Consultation on Proposals to amend the Minimum Standards for Childminding and Day Care for Children Under Age 12

Overview

The Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 (the Order) stipulates that any person providing more than 2 hours of childcare per day for children under 12 and for reward, must be registered with the relevant Health and Social Care (HSC) Trust for the area in which they are working. The purpose of registration is:

1. To protect children;
2. To provide reassurance to families using childcare;
3. To ensure that services meet acceptable standards; and
4. To ensure that people wishing to provide services for children do so within an agreed framework.

The Order also requires HSC Trusts to:

• impose such reasonable requirements on each registered childcare provider as they consider appropriate, and
• inspect all premises where registered childcare is provided at least once every year.

The Minimum Standards for Childminding and Day Care for Children Under Age 12 were published by the Department of Health in 2012 to facilitate a consistent regional approach to registration and inspection across all HSC Trusts, and to promote the delivery of a consistent level of service quality and safety for those who use childcare services. 

There are 16 Minimum Standards grouped under 4 headings: Quality of Care; Quality of Staffing, Management and Leadership; Quality of the Physical Environment; and Quality of Monitoring and Evaluation.

Following the publication of the Minimum Standards, the then Health and Social Care Board developed and published Implementation Guidance in respect of both day care and childminding provision, to promote a shared interpretation of the Minimum Standards by providing explanatory and additional information.

While the Minimum Standards and Implementation Guidance are used primarily for HSC Trusts in regulating services, they are also available for use by providers and staff to inform and promote self-assessment of their services. The Department of Health, HSC Trusts, Childcare Partnerships and membership organisations are all committed to the continuous development of the childcare sector and recognise that many providers routinely exceed the standard of childcare required by the regulatory framework.

Through a comprehensive review and refresh of the Minimum Standards and Implementation Guidance, it is intended that the requirements imposed upon providers by HSC Trusts will reflect developments in both policy and practice since 2012.

As a first step within the review process, this consultation seeks the views of stakeholders specifically in relation to the countersigned health assessments required by HSC Trusts for any prospective childcare worker and the adult:child ratios permitted in both childminding and day care settings.