50,000 children 'at risk' in nurseries and after-school clubs, warns Ofsted
Some 50,000 children are at risk of harm or neglect at the hands of nurseries, childminders and after-school clubs, Government inspectors have said.
Education watchdog Ofsted revealed more than 2,500 child care providers are 'inadequate'.
Its report - Early Years: Leading To Excellence - checked on 84,400 nurseries, creches, childminders and out-of-school clubs that look after an estimated 1.7million children each day.
The good are getting better but the bad are getting worse: Around 50,000 children might be suffering
On the whole, they found a positive picture of childcare. But it emerged that three per cent of them were considered 'inadequate'. Shockingly, the proportion of poor childminders has tripled in the past three years from two to six per cent.
The figures come at a time when mothers are being pressured to go back to work by ministers who claim they are trying to crack child poverty.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, as recently as June, unveiled plans to pay mothers an extra £40 a week if they found a job.
Critics said the report's findings also suggested that the best childminders were quitting because they were fed up with increasing amounts of bureaucratic red tape.
Failings included not checking staff for criminal records, leaving children alone too long, providing unsuitable or unsafe play equipment and not having the correct first aid training.
The report found that one in 15 'extended' schools which look after an increasing number of children before and after class were below par, while four per cent of nurseries and creches were poor.
The declining standards are especially worrying as the industry is registering 1,000 new childminders each month.
The number of England's 54,000-plus childminders classified as 'good' also dropped from 62 to 54 per cent. However, those considered 'excellent' rose from three to five per cent. Ofsted also said it was 'concerned' that the quality of childcare was worse in the most deprived parts of the country.
Concerns about a drop in standards among childminders comes at a time when more than half of all mothers of children under five go out to work.
Recent figures show the number of stay-at-home mothers has fallen 25 per cent in the past 15 years. Labour's policy of providing incentives to get mothers back to work has caused a huge expansion in daycare provision, with the number of nurseries rising from 7,000 to more than 11,000.
Mr Brown's £16billion-a-year tax credit system has also contributed to the increase by giving out large sums of money for mothers to spend on nurseries and childminders.
Ofsted's chief inspector, Christine Gilbert, said overall nurseries, creches and childminders were 'doing well'.
But she added: 'Though only a small proportion are inadequate, that masks the fact that there are almost twice as many inadequate childminders this year.
'Providers judged to be inadequate have significant improvements to make if they are to meet the demands of the Early Years Foundation Stage and provide the high quality education and care children deserve.'
The early years framework comes into force from next week and will see all pre-school children expected to meet 69 literacy, numeracy and problem-solving goals.
Under the reforms, every nursery, childminder and reception class in England will have to monitor children's progress towards the targets.
The National Childminding Association said it is ' concerning' that the number of poor childminders had increased.
Chief executive Liz Bayram said more money needs to be invested by local authorities in childminding 'networks', which allow those who looked after children at home to learn from each other.
Earlier this year, the adviser brought in to review the Government's Sure Start scheme for pre-school children, called for tax breaks for stay-at-home mothers.
