Unpaid childcare arrangements between friends will be legally exempt from Ofsted registration and inspection under new legislation the Government announced this week.

Children's Minister Dawn Primarolo welcomed the move which will mean that from April this year, friends caring for one another's children without payment are no longer included within the remit of Ofsted.

Primarolo said: "I am pleased that following a positive response to our consultation, and overwhelming public support, friends supporting one another with unpaid childcare will be exempt from the registration and inspection process. This amendment has been made to ensure that hard-working parents are not penalised for supporting their friends with unpaid childcare.

"Formal childcare from childminders, nurseries and children's centres across the country provides an invaluable service to millions of families. It is right that we ensure formal childcare is of the highest possible standard and that this is backed up by thorough inspections by Ofsted to ensure every child has the best possible start in life.

"This move strikes the right balance between ensuring the quality and standards of formal childcare whilst protecting informal arrangements between friends."

Anne Longfield, Chief Executive of the charity 4Children, said: “4Children welcomes the common sense decision for reciprocal arrangements between friends to be exempt from Ofsted regulation and inspection. Parents need policy to go with the grain of family life and recognise the beneficial role that informal arrangements between family and friends play in help parents to strike a positive balance between work and family life.

“Despite improvements that have been made in childcare provision, balancing work and childcare arrangements is still a difficult challenge for most parents, particularly for those who work outside normal office hours. Many families now work irregular hours and shifts and for these reasons we would like to see childcare becoming more flexible and easier to access.”

Women perform better at interviews, have better presentation, communication, motivation skills, understand companies and cultures better, are more thorough, affable and better able to balance multiple tasks and yet, according to 42.7% of senior management surveyed by TheLadders.co.uk, they will not get the top job because they fear that women will leave to have children.

A poll of 500 bosses by TheLadders.co.uk, a careers site that specialises in £50K plus jobs and executives, found that 59% agree that women perform best at interview with women, outdoing men in 11 out of 18 criteria necessary for successful job meetings.

Senior managers cited qualifications (80%), fit (working as part of the team and company culture) (70.8%) and personality (65.5%) as the top three considerations in choosing the right candidate. When asked which gender delivered these criteria at interview, an overwhelming number pointed to women. Some 59% of bosses believe women present their skills more effectively, 63.9% say women understand the company culture and 72.3% find women more affable and personable in an interview situation.

However, when asked why there are not as many women who secure the top jobs, almost half of those surveyors said it was because they fear that women will leave to have children. 54% agree that there simply aren’t as many female candidates as male ones and 51% say that society just expects men to be in leadership roles. Some 38% feel that there is still inherent sexism in the workplace.

A further 45% say that women are simply less assertive when it comes to negotiating the top jobs and top salaries and 44.7% feel that lower pay and recognition for women is part of business stereotyping. Over one quarter of those surveyed believe men are rewarded for being more committed than women in their jobs.

Derek Pilcher, Managing Director of TheLadders.co.uk agrees with many respondents who say that whilst women are as qualified as men for senior positions, they simply aren’t applying. “This could be for a number of reasons which may well include the belief that men dominate the top jobs and this scares women from going for interview. Yet women obviously shine at interview and as such should be securing the top jobs when they apply. What is concerning is the un-spoken reasons for not employing women, and in particular the fear of losing female management after they have had children. This too may be seriously impacting the number of women who make it through to leadership roles.”

Some 41% of HR professionals think women have a difficult time reintegrating into the workforce after maternity leave, according to a survey by HR technology consultancy http://www.etsplc.com/

The survey of HR managers and directors from companies with over 1,000 employees or turnover in excess of £50m was conducted in February 2010.

The findings are consistent with those of a survey of mums conducted by the National Childbirth Trust in 2008.

ETS says companies need to do more in the way of taking pre-emptive action to ease the return of working mums. This includes Keeping in Touch Days and consultation on maternity cover.  “From the announcement of pregnancy through maternity leave and the return to work, the focus should be on ongoing involvement and consultation with the woman,” it says. “This should be supported by as much flexibility in working arrangements as is practical in a given situation.”

