According to the BBC today parents who offer each other reciprocal childcare could soon be forced to register as childminders, with all the associated bureaucracy. I have friends who I did NCT classes with who both work full time and have an arrangement that one of them will look after both children one day per week and the other will look after both another day per week. Under the new proposals these friends will be forced to either abandon this relationship or register as childminders.
With formal childcare costs being prohibitive to some families, many now rely on grandparents, other relations and friends to care for their kids while they work. Ending such relationships could mean some parents being forced to give up working and lose much needed income. How can forcing working parents, who are trying to improve things for their families, further towards the poverty line benefit their children?
