National Minimum Standards Update

On Thursday 18th May, the Deputy Minister for Social Services, Julie Morgan MS announced the updates to the National Minimum Standards for Regulated Childcare.

Girl wearing apron holds up hand covered in paint

During the consultation process, Early Years Wales worked extensively to share the voice of our members hosting three member opportunities to share your views with us, and responding to the consultation as an organisation on behalf of the early years sector.

We are pleased to see some of the positive changes proposed have been taken forwards by the Welsh Government, for example, the supportive steps to reconsider supernumerary are welcomed.

It is positive to see the Welsh Government recognise the need to protect some of the administrative time for managers alongside a more practical risk-assessed approach to including managers in the settings in ratio rather than being in supernumerary for the full day. This should help support settings with staffing costs and provides the ability for settings to respond flexibly to staffing needs.

We are also pleased to see, alongside the clarity of the First Aid requirements, the ratios of staff working towards qualifications counting in staff numbers, and the updates to the safeguarding, there is a sensible phasing-in of the changes to allow the childcare sector to plan and work towards the new updated standards.

To help support the implementation of the safeguarding standards, Early Years Wales has a suite of training available to meet the needs of categories A, B, and C running from June through to March 2024. Please contact Julie Powell 07399 697641 [email protected] for further information on the courses and dates.


- Dave Goodger
Chief Executive Officer

The full ministerial statement and links to the important changes can be found here.

If you would like any support in helping you understand what the changes mean for your setting, or to help you plan for implementing the changes please contact your Early Years Wales regional staff or Head Office team.

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