Guidance

Childcare on domestic premises

Guidance for applicants and registered providers of childcare on domestic premises.

• From: Ofsted
• Published: 21 September 2023
• Last updated: 1 November 2024 — See all updates

Applies to England

Introduction

There are 2 types of domestic childcare registrations:

• childminder (up to and including 4 people providing care) 
• childcare on domestic premises (5 or more people providing care)

Childminders can work alone or with other childminders and assistants. A separate childcare on domestic premises registration is required when the number of people providing or assisting with care exceeds 4.

‘Domestic premises’ is somewhere used wholly or mainly as a private home. The premises include any area and any vehicle where childcare is provided.

You must register as childcare on domestic premises provision when the number of people providing childcare exceeds 4 unless you are exempt from registration.  

You can register either with Ofsted or with a childminder agency.

Read our early years blog to find out about the difference between registering with Ofsted or a childminder agency.

For information on what happens once you have submitted your Ofsted application form, see: Childcare: application review.

People providing or assisting with childcare

People providing, or assisting with providing, childcare on the premises could include:

• Ofsted-registered childminders
• agency-registered childminders
• childminding assistants
• apprentices
• students
• volunteers

You will still need to be registered to provide childcare on domestic premises if the total number of people providing or assisting with childcare is 5 or more, even if those assisting are not included in the ratios.  

Childminder assistants 

We must complete suitability checks on all people providing care on the premises where the childcare is provided.  

You can have assistants but can only leave them alone with children for up to 2 hours per child (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.

Household members and visitors

We must complete suitability checks on all people aged 16 years and older who live or work on the premises. This includes:

• anyone who lives on the premises where the childcare is provided (family or other household members)
• anyone who works on the premises where the childcare is provided during childcare hours, such as a cleaner or healthcare professional

You need to notify us of people that fit the above criteria and they must apply to join your registration.

We do not need to complete suitability checks on: 

• visitors, as the provider is responsible for visitors in the home and must ensure there is no unsupervised contact with the children

• people who live in the same building if they are separately accommodated, ie they may have: a separate entrance, a separate address, no access to children, or no access to areas of the premises where childcare is taking place

People providing healthcare

Section 18 of the Childcare Act 2006 defines ‘childcare’. It excludes any form of healthcare for a child. If a medical professional attends the provision to provide healthcare only, they must apply to join the provider’s registration so we can complete checks on their suitability to be in regular contact with children. They will not be counted as somebody providing or assisting with childcare or counted as part of the staff:child ratios, unless they declared in the application that they will carry out both roles.  

The medical professional must not assist with or provide childcare, even for less than 2 hours a day. The provider must set out very clear expectations and role requirements to ensure that childcare is not provided by healthcare professionals.  

The individual must specify in their application that they are working on the premises but not working with children as part of the staff:child ratio. This will explain that they will be providing healthcare for a specific child or children and will not have any input into the childcare for other children.  

Healthcare professionals that also assist with childcare must apply to join the provider’s registration and specify that they are also working as part of the staff:child ratio.

Requirements

Childcare on domestic premises is defined as a group setting. You will need to follow the requirements set out for nurseries and other daycare provisions rather than for childminding. For example, the ratio and staff qualification requirements.  

If you also operate as a childminder, you will need to follow the requirements for childminders or childcare on domestic premises depending on which provision you are operating as at the time.

Planning permission

You should check with your local planning department whether you need planning permission to operate as childcare on domestic premises. The requirements for registration do not replace the other legal responsibilities that you must still meet.

Dual registration

You must make sure that the number of people assisting with your provision aligns with your registration type:

• childminder (up to and including 4 people providing care) 

• childcare on domestic (5 or more people providing care)

If you want to work part of your time as a childminder and part as childcare on domestic premises, you need to register separately as both provider types and pay 2 separate annual fees. You will need to meet the relevant requirements and clearly distinguish to parents and inspectors, if asked, which provision you are offering. You will also have separate inspections.  

The law does not permit you to act as a childminder and childcarer on domestic premises on the same premises at the same time.

Providing childcare on domestic premises without being registered will result in you providing unregistered childcare, which is an offence.

If the number of people providing, or assisting with, the childcare on domestic provision occasionally falls below 5, the provision can continue to operate. They can do so under their childcare on domestic premises registration providing this is not a regular occurrence. For example, during emergencies or to cover staff absences. However, it must continue to meet, and will be inspected against, the group requirements. If the number of people providing, or assisting with, the childcare frequently or usually falls below 5, they may register and operate under a childminder registration during those times.  

Providers who are already registered to operate as childcare on domestic premises with 4 people working together to provide or assist with the childcare, can retain their existing registration and can continue to operate as a group provision in this way.

Agency-registered providers and Ofsted

A registered childminder who also wants to register to provide childcare on domestic premises must hold both registrations, either with a childminder agency or with Ofsted.

