The days of "childminders" are numbered. The National Childminding Association (NCMA) has asked its members to vote on a list of alternative names after the association’s national executive committee questioned whether the word childminder reflects the professionalised role such workers are increasingly filling.

Among the alternative names are "home daycare provider", "professional child care practitioner" and "home childcarer".

The NCMA says a factor in the move to change title is the media. "Despite NCMA’s constant campaigning… journalists and programme makers continue to use ‘childminder’ as a catch-all term to describe all child carers including teenage babysitters, au pairs and unqualified nannies."

The new name will be chosen in November after a shortlist has been drawn up through postal and e-mail consultation.