How to Become a Childminder in the UK

Childminders are professionals who offer home from home early education and childcare. They look after small groups of children, from different families and of different ages. As of 2019, there were 39,000 childminders registered with Ofsted.

If you’re starting a childcare business, there is a lot you need to do! in this guide, we explore how to start a childminding business in the UK…

Childminder Responsibilities…

Before starting your childminding business in the UK, you need to understand the responsibilities of the role fully.

1) Health and Safety

A childminder must provide a safe and healthy environment for children. Everything should comply with the:

EU allergy legislation
Safer Food Better Business for Childminders

Childminders must beware of hazards children may face at different ages. To ensure their safety, a childminder must conduct regular risk assessments.

2) Training

You need to attend regular training. This is to ensure continued professional development and keep to date with the latest regulations and standards. You must complete training approved by the local authority. To find out more, attend a pre-registration briefing hosted by your local authority.

3) Nutrition

A child’s diet should consist of plenty of vegetables, fruits, protein, dairy and starchy carbohydrates. Nutritional balance aids in the growth and development of a child. It also helps in strengthening the immune system. This fights disease-causing bacteria and viruses, leading to fewer cases of illnesses. They include ear infection, diarrhoea and bacterial meningitis.

4) Working Relationship

Childminders need to build positive working relationships with parents and children. By having a positive relationship, you ensure children’s safety and emotional well-being. It also fosters a secure attachment between the child and the childminder.

5) Administration

While much of a childminder’s time goes toward childcare, a few minutes of the day should go towards administration. A childminder should ensure proper record keeping. That includes accounts, attendance registers, procedures and policies. One should keep records such as risk assessments and 2-year progress checks. All documentation must comply with the Childcare Registers and EYFS.

Market Research…

Now that you fully understand the responsibilities of a childminder, the next step is market research. Here are a couple of questions to kickstart your research.

How big is your potential market?
Will the market grow or shrink in the future?
What is the household income of your target audience?
Who are your top competitors?
What is the market share of your top competitors?
How do your top competitors effectively attract customers?
What sources are driving traffic to your top competitors?

Market research allows you to know how much demand is in your area for your services. For example, who will be your customers. It’s essential to consider your target audience. Next, find out the level of demand for your services. Is your home close to lots of schools? Are there lots of new housing estates?

Learning more about your target audience allows you to tailor your services to their needs. For example, there may be less demand for childminding services if fewer homes and schools are in the area. If the area has several pre-school children, your services will be in demand.

You should also find out…

Number of childminding business in your locality
Number of children in the appropriate age group in your locality
Emerging trends in childminding

Besides finding out the number of homes or pre-school children in your home, you can also contact employers in your locality. Most companies don’t have in-house childcare units where employees can bring their children. What you need to do is approach companies with the idea of providing subsidised childminding services to their employees. This can boost your business.

Your Competitors

It’s essential to build up as much information as you can on your competitors during market research. Your competitors are other registered childminders.

You need to find out about their prices, services and reputation. Find out how they promote their business. The best way to collect information about your competitors is online. The majority of childminders have a website or social media page on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Take a few minutes to browse their website or social media page.

Alternatively, you can always get a copy of their prospectus. From the information gathered, create a comparison table. Listing everything such as services, prices, opening times, facilities and extras. By doing so, you’re able to identify a gap in the market.

Obtain data for market research from the audit of early education and childcare in your local authority. The data has numbers and spread of childcare businesses in your locality and population demographics. Don’t forget to visit your early education and childcare officer. The officer can provide information on local childminding businesses and trends. From the local planning office, you can find data on new housing and businesses.

Types of Childcare…

You must decide what type of child care you’ll be offering. There are four types of childcare.

1) Childcare on Domestic Premises

This is where four or more people work in a home-based setting. According to Ofsted, CoDP is a childcare business with two childminders and two assistants. Such a business can also have four childminders or one childminder and three assistants. Like a mini nursery, Childcare on domestic premises enables a large group of children to learn together.

