registering as a childminder need some advice

[sameena]

hi this is the first time i am using this forum and hoping to get a lot of advice fr om all the registered childminders.
First of all there are a lot of policies and procedures that ned to be written and was wondering if i can download all the policies of pacey or do i make my own.
Please give advice;

[bunyip]

Hi Sameena

The Bromley pacey policies are a good place to start, but they are not to be regarded as a rulebook for every CM.

You need to take ownership of your setting: ensure that your policies and procedures reflect and describe the way you do things. Some aspects will be common to most/all CMs. But I see no point in being self-employed if we just want to slavishly follow how others do everything. Use the pacey ones as a prompt to thinking, "how will I do this?" then write your own policies. You will also need to take account of local conditions and practices: especially in the field of safeguarding.

Also, I would guess that most inspectors have seen the pacey set so often they can probably recite the contents off by heart. It will almost certainly become immediately apparent to an inspector whether a CM has thought through their own working practices or merely done a cut&paste job on someone else's work.

Personal rant: don't get me started on so-called 'professional' childcare providers and intellectual property theft.

Hope this helps.

[sameena]

Thank you for the advice, so if i make up my own policies which i will be doing, is it worth joining pacey. Can we get child minding insurance else where

[k1rstie]

Hi Sameena

The Bromley pacey policies are a good place to start, but they are not to be regarded as a rulebook for every CM.

It will almost certainly become immediately apparent to an inspector whether a CM has thought through their own working practices or merely done a cut&paste job on someone else's work.

Personal rant: don't get me started on so-called 'professional' childcare providers and intellectual property theft.

Hope this helps.

I discussed this very matter with my inspector, she confirmed that although 50 miles from Bromley, she had seen Bromley logos on people's paperwork, and also childminders who stated in their policies that if they had a safeguarding issue, that they would phone Bromley social services !!!!

As Bunyip says cutting and pasting is not always the best way!

Good luck

[FussyElmo]

My inspector told me she asked a cm what had happened to her dog? When the cm said I have never had one she asked her why she got a pet policy about having one then.

She said it made her go through the cms paperwork with a fine toothcomb because she was either lying or had just copied and pasted the policies from somewhere

The Bromley one as lovely to use as starting points especially if your mind as gone blank but just ensure you write your policy to suit your setting

[FussyElmo]

Thank you for the advice, so if i make up my own policies which i will be doing, is it worth joining pacey. Can we get child minding insurance else where

This thread by Sarah707 has all the insurance options

Membership & insurance options

[bunyip]

Thank you for the advice, so if i make up my own policies which i will be doing, is it worth joining pacey. Can we get child minding insurance else where

Certainly as a new CM I'd recommend pacey, though I personally have some issues on the degree of support they offer to anyone wanting to move on beyond the 'new' stage. They are certainly excellent in supporting CMs at entry level.

Yes, you can get CM insurance elsewhere. You need public liability insurance as a regulatory requirement. You should also check that your contents insurance remains valid once you are using your home for CMing: some insurers are fine with this, but others class that as 'business use'. Check, or you may find your entire contents policy is invalid and you may need to find a new policy/insurer.

Please be clear that pacey is a professional representative organisation which offers insurance as just one of its products to support CMs. It is not, first and foremost, an insurance company. OTOH an out-and-out insurance company does not offer a lot of the support and representative campaigning that pacey tries to do.