Childcare disqualification check

The rule: section 76 of the Childcare Act 2006

Childcare disqualification is set by sections 75 and 76 of the Childcare Act 2006 and the regulations made under them. Section 75 says “Regulations may provide for a person to be disqualified from registration.” Section 76 sets the consequences: a disqualified person must not provide, or be directly concerned in the management of, early years or later years provision to which the section applies, and “No person may employ, in connection with the provision of early years or later years provision to which this section applies, a person who is disqualified from registration by regulations under section 75.”

Section 76 reaches schools as well as registered nurseries and childminders. Section 76(1)(b) covers early years provision that would need registering with Ofsted but for the school exemption in section 34(2) of the Childcare Act 2006, which is how a school's nursery and reception classes fall within it. That exemption covers only provision for children aged two and over, made by the school or its staff, where the child (or at least one of the children) is a registered pupil, so provision a school runs for children under two must itself be registered with Ofsted.

Employing a disqualified person in that childcare is a criminal offence under section 76(4), tried in the magistrates' court; the maximum is six months' imprisonment, a level 5 fine, or both (section 76(7), read with section 76(8)). The employer's only defence is to prove that it “did not know, and had no reasonable grounds for believing, that the person whom A was employing was disqualified from registration” (section 76(6)). The burden is on the employer, which is why the check and its record matter.

The grounds are in the Childcare (Disqualification) Regulations 2018, in force from 31 August 2018. They are Part 2 of SI 2018/794, whose full title is the Childcare (Disqualification) and Childcare (Early Years Provision Free of Charge) (Extended Entitlement) (Amendment) Regulations 2018. They revoked the Childcare (Disqualification) Regulations 2009, which had themselves revoked the 2007 Regulations, so a policy or declaration form that still cites 2007 or 2009 is out of date.

For schools, statutory guidance from the Department for Education, Disqualification under the Childcare Act 2006 (31 August 2018), sets out who is covered and how to check, and schools and local authorities must have regard to it. Keeping children safe in education 2026 (KCSIE) says at paragraph 313 that “all schools and colleges providing childcare must ensure that appropriate checks are carried out to ensure that individuals employed to work in reception classes, or in wraparound care for children up to the age of 8, are not disqualified from working in these settings under the 2018 Childcare Disqualification Regulations.” Paragraph 342 calls childcare disqualification “an additional requirement to the general child safeguarding arrangements provided under the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) regime, which apply to all children.”

For nurseries, pre-schools and childminders, the duty is in section 3 of the Early Years Foundation Stage frameworks in force from 1 September 2026. Paragraph 3.22 of the EYFS statutory framework for group and school-based providers says: “When a person is disqualified, providers must not employ that person in connection with early years provision.” The EYFS statutory framework for childminders says the same at paragraph 3.23.

These rules apply in England. Part 3 of the Childcare Act 2006 regulates childcare provided in England (sections 33, 34, 52 and 53), and although the 2018 Regulations extend to England and Wales, they disqualify from registration in England; Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own regimes.

What disqualifies a person

The Childcare (Disqualification) Regulations 2018 list the grounds. A person is disqualified from childcare in England if any of these applies:

• They are barred from regulated activity relating to children – on the DBS children's barred list (regulation 8), or on the old Protection of Children Act 1999 list that the barred list replaced (regulation 6).
• An order or determination listed in Schedule 1 has been made about them, about a child who has been in their care, or preventing them from being registered for, or involved in managing, a facility where children are looked after (regulation 4(2)). Schedule 1 includes a care order under section 31 of the Children Act 1989 and its Scottish and Northern Ireland equivalents, a prohibition on private fostering, and decisions such as the refusal of an application for registration as a childcare provider, or the cancellation of a registration.
• They have been found to have committed a listed offence in Schedule 2 or Schedule 3 (regulation 4(5) and (7)). Schedule 3 covers offences against or involving children or adults, set out separately for England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, with a further group of other offences that includes certain sexual offences committed outside the United Kingdom; it includes sexual offences under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, and Schedule 2 covers older, repealed offences.
• They have been found to have committed certain other offences – one of the offences against children within section 26(1) of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000, or one of the listed offences against an adult, which Ofsted's examples include murder, kidnapping, rape and assault causing actual bodily harm – or are subject to an order under section 104 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (regulation 4(3), (4) and (8)).
• They have been found to have committed any offence involving bodily injury to, or death of, a child (regulation 4(6)), whether or not it appears in a schedule.
• They committed an act abroad that was an offence there and would be a disqualifying offence if done in any part of the United Kingdom (regulation 5).
• They are subject to a direction under section 142 of the Education Act 2002, the kind once recorded on List 99 (regulations 2 and 7(2)), or are on the equivalent Northern Ireland list (regulation 7(3)). A section 142 direction is separate from a section 128 direction, which bars someone from managing an independent school.
• On domestic premises only, they live in the same household as a disqualified person, or in a household where a disqualified person is employed (regulation 9). That is disqualification by association, covered below.

“Found to have committed” is wider than a conviction. Regulation 2(2) includes a conviction, a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity, a finding of disability, a police caution for an admitted offence given on or after 6 April 2007, and a youth caution given on or after 8 April 2013. Regulation 4(9) lifts a disqualification where a conviction is quashed on appeal or a caution is withdrawn or set aside.

There are exceptions. A refused or cancelled registration does not disqualify where it was a registration with a childminder agency, or where the sole reason was failure to pay a fee (regulation 4(10)). And a person is not disqualified because they themselves were placed in local authority care, or because a child they fostered or adopted was made the subject of a care order, unless the order was made as a result of their care of that child (regulation 4(11)).

