97 percent of registered child minders say change of date for new ratios will place more children in an unsafe, unregulated and illegal environments

After years of campaigning, Registered Child Minders (RCMs) in Unite have won an increase to childminding ratios but they are now calling on health minister Mike Nesbitt to intervene to ensure children are full protected during their introduction.

Earlier this month, the department announced the results of a consultation on new childminding ratios and that they would increase from 1 June. RCMs immediately started to take additional bookings from parents. However, following an unhelpful intervention by the Northern Ireland Childminders Association (NICMA), the department flip-flopped and changed the date for implementation to the 9 November meaning RCMs had to cancel child places.

A Unite survey of RCMs confirmed hundreds of children would be displaced by the decision. In the survey 97 per cent said that they thought the delay would mean children being placed in non-registered childcare which is unsafe, unregulated and illegal.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said, “The health department has managed to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory with its knee-jerk decision to delay the date the new ratios will be introduced. Its flip flopping has created new disruption instead of providing future sustainability for the sector.”

Unite has written seeking the health minister intervenes and ensures a transitional implementation allowing the minority of RCMs with three or more children under 18 months to continue as they are, until their children qualify for the next age category, while also allowing the majority to adopt the new ratios immediately.

Unite regional officer Collette O’Hagan said, “More than 900 children will lose their places as a result of the department’s decision. Minister Nesbitt needs to intervene and ensure a safe transition to avoid children going to unregulated, unsafe and illegal providers.”