The Minister for Children and Social Care has announced the launch of the Welsh Government consultation on the proposed changes to the National Minimum Standards for Regulated Childcare.

They have focused  efforts on the following changes that provide greater clarity for childcare providers, removing some of the ambiguity from the standards and supplementing the NMS with additional guidance. The main policy changes can be summarised as follows:

• Updating the structure and layout of the NMS to a HTML version with links to relevant regulations and best practice guidance
• Updates to the High-quality provision chapter to further align Early Childhood Play, Learning and Care (ECPLC) principles within the standards
• Introducing a proportionate approach to the NMS requirements of qualified staff and first aid training for Open Access Playwork services, in light of recommendations from the Ministerial Review of Play.
• Updating NMS Standard 12 relating to Medication and the introduction of an additional annex with guidance on administering Liquid Paracetamol
• Clarification on effective deployment of staff across the setting
• Introducing some flexibility on ratios for childminders, and allowing childminders to have one additional child under 5 years but not increase the maximum number

Read more here