Seán Sherlock
Question:1358. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his Department's definition of a childminder. [40542/22]
View answerTuesday, 26 July 2022
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Written answers
Childminding is defined in the National Action Plan for Childminding 2021-2028 to mean paid, non-relative care of children aged from birth to 14 (including both early learning and care and school-age childcare) in which children are cared for single-handedly within the childminder’s family setting.
Childminding is also described as ‘home-based’ care, as distinguished from ‘centre-based’ care. Centre-based care – especially sessional care such as the ECCE programme – sometimes takes place within a service provider’s home, for example in a purpose-built extension to the home. Such provision, however, differs from childminding both in scale (the number of children), the degree of integration within the childminder’s family life, and the likelihood of a mix of age groups:
- Scale – Childminders generally work on their own, though they may receive the support of family members. However, many providers of sessional centre-based care in Ireland also operate their service single-handed. The scale of childminding is typically smaller, though, and is constrained by both planning rules and insurance. The Planning and Development Regulations 2001, S.I.600, provide an exemption from planning permission for ‘the activity of minding no more than 6 children, including the children, if any, of the person minding, in the house of that person for profit or gain’.
- Family life – Childminders typically integrate the care of children into their own family life, and may give children the opportunity to experience daily activities that they would experience in their own family home. Internationally, the term ‘family day-care’ is often used to describe childminding.
- A mix of age-groups – Childminders typically accommodate a mix of age groups, including both pre-school and school-age children, and may care for siblings of different ages at the same time.
Childminders are distinguished from relative carers through their care of non-relatives and through being paid. However, childminders may care for family members (both their own children and the children of relatives) in addition to non-family members (as is also the case for centre-based provision), and some relative carers may receive compensation for their caring from a child’s parents. Nevertheless, a defining feature of childminding is that it is a business and not exclusively a family arrangement, and for this reason it may appropriately be subject to regulation. (It should be noted that the concept of ‘pay’ here is understood broadly and is not limited to cash payments.)
For regulatory purposes, childminding is typically limited to more than a minimal number of hours per day or per week, and is thereby distinguished from ‘babysitting’.
Childminding, which involves care in the childminder’s home, is also to be distinguished from care that takes place in the child’s home, which may be carried out by a nanny, an au pair or a ‘babysitter’. Care in a child’s own home may also be by someone called a ‘childminder’ in common usage. However, the employment relationship and the legal and regulatory context are different. Whereas a childminder working from the childminder’s own home is typically self-employed and offers a service that may be accessed on a public basis, someone caring for a child in the child’s own home is regarded as an employee of the child’s parents. In addition, the employment of someone in the child’s home may involve a combination of caring with other roles, e.g. cleaning or other domestic duties. Furthermore, because they work in the parents’/child’s home rather than their own home, au pairs and nannies cannot be held responsible for the safety or suitability of that home for the purpose of early learning or childcare.
For the purpose of clarity, the National Action Plan for Childminding defines ‘childminder’ as someone who cares for children in the childminder’s home, and uses the term ‘nanny’ or ‘au pair’ for someone who cares for children in the child’s home.