Before Ofsted grants registration, you must meet the qualification requirements for group care. That includes appointing a manager. The manager must hold at least a full and relevant level 3 qualification while other staff hold a full and relevant level 2 qualification.

2) Childcare on Non-Domestic Premises

Under Childcare on non-domestic premises, childcare is usually provided on-premises. For example, a village hall, school premises or purpose-built premises. The premises must be secure and safe, as detailed by the EYFS and Childcare Register. Floorspace requirements must also meet EYFS standards.

If you care for children under 8 years for more than two hours each day, you must register with Ofsted. It’s an offence to provide childminding services without taking steps to register your business.

3) At Home Child Care

A home child carer is an individual who offers childcare services at the home of one or more children. An example is an au pair or a nanny. As an au pair or nanny, you can register with Ofsted to look after children. A nanny or au pair can look after children from one or two families. If a nanny wants to look after children from more than two families simultaneously, one must register as a childminder.

4) Childminder

A childminder looks after children on domestic premises. The premises is not the home of any of the children being cared for. A childminder can care for children under 8 years but not more than 2 hours a day.

You must follow the Early Years Foundation Stage framework. This framework sets out the education, learning and welfare requirements. For example, childminders must teach through play and games. Areas of learning include:

Mathematics
Literacy
Physical development
Communication and language
Personal, social and emotional development
Expressive arts and design

If caring for children aged between 2 and 4 years, you must offer free early education.

Business Registration…

In the UK, most businesses register as a sole trader, partnership or limited company. As a childminder, you need to register your business, but you need to know a couple of things before that.

1) Choose a Business Name

A good business name should embody your brand. Sadly, coming up with a cool business name is not easy. Each potential name has upsides and downsides. As such, it’s easy to get stuck.

The first thing your customers recognise about your brand is the business name. You can offer perfect services or run great marketing campaigns. But if your customers cannot remember your business name, you’re doomed.

A memorable business name has a huge impact on how your clients view your brand. The first thing is to avoid hard to spell names. A hard to spell name will confuse your customers, so keep it short and simple.

Second, use a name that’s positively related to your business and conveys meaning. For example, a brand name like Shopify relates to eCommerce. As such, it has a positive meaning for the company. If you choose a brand name with no meaning, it will cost your brand.

Lastly, choose a catchy name if you don’t want your business to sound boring. A catchy business name makes it easy for your customers to refer their friends without hesitation. It also resonates with your target audience.

We recommend using a business name generator for ideas.

2) Set Your Fees and Working Hours

When it comes to setting fees, you can choose on an hourly basis, daily or weekly fee. Before setting your fees, it’s wise to find out what’s the going rate in your area. The best way to find out the pay rate is to talk with other childminders. You can also consult family or friends using childminders in your locality.

Per child, you can charge between £4 to £5 per hour. If living in a city like London, your rate can be £6 to £8 an hour. When setting fees, consider if they’re negotiable or not. Do you have weekend rates? If your weekday rates differ from your weekend rates, it’s important to inform the parents. This is the same for overtime charges and late collection.

Will you offer discounts if parents ask you to look after more than one child from the same family? Discounts result in extra savings for the parents. They also help to attract more customers widening your customer base.

Lastly, will you offer a rebate? On rare occasions, a child may become seriously ill. As such, the child will be away. To increase your conversion rates, offer a rebate. Like a discount, rebates motivate your customers to seek your services. As the key to customer satisfaction, a rebate entices customers to keep coming back and recommend your services to other parents.

When setting fees, don’t forget about taxes.

Once you set the fees, the next step is setting your working hours. Like any other form of a sole proprietorship, childminding offers a flexible working environment. This allows you to set your own working hours. To maximise your business, make sure your working hours coincide with the time of day when working parents require child care.

The majority of childminders offer childcare from 8.00 AM to 6.00 PM from Monday to Friday. A few work on weekends. You can always offer flexible working hours to meet your clients’ needs. For example, you can offer overnight care. This is a good way of attracting customers.

