Earlier this year we conducted a survey to gather our members' views on whether legislation and regulations should be changed in Scotland to permit childminding to also be delivered from non-domestic premises – such as a village hall or community centre.
This was in response to a series of developments including:
- an acute shortage of childcare in rural and island areas
- a review of the care definitions in Scotland and
- the introduction of a new category of childminder in England
In order to ensure we could fully represent your views when engaging with the Scottish Government, local authorities and other bodies we asked you to complete a short survey and we would like to thank all of you who responded.
We are today publishing a report on this. Please find below a summary of the key findings, recommendations and proposed next steps.
Main Findings
The survey was conducted 11 February – 7 March 2025 and responses were received from 35% of our members (857 childminding businesses) from across all 32 local authorities, representing 29% of the full childminding workforce.
- Support for the option: 53% of respondents support childminders having the option to deliver on non-domestic premises (24% opposed, 23% unsure).
- Preferred model: 71% of those in favour prefer a mixed model (home and non-domestic), with only 20% supporting wholly non-domestic delivery.
- Motivations (in favour): Reducing loneliness, increasing flexibility and space, supporting after-school care, and improving business sustainability.
- Concerns (opposed): Loss of home-based nurturing model, risk to unique identity of childminding, higher costs and regulatory complexity.
- Personal uptake: Only 28% would personally consider delivering on non-domestic premises.
- Business impact: Views were mixed - 54% of those in favour believed it would increase their own business sustainability, while 52% of those against believe others delivering on non-domestic premises could have an adverse effect on their business sustainability.
- Unique quality of care: Respondents were divided on whether it would be possible to maintain the nurturing, home-based nature of childminding in non-domestic settings: 34% said it wasn’t possible, 29% partially, and 28% fully.
- Legal definitions:
- o 81% want “looking after” replaced to reflect that childminding is a registered form of childcare.
o 65% want “on domestic premises” retained in the legal definition.
o 52% favour creating a new, separate category for childminding on non-domestic premises, to make this distinct from childminding.
- Remote/rural childcare: More respondents supported a new, non-childminding ‘Rural Childcare Practitioner’ role (38%) than permitting non-domestic childminding in these areas (33%).
- Ratios: Many respondents supported greater flexibility within adult-child ratios, including being able to care for more than three pre-school children if there are no school-age children present in the setting at the time; removing childminders’ own older children from ratio limits; and providing childminders with more flexibility to adjust the ratios within their maximum numbers to reduce the need for variations to do so.
Recommendations
SCMA recognises that while the survey did not produce an overwhelming “yes”, the results do provide a mandate to explore the potential of mixed delivery models further, particularly to address challenges such as isolation, flexible use of space, and after-school provision.
However, recognising strong concerns remain around preserving the core identity of childminding as home-based, nurturing, and small-scale. In doing so, SCMA will ensure that the views of all members – for, against or undecided – about childminding on non-domestic premises are represented and we will continue to support members at all career stages and with all business models.
SCMA would urge that if childminding is to evolve to include the option to deliver an element of a childminding service on non-domestic premises or if other new forms of childcare were to be developed that it would be imperative to protect childminders’ business sustainability, especially in light of our current workforce recovery and retention efforts through the national
Programme for Scotland’s Childminding Future, now involving 27 local authorities.
The survey responses would suggest the need for the following:
- Caution in policy change - careful consideration is needed to avoid unintended consequences for childminders.
- Continuation of childminders’ exemption from business rates, which hinges on home-based delivery.
- Creation of a new legal category, if mixed models are introduced (i.e. childminder delivering from home as well as a non-domestic setting)
- Local impact assessments before establishing alternative provision, especially in rural and island communities.
- Increased flexibility in ratios, on an individualised case by case basis.
Next Steps
SCMA is engaging with the Scottish Government and Care Inspectorate to discuss these findings and explore next steps.
However, SCMA also recognises that consideration of this at this time is theoretical or academic, as the legal definition of childminding and accompanying regulations only permit childminding to be delivered from domestic premises.
While it could be possible to change the legislation, such as through the ongoing Review of Care Definitions, we are also very aware that delivering part of a childminding service on non-domestic premises could involve additional cost to hire the facilities and significant complexity (including regulatory and insurance requirements) if delivered from a shared multi-use space (i.e. village hall or community centre) over which childminders would have less control and which may have additional regulatory compliance requirements due to their size and the increased number of children and adults who could be using them. Such regulatory requirements have increasingly been cited by school-age childcare providers and pre-school play groups in Scotland as the reason for their closure. A separate feasibility study of school-age childcare quality assurance has been undertaken by the Scottish Government and Care Inspectorate linked to this.
Given the potential complexities (regulatory and other) which could arise in delivering childminding on shared-use non-domestic premises, we believe that for this to be considered further, a similar feasibility study needs to be conducted by the Care Inspectorate and Scottish Government to understand if this would be feasible, what this would involve and if this would, in turn, prove financially viable and sustainable for childminders.
Recognising our own role in establishing the evidence on and developing childminding, SCMA would be willing to explore part-funding or funding this study (depending on its extent).
CLICK HERE for more information and to read the full report.
If you have any further queries or feedback on this issue, please email
information@childminding.org.