Apply to register your nursery or other daycare organisation (EYO)
Find out when you must apply to register if you want to set up a daycare organisation for children.
Applies to England
You should read this guide if you will be setting up a group provision that looks after children aged between birth and the 31 August following their fifth birthday and you will be doing this:
- on domestic premises, such as someone’s home, as a group provider and there will be 5 or more people working together at the same time to provide or assist with care. You will need to register as a childcare on domestic premises provider. Childcare on domestic premises is a type of daycare
- on non-domestic premises such as a nursery, village hall or designated outdoor space as a group provider
This does not include those people wanting to register as any type of childminder.
Who should apply
If you want to look after children in this way, you will need to register your daycare. Only individuals who will have certain roles can apply to register a daycare as the ‘nominated individual’.
You can find out more information on registered individuals as well as the registered person and the nominated individual of a daycare. Working on the assumption that your application is successful, you will need to be one of the following:
- the individual owner or sole trader of a daycare organisation
- one of the registered individuals or directors of a daycare organisation owned by a company or group
- one of the registered individuals of a charity or partnership or group
- one of the registered individuals of a school which does any of the following:
- admits children to their register who are not yet 2 years old
- provides care for children under 2 years old where at least 1 child attends for more than 2 hours a day
- provides care for children who are not pupils at the school
There are exemptions to the requirement to register.
What counts as daycare
A daycare for children can include:
- a nursery
- a nursery provided in a home
- a playgroup
- a preschool
- before-school and after-school care
- a holiday club
Registering with a childminder agency instead
If there are 5 or more people working together as a group to provide or assist with childcare, in someone’s home, this would need to be registered as a childcare on domestic premises provider. Childcare on domestic premises is a type of daycare.
If you want to register as a childcare on domestic premises provider, you can either use the service on this page to apply to register as a childcare on domestic premises provider with Ofsted, or you can register with a childminder agency.
You can find:
- information on childminder agencies’ contact information and Ofsted reports
- background information on childminder agencies on the Foundation Years website
Childminders
If you are looking after children in your own home with up to 3 other childminders or assistants (up to a maximum of 4 people in total), you only need to register as a childminder.
If you want to work part of your time as a childminder, and part as a childcare on domestic provider, you must register separately for each. You will need to pay 2 fees and have separate inspections.
Nannies
If you are only looking after someone else’s children in their home, you must read the guidance on becoming a nanny instead, as you may not need to register with Ofsted.
Daycare in schools
You will need your school’s unique reference number if you want to register a setting that will be in a school.
If you do not meet the requirements
If you do not qualify to apply to register as a daycare, childminder or nanny you might be able to apply to join the Childcare Register.
Information you will need
To register your organisation, you will need to have the following details:
- your name and contact details
- your organisation’s contact details, including individuals who form part of it
- the contact details of your organisation’s nominated individual
- details of any previous registration with Ofsted
Everyone who wants to join your organisation in a governance position, such as a committee member, will need to apply to Ofsted.
How to apply
Check whether you should be registering as one of the following instead of as a daycare organisation:
- a childminder
- a nanny
Registering as the wrong type of childcarer may delay when you can start work.
Next steps
Your application to register as a nursery or other daycare will not be reviewed by Ofsted until these 2 steps are also completed.
When you have completed this application, you must also:
- add a setting to your application for each setting that you want to provide childcare from
- ensure each person who will be in a governance position applies to join the daycare
You will receive an email telling you to complete these steps. It will also have a link to an overview page where you can check the progress of all these connected applications.
Once we have received all of the connected applications, we will carry out an application review.
Updates to this page
Last updated 1 November 2024 + show all updates
-
Updated to differentiate between domestic and non-domestic premises and providers, following changes introduced by the Department for Education’s EYFS framework. We also included more information on daycare roles under ‘Who should apply’. We have also clarified the number of people involved in operating a childcare provision compared to a childminder provision.
-
Updated the 'Next steps' section with a link to new guidance on an application review.
-
Information added on childminder agencies being able to accept registrations for childcare on domestic premises. This is not a change in law or practice.
-
Anyone using the service will now receive an email afterwards directing them to an overview of all the other applications connected to their organisation's, and the status of each.
-
First published.