Oxfordshire childminders on the advantages of home nurseries

The last decade has seen a 50% drop in the number of UK childminders registering with Ofsted, while the costs of childcare continue to rise. But some parents are trying to fill the gap with the support of new businesses aiming to make childcare cheaper and more flexible.

The decline in the number of childminders has caused concerns for parents, despite the government's recent announcement of between 15 and 30 hours of free childcare.

It has left some preschools warning that waiting lists are at a 20-year high, and prompted one in 10 mothers with under-fours to quit work over childcare.

The founder and CEO of childminding agency Tiney, Brett Wigdortz, said if the government was going to deliver on its promise of more affordable childcare more people needed to retrain.

But he said the company's community of childminders had increased tenfold between 2021 and 2022, showing it was possible to thrive.

Krista Baker, from Abingdon, registered with Tiney after a career at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

With children of her own, she knew she wanted more flexibility so took the leap and opened her nursery at home in 2022.

"There's such a need for childcare in Abingdon - I took the opportunity to fill the gap," she said.

"I now have up to four children per day, including my own, and it's great fun.

"I absolutely love my job and seeing these children feeling safe, secure and happy with me is incredibly rewarding."

Mrs Baker, who said her knowledge of dinosaurs came in handy in the activities she planned, said she was "overwhelmed with demand" before she even opened.

Stephanie Martindale started her home nursery in Didcot in July 2022, after having her first baby in October 2021.

When her maternity leave ended, her local nursery still could not offer her a place.

"Didcot is difficult for childcare," she said, adding: "The demand here is crazy - finding families is easy."

She and her partner look after six children between them, and she considers offering flexible hours to be one of the benefits of her service.

Rachel Monk, who lives in Arborfield Green, Berkshire, has one son who has been with his Tiney childminder in Crowthorne since he was six months old.

"I like the idea that he's not inside all day, or just in a little play area, but that he's actually seeing the world," she said.

Mr Wigdortz said there were 200,000 childminders in France and only about 20,000 in England.

"There's no reason we can't also have 10 times the current numbers," he said.

The government now offers 15 hours free childcare for two-year-olds, with another 15 hours for nine-month-olds - offered to working parents from September.

Mrs Baker said the offered amounts were "finally sustainable" but they could amount to a pay cut over time.

"If I keep my current cohort of all one-year-olds until they are three, and continue to accept the funding then my earnings will have halved in two years," she said.

"When I asked the learning authority about this they told me to average out the amount across the three years but unfortunately, I'm not sure my mortgage provider will see it that way."

Mr Wigdortz considers childminders to be "the perfect candidates to deliver the rollout of the government's new funded hours scheme".

"We're proof that people can thrive as childminders when the right support is on offer - Stephanie and Krista being two perfect examples," he added.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: "We have launched a national recruitment campaign and a new accelerated early years apprenticeship, to help recruit more staff into the brilliant childcare sector and make sure the rollout of our largest ever expansion of free childcare is a success.

"We are also investing hundreds of millions of pounds to increase rates paid for government-funded hours, which can be used to support staff salaries, and are providing a package of training, qualifications, and expert guidance worth up to £180m to help retain staff in the sector."

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