Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 November 2017 to Question 115567 on child minding what proportion of local authorities are paying providers on a monthly basis.

We expect all local councils to move to paying providers on a monthly basis by September 2018.

The model agreement, published on 3 March 2017, sets out the department’s expectations and is clear that local councils should pay all providers, particularly childminders, monthly by September 2018. A provider can request to continue an existing alternative and sustainable method of payment as long as the local council agrees.

In our statutory guidance for early education and childcare we are clear that local councils should use the model agreement unless they have good reason not to do so.