Can Jobcentre Plus help with recruiting childminders?
LAs will be responsible for local schemes to recruit childminders. Jobcentre Plus must be a key partner in all recruitment efforts and this can be true for childminders, although the normal approach where the provider notifies Jobcentre Plus of vacancies has to be adapted given the self-employed nature of this work. Essentially, the LA will need to be accepted by the local Jobcentre Plus district as an intermediary employer so that they can phone the Employer Direct telephone vacancy notification service (0845 601 2001) to notify Jobcentre Plus of their childminder vacancies. This is something that should form part of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) or Memorandum of Understanding that is set up with the Jobcentre Plus District. Further guidance on this will be provided by the recruitment team and will be available from Jobcentre Plus or from the Sure Start website. LAs should contact the Jobcentre Plus childcare partnership manager for more details of this arrangement.
