Childcare Service Contract

							     The Southwark
At Home Childcare Service
        (AHCS)
Introduction and background
The At Home Childcare Service (AHCS) is an initiative which was
designed to provide quality out of hour‟s childcare provision within the
child‟s home (where possible). Initially supported by the Cross
River Partnership using London Development Agency (LDA) funding,
this project ran within the London Boroughs of Southwark, Lambeth
and the Queenstown Ward of Wandsworth during 2006-2008.

Information on the “demand for childcare”, was gathered by the then
EYDCP Southwark Children First, childcare audit in 2003, which clearly
stated the need for an increase in affordable, accessible and quality
childcare, which supported parents who were working outside the
regular core hours of 8am-6pm in the borough.


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What families used the At Home
Childcare Service?
The criteria which was set by the LDA was that families who
accessed the service must have been:

•   working unsociable hours or shift work.

•   accessing training or education so that they could progress into
    employment.

•   Were in employment and or training and required respite and/or
    child care if they had a child with a special need or disability.




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What was the childcare providers
role?
The service supported childcare providers
through the Sure Start Approval Scheme (2005) to
deliver ‘registered’ childcare in the child’s own
home to:
•   be responsible for those in their care at all times, supporting
    their care, learning and developmental needs.
•   undertake tasks agreed with the parent‟s/carers in advance.
•   be available for flexible working hours.
•   take part in continuous professional development.
•   implement the policies and procedures set out by the service.
•   help evaluate the service.



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Who were we looking for? – The childcare
provider‟s „person specification‟
 The requirement for childcare providers to
 become part of the AHCS was that they had:
 •   experience in early years and childcare
 •   a non-judgemental approach to families using the service, but who
     would follow up concerns in relation to safeguarding where necessary.
 •   the ability to provide a wide range of activities for children of all ages.
 •   an understanding of health and safety issues, including how to
     conduct risk assessments, (inc. the child‟s home).
 •   the ability to establish good working relations with children, families
     and other professionals.
 •   good communication skills.




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What was the role of the Local Authority?
Under the requirements of the SLA with the LDA
all three LA’s were monitored against the
following:

•       Business support offered and taken up
•       The increase in registered childcare provision
•       The number of parents accessing childcare who entered
        employment or education
•       Level 2 and 3 training provided
•       Ethnicity, age and disability of childcare providers and parents




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How has the project evolved?
Supporting isolated families through an out-of-hours
home based childcare service
Due to the success of the LDA project, Southwark Children‟s Services
mainstreamed the Service when the funding came to an end in March
2008.

As the Service was previously managed within the childminding
development team, this function was retained, recognising the close
links between registered childcare in the child‟s own home to
registered childminding.

This integration allowed for the Local Authority to feel confident there
was an element of „round the clock‟ registered home-based childcare
available to families who needed it in the borough and as such has
been included in the boroughs Childcare Sufficiency Audit.


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     The At Home Childcare Service
               in 2010
The AHCS focuses on registered childminder‟s seeking
additional work outside of their main childminding hours (8am-
6pm), mainly early morning, evening, overnight and week-ends to
become childcare providers on the Service.

We also „recruit‟ childcare providers for the Service from other
early years and education settings in the borough from the
PVI and maintained sector, including Pre-schools, schools
and after school/holiday clubs. We have found that practitioners
who work part time want to supplement their income and are happy
to work out side of their settings to provided childcare in the
child‟s own home.


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The role of the co-ordinator
Childcare provider support
•   Recruitment
•   Identify training needs
•   Allocate training and regular information updates
•   Brokerage
•   Mediation

Family support
•   Link between health and social care
•   Risk assessment – i.e. social care referrals
•   Brokerage
•   Mediation


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„Recruitment‟ on to the Service
All potential childcare provider‟s must attend an „informal interview‟
conducted by the AHCS co-ordinator. The purpose of this meeting is to
ascertain the practitioners experience, qualifications and training needs.
Training is provided free of charge through the Southwark childminding
training directory.

Following this, every childcare provider must attend a work brief that:
• provides them with an opportunity to meet other childcare providers on
   the Service
• informs them how the themes and principles of the Early Year‟s
   Foundation Stage can be implemented into care provided in the child‟s
   own home.
• discusses current issues and the various childcare requests from
   families and organisations such as social care

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Criteria for families accessing the Service
                     2010
 Essentially the only main criteria that now exists is
 that the families must reside in Southwark.
 Some of the patterns that have emerged over the last 18 months
 are that the Service is sought out for families who have experienced
 difficulty in finding appropriate childcare that meets their families
 needs because they:

 •        work unsociable hours
 •        Need respite care because their child or they themselves have a
          disability or additional need
 •        May be a family in crisis who may be at threat of becoming
          isolated and are in need of childcare support

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Case Studies
Family A
     Mother recently experienced a complex multiple birth. Father
     works long hours. The couple are new arrivals to the country
     and have no extended family support their older child has
     additional needs. The mother was identified as needing
     additional support with caring for her children and was referred
     to the AHCS by her health visitor and family social worker.

Family B
     Isolated single mother with mental health issues with two
     children under 5, one of whom has additional needs. Mother
     needed childcare so she could attend psychotherapy sessions.
     She was referred to the AHCS by her psychologist.


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Case Studies
Family C
Single parent mother of one child who worked an overnight shift
every fifth week for that week (10pm-8am) was matched to a
childcare provider who had the availability to provide the child
care in the child‟s own home. This contract lasted for a year.

Family D
Single parent mother of 5 children working a variety of shifts where
the earliest start time was 4pm and the latest finishing time
midnight. These shifts included evenings and week ends. This
contract lasted for 18 months.




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