CCW 2012 Presentation

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PRES FIS RBA (070212) FINAL

The project will provide a critical analysis on the age, gender and diversity profile of those working within the early years and childcare sector. In addition, it will provide an update on qualifications and analysis of the views and aspirations of employers and employees with regards to developing a skilled and qualified workforce. This in turn will provide the Care Council for Wales and its partners with the facts needed to define occupational standards and qualification requirements; and to improve the match between the needs of employers and what education and training providers deliver, within the early years and childcare sector.

This training was designed to introduce Family Information Service teams to Results Based Accounting both in the context of Families First and in measuring the performance of their own services.

Download the RBA Training Handouts here.

And the childminders’ professional body, the National Childminding Association (NCMA) Cymru, said that for every registered childminder in Wales, three jobs are supported elsewhere in the country.

The findings, part of an NCMA Cymru study into childminding and child poverty, suggest childminding is crucial in supporting jobs and ensuring parents can find work.

We are pleased to be providing Trafford Children & Young People’s Service with an update of these profiles. Our aim in doing so will be firstly, to provide more up-to-date information to inform planning and secondly, to provide possible measurement of change. Examining trends as illustrated by data will enable a pro-active approach to be taken by Children’s Centres in meeting new challenges, allocating resources and cautiously measuring indicators of success.

Parents spend almost a third of their incomes on childcare – more than anywhere else in the world, according to a study by Save the Children and the Daycare Trust. For four out of 10 families the cost of childcare is on a par with mortgage or rent payments, the study showed.

Of those families in severe poverty, nearly half have cut back on food to afford childcare and 58% said they were, or would be, no better off working once childcare was paid for.

The research found that parents, regardless of income, cannot afford not to work but struggle to pay for childcare, and despite many parents cutting back their spending almost a quarter are in debt because of childcare costs.

Cuts to the working tax credit have hit families struggling in severe poverty, the charities said. Four in 10 of those affected have considered giving up work because they will no longer earn enough to cover the childcare bill. The cut has added an average of £500 a year on to the childcare bill of low income families, the research found.

A quarter of parents in severe poverty have given up work and a third have turned down a job mainly because of high childcare costs.

Of those parents in severe poverty and in paid employment 80% agreed with the statement: “Once I have paid for childcare, I am in a similar position to as if I was not working.”

A quarter of parents in severe poverty have been unable to take up education or training because of high childcare costs and six out of 10 parents, regardless of income, said they can’t afford not to work but struggle to pay for childcare.

The research supports research for a number of Childcare Sufficiency Assessments undertaken by Melyn Consulting on behalf of local authorities across England and Wales.

BBC Wales

Families requiring childcare would typically have to earn at least 20 per cent more this year than in 2010 (before tax and benefits) to meet the minimum income standard. This is because Child Benefit has been frozen and tax credits have been reduced for many families. Most significantly, tax credits helping low-income families meet childcare costs have been cut.

To meet the minimum income standard:

• Families with a single earner need gross earnings of £31,600.
• If both parents work, they need to earn £18,400 each – a total of £36,800.
• A lone parent would have to earn £18,200.

This makes it harder for low-paid women to earn enough even to cover the cost of childcare.

The cut in childcare support is particularly important. It means, for example, that someone with two children paying £200 weekly in childcare may have to contribute £60 rather than £40 to these costs – a 50 per cent increase. Making up the shortfall would require an extra £1,000 a year in disposable income. To generate this would require additional gross earnings of about £3,700, with £1,200 then deducted in tax and National Insurance contributions and a reduction of £1,500 in tax credits. This helps to explain why a couple with two children, both parents working full time, would need to earn 24 per cent more in 2011 than in 2010 to cover a minimum budget, once childcare costs are taken into account.

http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/minimum-income-standard-uk-2011