted, writes Derren Hayes.
New figures show there is such a backlog of applications for new and existing childminders that many are concerned Ofsted will struggle to register them all by the deadline of April next year.
Early Years: Early Days, Ofsted’s review of its first year of handling childcare inspections, reveals that 13,000 out of a total of 28,000 new childminder applications have still to be processed.
It is currently taking Ofsted six months to carry out police checks and pre-registration inspections on new childminders. By April 2003 it will have to turn around 70 per cent of applications within three months.
The registrations of around half the 105,000 existing childminders have transferred from local authorities to Ofsted. However, Ofsted needs to carry out unannounced inspections on the remainder of providers within the next six months if it is to meet its target.
Ofsted blames the delays on problems at the Criminal Records Bureau, applicants filling in forms incorrectly and teething problems with its IT system.
Early Years: Early Days from www.ofsted.gov.uk
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