'We're just an afterthought' - the childcare crisis in Swindon
The underfunding of the town's early years care
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Swindon’s childcare industry is currently in crisis
Years of chronic underfunding and mismanagement from Central Government through a series of unwanted, ill-advised and unattainable schemes, have resulted in hundreds of Nurseries closing their doors permanently and childminders leaving in droves.
By Amanda Wilkins & Jamie Hill
For Churchward childminder Amy Kohn it’s one thing after another.
When she started as a childminder 13 years ago, one of the biggest challenges she faced was the endless reams of paperwork. Every interaction had to be logged and marked down.
“Thankfully, that’s eased off now. The paperwork is definitely easier but now our biggest problem is funding and I would say it’s the main reason why there’s such a shortage in childminders.”
For Amy, the funding is a real issue. She has two assistants who help her out with her childminding work where she looks after around nine children every day ranging from two-year-olds to eight-year-olds who come for after-school sessions.
For her it costs £5.50 an hour to look after every child but the Government only pays, through the Childcare Voucher Scheme, £5.20. Meaning she has to absorb the 30p per hour shortfall per child herself. The Government’s free childcare scheme has been increasing by increments over the past few years with the current plan for every child nine months old to five years old to get 30 free childcare hours by September 2025.
“I’m definitely getting less money now. The Government actually put the funding down from £5.65 per child per hour a couple of years ago and the impact on my business has been huge.
“You can tell that whoever set the policy has never worked in the industry as this is simple maths that just doesn’t add up. They don’t take into consideration any other costs including staffing at minimum wage and all the resources we need to make this work. It’s like we’re an afterthought.
“I’d be surprised if anyone wants to get into childcare at the moment as it just doesn’t work.”
Another Government policy that will have a huge impact on the childcare industry is the ‘wraparound’ care scheme. This scheme, which will be introduced in phases from September, will see free pre and after school schemes for Primary School parents from 7am to 6pm.
Amy added: “This scheme will have a hugely detrimental affect on childminders. At the moment we have several children coming to us for after-school care but this scheme actually states that it will not be covering the free wraparound care for ‘domestic’ settings. So essentially every childminder will lose their after-school income and only nurseries and schools will benefit.
“This will be catastrophic. Nurseries and schools will obviously benefit but once again the work of childminders has been undervalued and overlooked. You’re going to see even more childminders leaving the industry when this happens.
“I love being a childminder. It’s my vocation but they are making it as difficult as possible to make it a viable profession.
“The thing is schools and nurseries are already oversubscribed and they will also suffer with this scheme as they just don’t have the infrastructure in place to provide all of this extra care. Childminders are a necessary part of how it all works but they’ve been overlooked.”
New figures released by school inspector, Ofsted, show that 3,320 of the 62,300 nurseries and childminders for under-fives in England have shut their doors in the past year alone, leaving 17,800 fewer childcare places available. The number of childcare services nationally has fallen drastically from 84,970 in 2015/2016 to 63,207 in 2022/2023, with more than 300 forced to close last year alone across the South West.
The startling number of provision closures is just as high in Swindon. There are currently more than two children for every childcare place, with a fall in childcare places in the town of 186, since 2018.
The number of places in 2023 has fallen from 232 to 221 and more than a quarter of Swindon childcare providers (nurseries and childminders) have left the market since 2018, falling from 356 to 258 providers.
The viability of the current government’s plans of free childcare for the vast majority of children, looks increasingly questionable given recent figures.
The new reforms will entitle most families to claim 30 hours of free childcare a week for children from nine months from 2025.
This is being phased in. From this month, working parents of two-year-olds are able to access 15 hours of free childcare and this will be extended to working parents of children from nine months from September 2024.
The policy is even getting criticism on a national scale.
According to The Guardian, (Saturday 02/12/2023) Jeremy Hunt’s flagship Budget Pledge to expand free childcare for British families is ‘doomed to failure.’
At the time of the budget announcement in March, Hunt pledged the sector would be given help to ready itself for the number of places needed to meet demand - but in the months since, thousands of nurseries have closed amid a spiraling cost of living crisis and a lack of Government support.