Hannah Stratford, Head of Consultancy at ETS, says: “With over a third of women saying that they find it difficult to reintegrate into the workplace, companies who don’t take a proactive approach to this issue face paying a high price. It’s clear from our research that many large organisations are trying to address these issues, but there’s still a long way to go, If organisations can find out the cause of these difficulties, they can work to improve the situation. Taking action will help companies to ensure that they get the best out of the female employees, alongside their family commitments.”

The Government today announced a range of measures aimed at improving early care of children, including initiatives on Sure Start and the right to ask for more flexible free childcare.

With the General Election looming closer, the Government’s announcement highlights an initiative to give every expectant parent a personal introduction to their local Sure Start centre and their own Sure Start contact to give them advice throughout pregnancy and their child’s early years. Sure Start centres, which provide help and advice on parenting, childcare, health and employment, are likely to be a key battleground in the fight for mothers’ votes in the election, with Labour claiming the Conservatives will cut it back.

The announcement came as the Government reached its target of 3,500 Sure Start Children’s Centres throughout the country.

It includes plans to give parents the right to be able to ask their local authority to find childcare for their three and four year olds who qualify for free early learning “at the time they want and which suits their needs”. From 2012 parents will be able to spread their free entitlement, which increases to 15 hours a week in September, over a whole year. The Government says this will help parents balance childcare with employment or training, and will enable them to budget consistently across the year.

Other initiatives being announced today include:

 

- improvements to maternity and early years services for families, including an offer to accommodate fathers to stay overnight at hospitals after their children are born, “where necessary and appropriate”

- a review of standards of nursery food

 

Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools, Children and Families, said: “Children’s centres are at the heart of our drive to improve early years services. In the same way all families can access GPs and schools, children’s centres will be providing a universal service to all parents - especially the most disadvantaged.”

The maternity and early years review has a package of measures to help all families, including:

 

- consulting on offering all women an assessment of health and social care needs, risks and choices by/at the 12th week of pregnancy

- looking into offering choice of place of birth

- extending the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) to all young, vulnerable families within 5 years, subject to evaluation 

- a “family start” meeting where the family is invited to meet with a health visitor or healthy child team between 12 and 26 weeks of pregnancy 

- promoting the benefits of talking and reading to babies and infants, to develop their speech and language skills 

- providing advice and support on nutrition and smoking for parents-to-be.

 

Health Secretary Andy Burnham said: "A child’s lifelong health, happiness and achievements are heavily influenced by their experience before birth and in their earliest years. That’s why it’s important that we give all families the support they need, and that they know what they are entitled to and can expect throughout pregnancy and beyond.”

 

"We know that accessing services early can make a big difference in helping new parents to be better equipped to make choices about their care and, ultimately, in improving outcomes for the baby."

 

The Government has also asked a new Advisory Panel on early years nutrition to find out what more it should be doing to provide young children with good quality, healthy meals.

The new Advisory Panel on early years nutrition will build on the findings of a new Summary Report published by the School Food Trust (SFT), which says that consistent guidance on nursery food is lacking.

 

The Panel, which will report in August, has been asked to:

 

- develop recommendations on improved guidance to support healthy and nutritious food and drink in nurseries

- evaluate the current provision and guidance available on early years food and drink, including consulting widely with practitioners, parents and children

- examine the case for strengthened or mandatory food standards in early years settings, to bring them more in line with current school food standards

- consider the cost of ingredients, equipment and facilities to provide healthy food in nurseries

- examine the types of food being served, including portion size, salt levels and nutritional value

- look at potential training and guidance for early years staff

- provide recommendations on the way forward for Government and local authorities.

 

 

 

 

 

The majority of working parents spend less than £300 a week on childcare and 25% spend nothing at all, according to a poll by www.workingmums.co.uk.

The poll, of 453 parents who are either working or looking for work, finds that many parents are getting around the expense of childcare by using relatives and friends, juggling childcare with partners or running their own businesses from home. Several said they simply could not afford to work due to childcare costs.

Some 17% of parents said they spent between £300 and £700 a week, 4% spent between £700 and £1,000 and only 2% spent over £1,000 a week.

Kirsty Tomlinson said: “Work from home, juggle the lot and reminisce about holidays where you could get a tan whilst listening to a walkman then you don't have to pay for childcare!”

