Expanding Childminding Provision in Areas of Deprivation

Abstract

This paper suggests that Government plans to increase childminding provision in areas of deprivation may be seen as an entrepreneurial opportunity for lone parents in receipt of welfare benefits. But if it is to offer a route out of poverty, they will need integrated, specialist and continuing assistance to negotiate the fragmented systems currently associated with business and personal finances, and to understand the inter-connections between them. The findings from a small-scale feasibility project are presented as the starting point for the development of a recruitment and support strategy which foregrounds the financial aspects of childminding.