For further information, see agency-registered providers and Ofsted.

Publishing your registration details

Once registered, we automatically publish the following information on Ofsted’s find an inspection report website and in our official statistics:

• URN
• date of registration
• register type (for example, the Early Years Register)
• the care type (for example, childminder or home childcarer)
• conditions of registration
• available inspection reports

We will also publish your setting name and address, unless you ask us not to. If you change your mind about that, we can remove your details from the website later. To submit a request for us to remove this information, you will need to contact us from your registered email address and quote the URN for each setting affected.

Inspections

If you have joined the Early Years Register, we will inspect your provision. If you have joined the Childcare Register only, we may carry out a compliance inspection.

We will usually contact you before your childcare on domestic premises inspection. The inspector will ask about how you are operating. For further information, see notification of inspection (for group provision).

We will carry out a ‘no children on roll or present on the day’ inspection if you are not operating.

If you are operating as a childminder, we will decide whether to do a ‘no children on roll or present on the day’ inspection or inspect your childminding provision instead.

If we start to inspect you as a childminder and find that you are operating as childcare on domestic premises, we cannot continue your inspection. This is because you are operating an unregistered provision. Instead, we may take enforcement action. Operating while unregistered may also invalidate your public liability insurance.

You can read more about inspections below:

• Early years inspection handbook
• Ofsted inspections: what EY providers and practitioners need to know
• Carrying out Childcare Register compliance inspections
• Education inspection framework

Telling Ofsted about changes

You must keep your details up to date with Ofsted. You must tell us about any changes in advance, where possible, but at least within 14 days of them happening. You also need to tell us about any serious incidents.

Contact us from your registered email address, quoting your URN to report changes to:

• new people living or working on your premises
• where you are working
• your contact details
• your childcare hours

Moving or operating from additional domestic premises

If you are a childcare on domestic premises provider and you intend to move your setting or operate from additional premises, you must apply to register your new premises. This is because the premises for each daycare setting must be approved by Ofsted.

Approval to move or operate from additional settings does not require a full registration. Therefore, seeking approval does not usually take as long to complete as a full registration would. However, each approval is considered on a case-by-case basis. If we approve your application, you will get a new registration certificate.

Your new setting must be approved by Ofsted before it can legally begin operating. If you start operating it without approval, you will be providing unregistered childcare. This is an offence. You must have premises in order to remain registered, so you should continue working on your existing premises, where possible, until we grant approval for the new premises.

You will need to pay an approval and annual fee for each setting where childcare is provided.

If there are any new people living or working on the premises who are aged 16 or over, they must submit an application to join a nursery or other daycare organisation.

Operating from non-domestic premises

You can apply to spend some of your time running childcare from non-domestic premises as long as some of your provision is on domestic premises. Non-domestic premises include places like nurseries, church halls, parts of a school and classrooms. You need to follow the same requirements as your original registration.

You can find more information here: apply for approval to work on non-domestic premises using the EYA form.

Changes to the legal entity of your business once registered

If the legal entity that is registered with Ofsted changes, you will need to make a new application for registration and pay an application fee for each setting affected by the change. This is because any existing registrations are attached to the previous individual or organisation. For example, this will apply if you registered as a sole trader and decide to trade as a company or if the company that registered with Ofsted becomes a charitable incorporated organisation.

The new legal entity must be granted registration by Ofsted before it begins operating. If you start operating it without approval, you will be providing unregistered childcare. This is an offence.

Changing the name or registered office address of your business

When you change your business name or your registered head office address (not the childcare premises), the registered provider remains the same. We do not need a new application. The nominated individual should notify us of the change.

Resigning your registration

To resign your registration, contact us from your registered email address quoting the URN for each setting affected, or tell the inspector during a visit or inspection.

We will keep the published history of a childcare setting on our reports website for 5 years after the setting is listed as closed. This includes:

• your previous inspection reports (if you are only registered on the Childcare Register, previous inspection outcome letters remain online for 12 months after publication)
• details of any previous conditions of registration
• any information we have previously published about complaints or compliance action taken against you (this will remain online for 5 years after publication)

We do this so that people can view this information in case:

• you decide to register to provide childcare again after a short period
• you decide to start providing childcare at a different address
• someone else decides to register to provide childcare from the same address

Published 21 September 2023
Last updated 1 November 2024 + show all updates

1. 1 November 2024

   Updated to increase the number of people providing the ‘childcare on domestic premises’ provision to 5 people. We have also clarified when providers are allowed to operate from non-domestic premises under ‘Operating from non-domestic premises’. Finally, we added further guidance on the position of childminder assistants. These updates reflect changes introduced by the Department for Education’s EYFS framework, published on 1 November 2024.

2. 21 September 2023

   First published.