Balls puts end to childcare red tape.

CHILDREN'S Secretary Ed Balls has said he wants to end regulation of reciprocal childcare arrangements between friends.

In a letter to Ofsted head Christine Gilbert, he said he was "clear" that such agreements "should not be a matter for regulation".

Mr Balls also asked Ofsted "with immediate effect" to treat all current childcare arrangements between friends where no financial reward exists as "beyond regulated".

It comes after two policewomen were told they were breaking the law by sharing the childcare of their daughters.

Detective Constable Leanne Shepherd and her friend Detective Constable Lucy Jarrett shared a job with Thames Valley Police and had a reciprocal agreement that one would go to work while the other looked after the girls.

Mr Balls said in his letter: "When parents make their own reciprocal childcare arrangements with friends, they retain full control and responsibility for the care their children receive, and I am clear that this should not be a matter for regulation.

"I have sought the advice of the Government's chief adviser on child safety, Sir Roger Singleton, and he agrees with me that this is the right approach.

"It has never been our intention to intervene in these kinds of arrangements between parents and friends."

The case of the two policewomen emerged last month after Det Con Shepherd received a visit from an Ofsted inspector, who told her the arrangement was illegal and must end immediately.

Under existing rules, people who babysit for another person's child for more than two hours at a time or on more than 14 days per year should be registered.