Approved Childcare in the Family Home
Produced in July 2006
One of the Wales Assembly Governments key ambitions is to provide accessible, affordable, quality childcare for all parents.
Care in the child’s own home is currently specifically exempt from regulation or approval. This means that parents using such childcare are unable to benefit from tax credits support. In addition parents are not able to obtain information about potential carers from Criminal Records Bureau. This can only be done by bodies such as nanny agencies.
The Government now wants to do more to support families by:
- Extending government support through the tax credit system and other tax benefits associated with employer-related childcare voucher schemes to make quality childcare affordable to a wider range of parents;
- Encouraging employers to help with the cost of registered and approved childcare;
- Putting in place checks on the suitability of a person to work with children that are not currently a requirement where care is unregulated;
- Providing a means whereby parents can get information about the suitability of individuals to work with children and specifically about the level of their qualification;
- Broadening the approval of childcare where individual providers meet acceptable standards;
- Ensuring that approval processes are as straightforward as possible;
This consultation document lays out how we propose to do this and seeks views on this approach. Therefore take a look at the full consultation document and express your views and thoughts surrounding it.
