Julie Morgan, Deputy Minister for Social Services
I am pleased to launch this consultation today seeking the views of those who work in and use childcare and playwork services on the proposal to professionally register the sector.
Childcare and playwork have an important role in giving children the best start in life, closing the attainment gap, and tackling poverty. The childcare and playwork workforce in Wales provide a vital service both in supporting the development of our children and in enabling parents to work and train.
The Welsh Government’s Childcare, Play and Early Years Workforce Plan, sets out our vision for the development of a highly skilled and qualified workforce to enable high quality provision so that children from all backgrounds may have the best start in life. It also sets out the long-term ambition to explore the introduction of professional registration for the childcare and playwork workforce.
The Welsh Government has taken forward exploration of this ambition, working with a professional registration working group.[1] This group, comprised of stakeholders from across the sector, have developed draft principles of a workforce register which form the basis of the consultation.
The consultation is an opportunity for those managing, working, and using childcare and playwork settings across Wales to tell us what they think about the principle of professional registration and whether they feel a workforce register would be beneficial for the childcare and playwork sector now or in the future.
The consultation closes on 7 March 2024. I am inviting all those with in an interest in this area to respond and provide their views.
All responses will be analysed and a summary published in Spring 2024. If it is determined that a professional workforce register is to be developed, there will be an opportunity for the childcare and playwork sector to shape the specifics of that register via a further consultation.
[1] Membership of the group includes Cwlwm, Education Workforce Council, Local Authorities, Play Wales, Scottish Social Services Council, Social Care Wales, Unison and Voice Unions and WLGA.