Minister Urges Landlords to Allow Tenants to Use Homes for Babysitting Businesses

Claire Coutinho wrote a letter to landlords about nannies working from home to ease the childcare crisis.

Claire Coutinho, the Minister for Children, has called on developers, social landlords and housing associations to allow nannies to work on their rented properties.

All too often, she warned, prospective nannies face restrictive contract clauses that prevent them from working in their homes.

The government wants private landlords to be involved in hiring nannies as well as social landlords. However, a Department of Education spokesman said it was recognized that private landlords could be limited by mortgage terms and insurance policies.

The number of nannies has been halved over the past decade, reducing childcare options and increasing costs for parents.

Ms Coutinho said: “We have outstanding, high quality nannies who offer flexible and affordable services. caring for children at home.

“Too often, babysitters-to-be get the door slammed because they face a complete work-from-home ban.

“However, again and again, parents tell us how much they appreciate the flexibility and quality that nannies bring, which is why we make sure we maintain a workforce to provide what parents need.”

The UK has one of the study found these to be the most expensive child care systems in the world.

The cost of a full day of daycare for a child under two has risen from an average of £236 per week in 2018 to £274 in 2022 – a jump of 16p. This averages out to £14,248 throughout the year.

The government has pledged to double its investment in free childcare, cutting 30 free hours for working parents of children to nine months by 2025.

Monthly payment

The Education Ministry said it would also consult on reducing enrollment time nannies until about 10 weeks old, and make sure local authorities pay nannies on a monthly basis.

Neil Leitch, Executive Director of the Early Years Alliance, said: for children in England.

“Nanny is an important part of the early childhood education sector, but they are still underfunded, undervalued and undervalued. However, instead of addressing or even acknowledging this, the government is instead wasting time and resources proposing changes for minor issues that really make little difference.

“We know this, even though property restrictions may be a problem for a small subset of educators, they will do little, if anything, to bring about sustainable and effective change.

«Besides, a mere reminder of when local governments are due to pay nannies' allowances and slightly speeding up the approval process is not enough to even temporarily ease the pressure.»

» Let's be clear, what educators and the rest of the early childhood education sector urgently need is in the long term, backed by realistic funding. Anything less not only completely underestimates the severity of the problems the sector is facing, but further encourages exit.”