Claire, 36, always dreamed of setting up a childminding business in her home, so this year she applied for training through a company called Tiney. Before she could go any further, she was told she needed permission from her landlord.
After a month of waiting for an update, Claire was told in July that the local authority had said no, citing health and safety. It said her two-bedroom council-owned property was too small.
Claire, from the West Midlands, argues that she has a garden and a park nearby, and that her flat is not cramped. “I have a living room – it’s not small but an average size, and I can set up an arts and crafts table,” she says. Her plans are now on hold.
To make matters worse, she claims the council is ignoring her appeal. “I have fibromyalgia [a condition that causes pain all over the body],” she says. “I have two children of my own, and I’m willing to put myself out there and do something I love to help other parents … It feels unfair. They are telling me to get a grant and rent a building but I’m currently not working.”
Her story is not unique. Tiney, a leading childminder agency, says 14% of prospective applicants drop out because their landlord or local authority, etc does not agree to let them run their business from home.
It comes amid a crisis in childcare in the UK, with official data showing that between 31 August 2021 and 31 August 2022, the early years sector lost 5,400 providers, with most of that because of a sharp fall in the number of childminders.
At the end of August last year there were 48% (27,800) fewer Ofsted-registered childminders than there were in August 2012.
Currently, childminders living in rented accommodation must obtain written permission from their landlord or, if they live in a council-owned property, their local authority. However, Tiney says childminders operate under strict ratios – in England they can care for a maximum of six children under the age of eight – and it adds that they are all regularly inspected by or on behalf of Ofsted.
The issue was recently raised by the children and families minister at the time, Claire Coutinho, who said that too often, prospective childminders were “having the door slammed in their faces” and called on housing associations, landlords and developers to let childminders work from their rented properties “to help encourage entry into the profession and increase availability of childcare”.
Laura, a prospective childminder from London, says she was “so excited to embark on my new career” as a childminder running her own small business.
“I made it through each stage of the process without any difficulty but fell down at the last hurdle,” she says.
“Living in a property owned by a housing association means I need to get permission before offering childcare services from home. I didn’t expect to encounter problems with this. I thought, if anything, my plans would be welcomed as I’d be helping the local community by offering affordable childcare. But I was rejected and given no clear reason behind their decision. I’ve been in touch several times since but received the same flat ‘no’,” she says.
She describes it as “heartbreaking” to have her “dream halted” by something totally beyond her control.
She says: “I’m currently working in a care home but it’s young children I really want to build my career around. I’m seriously considering moving house in order to pursue this. Uprooting my family isn’t my ideal solution but it feels like the last option available to me.”
Last month, Coutinho wrote to housing associations, social landlords and others to urge them to provide better support to prospective childminders, saying this would help tackle the “unfair barriers” confronting those who rent or live in a leasehold property, compared with those who own their own home.
However, in response, the National Residential Landlords Association claimed housing providers were not the issue, and called for mortgage lenders and insurers to be more flexible, as well as for tenancy deposits to be allowed to reflect the greater risk of damage to properties used for childminding.
Brett Wigdortz, the chief executive of Tiney and the founder of the educational charity Teach First, says it is true that some landlords are supportive. However, the idea that “tenancy deposits should be larger for childminders falsely suggests that the profession is a destructive or careless one”, he adds.
“It disregards the competency of these early years professionals. Childminders operate under strict adult-to-child ratios and must pass home safeguarding checks that require their settings to be kept to a high standard. Far from damaging a property, childminding offers an added incentive to maintain a welcoming environment,” he says.
Wigdortz says that while insurers and mortgage lenders can make things easier by recognising that opening a childminding service does not alter the property’s “domestic function”, landlords also need to be willing to have that initial conversation with their insurer and mortgage lender, “and not jump to the conclusion that this will be costly for them”.
He says he constantly hears stories like Laura’s, adding: “Prospective childminders are going to great lengths to meet their local authority’s demands. We’ve seen them provide solutions to every objection raised by councils and, in some cases, even obtain written consent from each of their neighbours, but the outcome remains the same.”
“There’s no way of knowing how many excellent candidates rule out a childminding career before embarking on a training programme because they think they won’t get permission from their landlord. Across the UK, it’s likely that thousands of people are prevented from becoming childminders because of this arbitrary process,” says Wigdortz, adding that this disproportionately affects those from “deprived areas”.
A Local Government Association spokesperson says: “Given the restrictions some childminders face when working from their home and the need to attract more people to the profession, councils are in favour of more flexible measures to make it easier for those living in rental and leasehold properties.
“This needs to be balanced against the safety of children and quality of provision offered, which should always be the most important consideration.”