SCMA members will be aware that we have already undertaken a considerable amount of work to highlight your concerns around increasing paperwork, duplicative quality assurance and the current Care Inspectorate inspection process and we asked you last year to share your experiences via our #TellSCMA survey.
Your views informed our response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on the future of inspection and their subsequent commitment to develop a new single/shared inspection and framework which will be more proportionate, more specific to different forms of childcare (including childminding) and with less paperwork.
We also shared the results of this survey widely and recommended some follow up research, which is now being progressed by Early Years Scotland, National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) (Scotland), Scottish Out of School Care Network (SOSCN) and Care and Learning Alliance (CALA), who are now each undertaking a full survey on behalf of their members to better understand services’ experiences of inspections.
Due to our previous engagement with you on this, we will not be asking our members to complete another full survey - as many of the questions have already been answered - however there are some new questions which we feel are important for childminders to have the chance to provide feedback on, to ensure you are included in the overall analysis.
The results of all the surveys from each organisation will be collated and shared with the Care Inspectorate. We believe it is vital that, as the regulator and improvement body, they need to have a good understanding of services’ experience of, and perspective on, inspections. The results will also be shared with our members, the Scottish Government and made available on our websites.
The survey has been designed mostly with multiple choice questions, and although some questions require additional information – shouldn’t take up too much of your time. Responses will be anonymised but should you wish to highlight particular issues then there is the opportunity to provide your contact details so this can be followed up with the Care Inspectorate.
With thanks in advance, please do take this opportunity to have your say in terms of your experience of Care Inspectorate inspections and the processes involved.
Please complete the survey
HERE. The survey will close at noon on Friday 1 December.