When setting working hours, it’s important to set time for yourself and your family. You should also decide if you want to work on public holidays and special occasions. A few parents may drop off their children early. Take this into account and inform the parents of any changes beforehand.

Remember, on weekdays, childcare may continue until late in the evening. You need to set time for planning next day activities, cleaning, tidying up and maintaining business records. You also require time for shopping for supplies and preparing snacks.

3) Register as a Childminder

In the UK, running an unregistered childminder business is illegal. To avoid penalties and fines, register your childminder business. There are two registers – the Childcare Register and Early Years Register. The register you join depends on the following:

If registering as a nanny or childminder
Age of children you’re looking after

For example, if you’re a childminder looking after children from birth to 5 years old, register with the Early Years Register. Nannies cannot register with the Early Years Register. If looking after children from 5 to 8 years old, join the Childcare Register.

When applying, the site will prompt you to join the correct register. Before registration, you’ll need:

First aid training
A health declaration booklet
Contact details for two referees
A certificate of good character
Childcare training
An enhanced criminal record check with barred list

Registration with Ofsted costs £35, and the fee is not refundable. The form takes 30 minutes to fill and 12 weeks to process your application. To register, head to the Register Childminder website. Select “Start a new Application,” click ‘Continue’ and complete the online application.

After application, you’ll get a visit from Ofsted. During the registration visit, the Ofsted inspector will check:

Address and proof of identity
Your first aid and training qualifications
Your work history
Confirm that you included all relevant details in your application

The inspector will also check if you carried out a risk assessment. The assessment helps to ensure that your equipment, premises and resources such as cots and car seats are suitable for children and safe.

At the time of the visit, you don’t need to have a full range of equipment. However, you and your staff must have good enough English to help children develop their language skills.

The following is a list of documents to show the inspector:

Passport or driving license
Proof of address – water, gas or electricity bill
CV
Paediatric first aid certificate
Childcare training certificates
Car insurance and MOT insurance

Before the end of the visit, the inspector will carry out a DBS check before letting you know if you’re approved for registration or not. If approved, you’ll receive your registration certificate. If you fail, you’ll receive a notice of intention. On failing to respond within 14 working days, you’ll receive a notice of decision to refuse registration.

Marketing your Childminder Business…

There are many ways for promoting your childminder business.

1) Social Media

On social media, you can advertise your childminder business on Facebook and LinkedIn. Join childminding groups on these platforms. By doing so, you can connect with your target audience. Some Facebook groups allow participants to place a free ad. To post an add, write a post, add a video, photo or GIF, and tag people.

2) Website

Besides social media, many people start searching for products or services online. By having an online presence, you provide customers with information about your brand and services. To have an online presence, you need a good website.

Hiring a web developer will ensure your site has streamlined navigation, fast page speed, and responsiveness. Remember, before using images of children, obtain parental permission.

3) Networking

Make contact with professionals working with children. For example, health care professionals and teachers. Send them your prospectus and include your website URL, social media handles, and address. You can always invite them to your premises for a tour. This will enable them to see what you offer. Besides professionals, you can contact churches, schools, and single parent networks.

4) Prospectus and Leaflets

A good quality prospectus or leaflet is a valuable marketing tool. If well presented and attractive, people will read. When designing your prospectus, include relevant information about your services and contact details. For information that’ll change, such as costs, use an insert. This saves you costly reprints.

5) Advertise in the Local Press

Advertise in the local parish magazine or press. While it may be expensive, you’ll reach a wider audience. You can also contact the Children’s Information Service and other local directories. By doing so, you get to find out if your details are correct.

Final Thoughts…

Now that you’ve successfully registered your business, join a local childminding network. As a member, you’ll demonstrate to parents that you uphold high standards. You’ll also meet other members to network and exchange ideas. An example of a network you can join is the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years.

You must also ensure your insurance covers you and your staff. Insurance protects you in case of an emergency or lawsuit.