Experts say the decline means the Government’s plan to offer 30 hours of free childcare for under-fives from 2025 will be impossible to implement as they struggle to recruit and retain workers.
According to The Guardian almost 100,000 extra workers will be needed to fulfil Mr Hunts pledge and 180,000 additional places will be needed by the end of 2025 for the roll out to work.
Angela Jesson is a former childminder who now runs Shine Bright Nursery and Pre-School with her husband and business partner, Darren Jesson. The pre-school was graded outstanding by Ofsted in 2022. Angela has been working within the childcare sector since 2005 and in that time she has seen a great deal of change.
Angela said: “Childcare used to be childcare. Childcare is now so much more than that. It’s support and guidance for the whole family, the lack of funding for other services means that we no longer just look after children. We support everything from parenting and mental health to giving advice around changes in the children’s home life. We also have to create an environment where parents can make friends and share the experience of parenting young children seeking support, guidance and reassurance along the way.
“Ofsted requirements have changed with a lot more pressure placed on providers. They have changed the guidance a lot over the past few years. Funding rates for our SEND children have reduced due to budget cuts. Ratios have changed recently to allow us to care for more children, however this isn’t always realistic. There have been big decisions to make in terms of being affordable vs being able to invest into the nursery.
“The one thing that hasn’t changed has been the passion from practitioners to literally change these little people’s lives. They need the support of caring and nurturing practitioners that value and respect them and I’m lucky enough to say that that’s what the children get here.”
Angela explained that she believes the shortage of childcare places in Swindon is a result of the introduction of the two-year-old funding. She also has grave concerns that the new reforms will be unworkable given the current situation.
She said: “What wasn’t anticipated was the number of parents wanting to access the 15 hours free childcare. Existing parents also want to increase the hours that their children are already accessing because it’s more affordable. This is just the tip of the iceberg with 30 hours childcare coming into effect for all children over 9 months from September 2025. There isn’t enough space, we have shut our waiting list for an entire year.
“Running a nursery or childminding setting isn’t for the faint hearted. We open our settings to the world and the way we are regulated is like no other private business. We are told what we are being paid and how we can charge now the funding has and will take over the private income.
“The scrutiny we face from Ofsted and other agencies mean that businesses are running under the government’s stipulations more than ever. It’s no wonder settings and childminders are closing. It’s a really stressful job that’s only pacified by the joy you see and the difference you are making.”
Angela finds the government vouchers work for their small business as they don’t take large profits from the business but believes that in other, larger corporate settings, this is not the case. Angela believes the changes needed to improve the overall situation comes down to the funding, or rather lack of, from the council and The Government.
She said: “In all honesty Swindon Borough Council need more money to support settings and the children. The team in Swindon are experts and their support can really improve the outcomes for families within childcare. They need enough money to do their job well, right now there isn’t enough to go around, and they have had to cut discretionary funding which helps support the children who really need it.
“This makes me really sad, especially when they have promised a million pounds to enhance before and after school provision which in my opinion isn’t needed. Also cut business rates for businesses like ours. It’s so needlessly expensive. That money should go back into the nursery for the children.
“The Government also need to look at the amount of SEND funding we realistically need to care for all children, reducing it is just an insult to the children who need it. Stop making us jump through hoops for the small amount of funding we receive and trust our judgement when we say we need help!”
Swindon Childminder H, who wishes to remain anonymous, has been a childminder for 14 years and works with an assistant.
She is one of only a few childminders remaining in North Swindon, after 20 in the area left the profession last year.
Many closed their doors following the roll out of the two-year-old voucher scheme which left them out of pocket, as the hourly rate paid by the government was less than the childminders had previously charged and did not cover the true cost of caring for the children.
For H, the lower than average hourly rate voucher payments have been manageable due to non-funded parents paying the standard hourly fee. Her overall costs have been further subsidized by parents using her wraparound care service (before and after school care).
H is concerned for the future of her business due to the extension of funded children and the news that starting from September the Government will be offering free wraparound care for the majority of children, but the funding will not be available to childminders.
H said “We have about 10 after school children throughout the week that would potentially leave us if they could have free childcare before and after school. It would be a big financial hit. I’m not even sure the schools will have the staff to fulfill it.
