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Ofsted figures show falling places, rising outcomes

A drop in the number of registered childcare providers has caused early years places to decrease by 11,529 between March and August this year, suggest .

While the number of childminders has fallen by 1,449 (3%), the number of providers on non-domestic premises has also decreased by 629 (2%) during the period.

The number of places offered by providers on the Early Years Register (EYR) has decreased by 1% to 1.29 million 鈥 a drop of 11,529 places.

鈥楾his decrease has resulted from the number of non-domestic childcare places falling by 12,011 (1%), partly due to the introduction of the exemption for schools from registering their early years provision for two-year-olds,鈥 Ofsted claims in its report.

The inspectorate also confirms that, while the number of childminders on the EYR has fallen, increases in places offered by remaining childminders mean that the total number of places offered by this type of provider has increased by 55 during the five-month period.

Despite this drop in numbers, the proportion of providers on the EYR judged to be 鈥榞ood鈥 or 鈥榦utstanding鈥 has increased from 80% to 85% in the year preceding 31 August 2015.

However, the proportion receiving a 鈥榞ood鈥 or 鈥榦utstanding鈥 judgement has not changed since 31 March 2015, Ofsted confirmed.

The 无码天堂 has expressed 鈥渄eep concern鈥 over the new statistics, with chief executive Neil Leitch stating: 鈥淎t a time when government is looking to maximise capacity ahead of the roll-out of the 30-hour scheme, it鈥檚 critical that urgen action is taken in order to tackle this problem.鈥

Regarding the drop in childminders specifically, which Ofsted describes as 鈥榓 continuing trend that has seen numbers decrease for the last three years鈥, Neil added: 鈥淐learly, previous plans to rely on childminder agencies as a way of attracting and retaining childminders have failed 鈥 something that most in the sector predicted from the outset.

鈥淲e have already lost around 10,000 childminders in the past three years. We cannot afford for this trend to continue.鈥