How to become a registered childminder

This information is to help you decide if you want to become an Ofsted registered childminder and the next steps for registration.

What is a registered childminder?

A childminder is someone (other than a parent, relative, person with parental responsibility or foster parent) looking after one or more children under the age of eight years, in their own home for over two hours a day for reward. Childminders can choose the hours that they wish to offer and the ages of the children that they care for.

They may wish to care for young children under five years or prefer to care for older children before and after school and in the school holidays. Childminders are able to provide a variety of flexible hours, offering anything from full day care, early mornings, late evenings, overnight or weekend care. Childminders provide care for babies, toddlers and school age children in their own home.

A childminder may care for a maximum of six children under eight years at any one time. Three of these children may be under school age and usually only one of those may be a baby under one year of age. The childminders own children are taken into account and counted in these numbers. Ofsted will assess the number of children you can care for during the registration process.

What are the benefits of becoming an Ofsted registered childminder?

As a registered childminder you will be able to:

  • work from your own home
  • care for your own children at the same time as you care for minded children
  • choose the days and times you work to suit the needs of you, your family and local demand
  • gain a childcare qualification through your local training provider

What do I need to do to become a registered childminder?

You will need to attend a childminder briefing session, which costs £25 for Salford residents and £35 if you live outside Salford Local Authority, and is offered in the daytime or evenings. This is where you will find out all you need to know about childminding, the registration process and the Preparation for Registration childminding training course which currently costs £250 for Salford residents and £500 if you live outside Salford Local Authority.

To become a registered childminder with Ofsted you will have to demonstrate that you can meet the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework (September 2021)) which includes safeguarding and welfare and learning and development requirements. This is fully covered on the childminder training we offer should you decide to proceed with a career in childminding.

What further support is available after Ofsted registration?

The Starting Life Well Service have a team of dedicated, professionals who are here to offer support and training to meet the needs of your organisation, our service covers areas such as:

  • safeguarding
  • Ofsted regulation
  • training and development
  • Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
  • healthy environments
  • business support
  • childcare sufficiency and service promotion and marketing
  • information on any government grants which may be available to support set-up costs

What do I do next?

To book a place on the childminder briefing session, check the dates that are available

This page was last updated on 28 February 2023

Working in childcare

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