“This will impact the children’s care during holiday time as I wouldn’t be able to sustain the business without them during term-time, I would have to let my assistant go and there would be no room for the children in the holidays.”
Like other childminders we spoke to, H is also struggling with the council voucher payments which are paid in arrears, often three weeks late.
A couple of weeks ago Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson visited Swindon and actually sat down with childminder Amy Kohn to talk about the crisis in childcare.
Amy said: “I’ve got to be honest it was nice to be listened to as so often as a childminder you feel that you are overlooked.
“According to her Labour is currently putting together a review of the early years system that would form the basis of reforms to the childcare sector. It’s being put together by respected former Chief Inspector of Schools Sir David Bell.
“It is my hope that if new Labour Government follow the recommendations of this review we’ll finally have a system that works for everyone in the sector.
“I dread to think what would happen otherwise.”
The Ink News Briefing
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The Ink Piece
Culture Vulture
Making a Scene
A Spotlight on... Splat The Rat
By Dave Franklin of Dancing About Architecture
To start an article immediately on a tangent might seem odd, but it will add a lot of context to what follows, help me position the band in question in a particular philosophical sonic landscape, and, perhaps most importantly, upset a few people. (As Eric Blair once said, Journalism is printing something someone does not want to be printed. Everything else is public relations. And who am I to argue with someone who kept a pet goat called Muriel?)
Contemporary music has got it wrong. Since the rise of the musician as a star, we have fallen into an almost religious ritual—the artist or band in question, on stage, strutting their stuff like a minor god, and the audience stood facing them in the act of wide-eyed devotion. We see such artists as icons rather than entertainers, things to be worshipped rather than makers of music to be danced to on a Friday night to forget about the working week. They, not politicians and civic leaders, seem to be calling the tune of modern life. Quite literally. Just look at the likes of Taylor Swift. If, on a Monday, she told her fans to invade any small African country of her choice, she would be sitting on its throne by Thursday lunchtime.
Go back far enough; music used to be....trigger warning... inclusive. And by that, I mean just that the division between band and punter, between stage and the room, between them and us was blurred; everyone played a part to make the thing, the party, the collective exorcism of the stress and worries of the day-to-day, happen. From the wandering troubadour to the pub folk jam to the swing band to the itinerant jazz players, it was music as entertainment, not as a fast track to celebrity and fortune. It rarely happens these days, but I do find myself in such a place, both metaphorically and physically, when I watch Splat The Rat. (See, I got there in the end.)
The thing I love most about them is that they are as much an institution as they are a band. Over the years, players have moved through their ranks, gently evolving the band but never genuinely changing its fundamental nature. That fundamental nature is one of playing fired-up folk and occasionally reflective roots music to the tired and huddled, drunk and joyful masses.
What Splat The Rat does, and does so well, follows in the traditions of the pre-pop era music makers. They take songs from the existing canon of favourites—standards, as they are called in the realms of folk, jazz, and blues—and with a bit of spit and polish, a push and a shove, put their spin on them and make them fit for service in the modern age. It's how music has always been made, at least in the period from the Peasants Revolt to Love Me Do.
But that isn't to say that they aren't a band that also moves with the times. This is certainly not a band whose audience is made up of cable-knit sweater-sporting, pipe-puffing, beardy folk gatekeepers who are still banging on about how they managed to pick up a copy of Liege and Lief for under a tenner on Discogs eight years ago. And their music reflects this.
In their set, you might find everything from Celtic favourites from the days of yore (and indeed mine) to folk revival classics such as The Mighty Richard Thompson's Beeswing (to give him his full title) to their own self-penned compositions. Throughout, you will be entertained; this band understands the art of giving the audience what they need rather than what they think they want. You will find what you need, and even what you didn't realise you needed, here whether you are in the market for a slice of heads-down-no-nonsense-mindless-folk music or something more deft and delicate. They have it covered for a beer-spilling jig or something lovely and lilting. Be it singalong solidarity or if you just want to revel in the narratives and traditions of the past, this is the band for you.
Why merely go to a gig when you can be an integral part of the party? Why indeed?
Send any review submissions in physical form to: Dave Franklin, Dancing About Architecture, 21 Portsmouth Street, Swindon, SN1 2LF
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