Childminders and childcare on domestic premises: registration

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Ofsted

May 10

11:53 2023

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You are a childminder if you are caring for children in your or someone elses home for payment or reward. It does not count as childminding if it is the home of one of the children being cared for, unless the care is for more than 2 different families at the same time.

You can either follow the guidance on this page to register as a childminder with Ofsted, or you can register with a childminder agency instead. See:

childminder agencies contact information and Ofsted reports
background information about childminder agencies on the Foundation Years site

There are some situations when you cannot or may not need to register with Ofsted or a childminder agency.

You can work alone or with up to 2 childminders at any one time. Each childminder (often known as co-childminders) must apply to register separately.

If you work with 3 or more other childminders or assistants, you are providing childcare on domestic premises. You must register with Ofsted or with a childminder agency.

You may also want to work in different settings as well as being a childminder.

You only need to apply as a childminder once, even if you work from a number of different homes. However, you must tell us about all of the homes where you will work.

You can operate either as an individual or as an organisation (for example Jenny Smith or Jenny Smith trading as SuperStars (Ltd)) but for Ofsted registration purposes you will be treated as an individual registered person. If you become a company after you register, you will not need to apply again.

Childminder assistants

You can have assistants but can only leave them alone with children for up to 2 hours a day (with parental permission). If you want to leave children alone with assistants for longer periods of time, the assistants must register as childminders in their own right.

Your assistants need to get an enhanced check with barred lists from DBS. You will need to use the Childminder: report new adults in the home service. They cannot work unsupervised until they have received their suitability letter from Ofsted.

Childcare on domestic premises

If you want to work with 3 or more other adults in someones home, this counts as childcare on domestic premises. Domestic premises means somewhere thats used entirely or mainly as a private home. You can have 4 or more childminders or any mix of childminders and childminding assistants.

You can either apply to register with Ofsted as a provider of childcare on domestic premises, or you can register with a childminder agency instead. See:

childminder agencies contact information and Ofsted reports
background information about childminder agencies on the Foundation Years site

You cannot work as a childminder and offer childcare on domestic premises under the same registration. If you want to work part of your time as a childminder, and part as childcare on domestic premises, you need to register separately for each. You will need to pay 2 fees and have separate inspections.

You can apply either as an individual or as an organisation (for example Jenny Smith or Jenny Smith trading as SuperStars (Ltd)). If you become a company after you register, you will need to apply again.

Before you apply

You will need to have an enhanced check with barred lists from DBS for yourself. You can get this using the Ofsted DBS service.

We cannot accept DBS checks done via other organisations, or Ofsted DBS checks older than 3 months, unless youre on the DBS Update service.

Anyone aged over 16 in the home also needs an enhanced check with barred lists from DBS. This includes:

anyone who lives in that home
anyone who works there during childcare hours
any assistants who will be working with you

Find out more about household members or visitors that we need to know about.

We may need extra documentation if you have lived abroad in the last 5 years.

Youll also need to:

know which registers you need to join
do a training course (check with your local authority for details)
get a first aid qualification suitable for the ages of the children you look after
ask your doctor to fill in the healthcare declaration booklet
do a risk assessment in your home to spot any potential risks to childrens health or safety including from any equipment or activities you will provide

When you start looking after children youll need to have public liability insurance.

How to apply

Childminders

You need to use the Apply to register as a childminder service.

You need to tell us about all adults and childminding assistants and anyone aged 16 or over who lives in your home or works there during childcare hours when you make your application. We will contact them to complete a health declarat

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