Another commented: “Somehow I manage to fit in selling a local magazine, administrative services and telesales for a number of clients as well as a part-time degree, whilst my 6 year old is at school. I accept that I will earn less than I could, but have the pleasure of being free to spend time with him after school, at weekends and during holidays!”

Many were looking for work they could do from home to save on childcare costs. One said: “The cost of childcare against potential earnings today is just not affordable. Therefore I look after my own children and am looking for work I can do at home around their resting periods.”

The poll was sponsored by Childcare Maintenance Options.

More needs to be done to promote the business case for flexible working if Britain is to achieve major cultural change in the way we work, a Government taskforce report says today.
The report by the Family Friendly Working Taskforce, made up of representatives from business, NGOs, government departments and other sectors is published today by the Department for Work and Pensions. Its recommendations include that Government should lead by example by encouraging public sectors bodies to clearly indicate where jobs can be worked flexibly and to consider whether a role can be worked flexibly; that existing examples of good practice by employers be promoted; and that Job Centres Plus talk to employers about the benefits of advertising posts flexibly. 
Publication of the report follows an interview with Yvette Cooper, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in the Independent on Sunday where she says women often accept part-time work which is below their skills so limiting their career progression.  The Government is also said to be considering offering flexible working from day one of a new job – currently those eligible can only request flexible working after six months in a new post.

Cooper said that Whitehall hopes to provide a good example of flexible working by advertising jobs as part-time or flexible hours.

The task force report draws on a survey which found that 65 per cent of employers who introduced flexible hours found a fall in absence levels and higher retention rates as a result. Some 70% cited greater staff motivation. It is also found that many people in part-time jobs were working below their skill level, particularly women, and that part-time jobs were limited to particular sectors.

Women are at the centre of the political parties’ election campaigns, particularly working mums. Labour, for example, has reportedly identified 53 constituencies where mothers could swing the vote and is posting personalised postcards to more than 100,000 mums who use Sure Start.

Commenting on the report, Gillian Nissim, founder of www.workingmums.co.uk, said: "Www.workingmums.co.uk welcomes the task force report on flexible working. Our annual surveys show year on year that availability of flexible working is the key issue for working mums, ranking much higher than issues like the cost of childcare.

"We also believe it is vital that flexible working be seen not simply as a perk for employees, but as making good business sense. Survey after survey shows that it reduces absence levels and overheads as well as increasing motivation, retention and recruitment.

"Www.workingmums.co.uk also believes that, for a full cultural change in the way we work, the right to request flexible working needs to be available to all employees and at all levels so that women do not find their careers being sidelined. As the survey shows, many women are working below their skill level in order to get the flexibility they need. This is not only demotivating for them, but means their employer is losing out on their experience and skills. A growing number of employers now realise this. What is needed is for these experiences to be given more of a spotlight to encourage others to follow suit." 

Sarah Jackson, Chief Executive of the charity Working Families, said: “We need to move away from the full time default setting and ensure many more jobs are offered on a flexible or part time basis. The Government and public sector can take the lead in shifting discussions about flexible working to the recruitment stage, so that a working pattern that suits both employer and employee is decided at the outset, saving time and money later.

"Job centres could also help private sector employers rethink what skills they require and whether a job really needs to be offered only on a 9-5, 35 hour week basis. At a time of recession, every employer needs to be fishing from the widest possible talent pool. Our full time culture means too many talents are wasted – particularly women and carers’ – and the UK loses out.

"Flexible working is not a “perk” for the good times. The UK cannot afford to overlook the business benefits that flexible working can bring. There is a positive link between flexible working and performance. Costs of absenteeism, sickness and recruitment are reduced.   There could not be a more important time to get the right talent in the right place: flexible working can achieve this goal."

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Men do much more of the housework than they are given credit for by women because they don’t talk about it much, according to a report.

The survey for Dove found men said they spent 13 hours a week on housework and 60% said their contribution went unnoticed by women because they did not like to make a fuss. Almost half, however, thought women bragged about their contribution.

The most popular task performed by men was taking out the rubbish. Others included carrying the shopping.

The research found men spend 4.7 hours a week on housework as well as 1.5 hours on DIY and 6.9 hours on childcare.

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