Jeremy Hunt’s ‘paltry sign-up payments’ won’t stop childminder exodus

The chancellor has announced a £4bn expansion of government-funded childcare – but there is already a shortage of places. Photograph: Realimage/Alamy

Sign-up payments for new childminders will do little to address a crisis in the sector that has seen existing professionals leaving in droves, experts say, as the number of childminders in England reaches its lowest level in a decade.

There were 28,500 childminders registered as of December 2022, according to Ofsted data, the lowest number since 2012 and 24% down from the more than 37,600 at the end of 2019.