Childminders and childcare on domestic premises: registration

How to register if you want to look after children at home, including what you need to do before you apply, fees, and working elsewhere.

From November 2024, you can register to be a childminder without domestic premises if you do not want to work from your or another home address. Read our guidance on how to register as a childminder without domestic premises.

Childminders

As a childminder, you can:

  • work solely from your or somebody else’s home, or work from your or somebody else’s home and spend some of your time on non-domestic premises, such as a community or village hall

Or

  • work solely from somewhere other than a home, like a community or village hall. 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:

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 3 childminders at any one time. Each childminder (often known as co-childminders) must apply to register separately.

If you work with 4 or more other people providing or assisting with care, 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 or premises. However, you must tell us about all of the premises 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 there are 5 or more people working together to provide or assist with childcare on a domestic premise, this is a childcare on domestic premises provider and a type of group provision.

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:

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 you’re on the DBS Update service.

Anyone aged 16 or over 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.

You’ll 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 children’s health or safety – including from any equipment or activities you will provide

When you start looking after children you’ll 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 on the domestic premises or works there during childcare hours when you make your application. We will contact them to complete a health declaration form and confirm their details.

When you apply, we will carry out an application review.

We aim to complete your application within the following timescales, but it may take longer in some situations:

  • 12 weeks for early years applications

  • 10 weeks for childcare register applications

Childcare on domestic

You will need to have a Government Gateway account. You will be prompted to sign in or create an account when you start to apply.

Use the ‘Apply to register your nursery or other daycare organisation (EYO)’ or ‘Apply to join the Childcare Register (CR1)’.

Make sure that everyone who needs to has filled in an EY2 form and got an enhanced check with barred lists from DBS.

When you apply, we will carry out an application review.

We aim to complete your application within the following timescales, but it may take longer in some situations:

  • 12 weeks for early years applications

  • 10 weeks for childcare register applications

If we refuse your application

If you cannot show us that you are suitable to be registered, we may refuse your application. If so, we will send you a ‘notice of intention’ to refuse. If you do not respond to this within 14 working days of the notice date, we will send a ‘notice of decision’ to refuse registration and information on how to appeal.

Requirements

You will need to follow all requirements for childminders or childcare on domestic premises. We will inspect you if you have joined the Early Years Register, and may inspect you if you have joined the Childcare Register only – find out more about inspections.

Fees

Childminders

You will need to contact us to let us know you are moving or have moved and we will issue a certificate with your new address. If there are any new people aged 16 or over living or working on the premises, you must also submit an application to report new adults in the home.

If you’re only joining the Childcare Register, it costs £103.

There are also costs for training, checks and insurance. View a full list of estimated costs.

Childcare on domestic premises

It costs £220 to join the Early Years Register. It’s free to join the Childcare Register at the same time.

If you’re only joining the Childcare Register, it costs £114.

You pay a reduced fee of £35 to join the Early Years Register if you work for less than any of the following:

  • 3 hours a day

  • 5 days a week

  • 45 weeks a year

About Ofsted’s fees

Once you’re registered, you must pay the same fee annually. This is due on the anniversary of your registration and covers the previous year. See more information about Ofsted registration fees.

Moving premises

Childminders

You will need to contact us to let us know you have moved and we will issue a certificate with your new address. If there are any new people over the age of 16 living or working on the premises, you must also submit an application to report new adults in the home.

Childcare on 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 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 is not expected to take as long to complete as a full registration. If your application is approved, you will get a new registration certificate.

Your new setting must be approved by Ofsted before it can legally begin operating. To do so without approval will result in you providing unregistered childcare, which is an offence.

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 over the age of 16, they must submit an application to join a nursery or other daycare organisation.

Working in different settings

If you want to start working as a childminder in another home as well as your own, you need to let us know.

However, you can work outside your registration as an employee for a registered childcare provider, like a nursery or other daycare, for any amount of time. You do not have to let us know.

Working as an Ofsted-registered nanny

You can do this under your childminder or childcare on domestic registration but you need to let us know. You can tell us about this when you first apply to register or contact us after you are registered.

Setting up childcare on non-domestic premises

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

You do not have to pay an extra fee but you must apply for approval to work on non-domestic premises using the EYA form. You can do this when you submit your main application or once you are registered. However, we will not review this until we have confirmed your initial registration.

You can decide how you will divide your work between the different settings, as long as you spend some of your time working on the domestic premises. For example, you can work from different settings on a daily basis, or on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis. However, you must describe how you will divide the work between each setting in your childminding application.

We will need to approve your non-domestic premises before you can work there. However, you can still offer childminding/childcare on domestic premises under your registration.

If you want to spend 100% of the time providing care on non-domestic premises, you need to register separately with us as a childminder without domestic premises, or as a childcare on non-domestic premises provider if the number of people providing or assisting with care exceeds 4. It is an offence to provide care on non-domestic premises without our approval.

Telling Ofsted about changes

You must keep your details up to date and report any changes within 14 days of them happening. You also need to tell us about any serious incidents.

Contact us to report changes to:

  • where you are working

  • your contact details

  • your childcare hours

If you register your childcare on domestic premises as a new business with Companies House or The Charities Commission, your legal structure changes and you will receive a new company or charity registration number. You will need to make a new application and pay an application fee for each setting affected by the change. This is because your business becomes a new legal entity and your existing registrations are attached to the previous individual or organisation.

Your new business must be approved by Ofsted before it begins operating. To do so without approval will result in you providing unregistered childcare, which 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 and we do not need a new application. The nominated individual should notify us of the change.

Fast track applications to operate in a different way or set up additional premises

To support local authorities and registered early years and childcare settings, we have put in place temporary arrangements. These allow us to fast-track applications and requests from existing providers only to operate provision in a different way or to set up additional premises. Contact your local authority for further information.

Resigning your registration

If you want to resign your registration, contact us or tell the inspector during a visit.

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

Household members, assistants and visitors

We must check people who live or work with you in the home. This includes:

  • anyone aged 16 or over who lives in the home (household members)

  • anyone who works there regularly during childcare hours, such as a cleaner

If you provide a ‘childcare on domestic’ service, these people will need to complete an EY2 form online.

If you are a childminder with domestic premises, you will need to use the Childminders: report new adults in the home service.

Each of these people will need an enhanced check with barred lists from DBS.

For more information, see People connected with Ofsted-registered childcare.

Visitors

Visitors include people who are doing building work or repairs in your home.

We do not carry out checks on visitors, but you are responsible for these people and should not leave them alone with children. You should also have a procedure for checking the IDs of visitors like tradesmen and builders who are working in your home.

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