Childminders can fill the gap

Published: 6 January, 2011

• IT is sad, of course, to see a playcentre closed, with some job losses (Plot 10 is our world, December 16). However, it does not necessarily mean that children whose parents work end up on the streets. I wonder whether they have  heard of registered childminders.

As there has been a severe shortage of work for childminders in NW1 

(that is why I became a nanny in Kensington after quitting childminding), there must be plenty of vacancies at local childminders, and some of them charge as little as £3 an hour. They can be flexible in hours, are supposed to meet a child’s individual needs in home environments, and parents can still claim childcare elements of tax credit or childcare vouchers if they are eligible. 

If it is not “affordable”, what else is?

A MCCARTHY, Phoenix Road, NW1