The Department for Education's appendices to the disqualification guidance include Table A, a list of relevant offences that staff are told to disclose. It is a useful aid but not the law: the appendices say it “was compiled on 2 July 2018 and has not been updated since then” and is not a comprehensive list, and it does not cover overseas offences. Where Table A and the Regulations differ, the Regulations govern.

Who must be checked: schools, nurseries and childminders

In a nursery, pre-school or childminding setting registered with Ofsted, everyone employed in connection with the early years provision is covered: the EYFS frameworks forbid employing a disqualified person in it, and a disqualified person must not provide or manage it. The scope question is mainly a school question.

In schools, the Department for Education's guidance draws the line by the age of the children and the time of day. Staff are covered if they are employed or engaged to provide “early years childcare (this covers the age range from birth until 1 September following a child's fifth birthday, that is up to and including reception year) or later years childcare (this covers children above reception age but who have not attained the age of 8) in nursery, primary or secondary school settings, or if they are directly concerned with the management of such childcare.”

• Early years, at any time of day. This covers nursery and reception teachers and teaching assistants in class, and any supervised activity for children in that age range, such as breakfast clubs, lunchtime supervision and after-school care provided by the school.
• Later years, outside the school day only. For children above reception age and under 8, the guidance says the arrangements do not include “education or supervised activity for children above reception age during school hours (including extended school hours for co-curricular learning activities, such as the school's choir or sports teams) but it does include before-school settings, such as breakfast clubs, and after school provision.” This follows section 18(3)(a) of the Childcare Act 2006 definition of childcare, which excludes education or supervised activity provided by a school during school hours for a registered pupil who is not a young child.
• Management. Schools use their judgement, but the guidance says this “will include the headteacher”, and may include other members of the leadership team and any manager, supervisor, leader or volunteer responsible for the day-to-day management of the provision.
• Volunteers and casual workers, including people on work experience, who work regularly in relevant childcare, supervised or not, or who are directly concerned with managing it.
• Agency and contracted staff. Where a school uses an agency or third party to supply staff for relevant childcare – the guidance's examples are a supply teacher, music teacher or sports coach – or contracts out the childcare, it must obtain confirmation that the agency or organisation has told its staff they will commit an offence if they work in relevant childcare while disqualified.

Responsibility sometimes sits outside the school. The guidance makes the local authority responsible for its centrally employed staff and the training provider responsible for fee-paying or self-funded trainees, while the school is responsible for salaried trainees and must ensure that self-employed staff it engages, such as a sports coach running an after-school club, comply. Where another childcare provider hires the school's premises, the guidance says the school should ensure that provider has appropriate policies in place.

Some roles are normally outside. The guidance says caretakers, cleaners, drivers, transport escorts, catering staff and office staff “would normally be excluded”; that is a judgement, and where a role is borderline “a record of the assessment should be retained on the employee's personnel file and a copy supplied to the individual concerned.” Health care is excluded by statute, so school nurses, speech and language therapists and educational psychologists are not covered. Governors and proprietors are not covered unless they volunteer regularly in relevant childcare or are directly concerned with its day-to-day management, and staff in secondary schools come into scope only if they provide or manage childcare.

The guidance is firm that the check is not a blanket exercise: “These arrangements must only be applied if an individual is in scope of them, and should not be used in a ‘just in case’ scenario.” Asking every member of staff about relevant offences, whatever their role, collects criminal offence information the school has no need for.

Two changes in 2026 sit near this line without moving it. The free breakfast club duty in section 30 of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 has not been commenced (only the supporting subsections, which define the provision, came into force on 15 July 2026), and breakfast clubs for children under 8 are in scope already. And the widening of regulated activity from 1 September 2026 under section 139 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 changes who needs a barred list check, not the disqualification grounds, which are set by the 2018 Regulations.

Running the check and keeping the record

There is no register to search. No gov.uk service or public list tells you whether someone is disqualified from childcare. If someone is unsure whether a past matter disqualifies them, Ofsted will confirm it on request. The check is built from three things the setting already has or can ask for. For new staff, the Department for Education's guidance says “an up-to-date enhanced DBS certificate will help schools establish whether offences committed by individuals are relevant offences”, and the barred list check covers regulation 8. For existing staff, it relies on what they disclose: “For existing employees schools could consider using the DBS Update Service to supplement any employee self-declaration.” And for everyone in scope, the setting must explain what they have to tell it.

1. Identify the roles in scope using the age, time-of-day and management tests above, and record the reasoning for borderline roles.
2. Tell those staff what they must disclose and how it will be used. The guidance says “Schools must make these staff aware of what information will be required of them and how it'll be used to make decisions about disqualification”, and leaves the method to the school. Early years providers “must tell staff and prospective staff that they must disclose any information which may affect their suitability to work with children”, including arrests, charges, convictions, cautions and court orders (paragraph 3.17 of the group framework; 3.18 for childminders' assistants).
3. Obtain the information: the enhanced DBS certificate with barred list information for new staff, disclosure from existing staff, and for agency staff the agency's written confirmation.
4. Record it: who is in scope and the date the information was provided.
5. Ask staff to tell you when circumstances change. The guidance says schools “should explain to new and existing staff working in relevant childcare that they should inform the school if their circumstances change.”

The childcare disqualification declaration form is optional. KCSIE 2026 paragraph 296 says shortlisted candidates should be asked to complete a self-declaration of their criminal record or information that would make them unsuitable to work with children, including whether “they have been disqualified from providing childcare”. The Department for Education's disqualification guidance adds that “It's not necessary for schools to ask staff to complete a self-declaration form to obtain information about whether a staff member is disqualified”, and that where a school uses one, “it's important that the questions posed in the declaration are relevant and limited to the requirements of the legislation”. Read together: the yes or no question about childcare disqualification belongs in the KCSIE self-declaration for shortlisted candidates, and detailed questions about relevant offences belong only to roles in scope.

What staff must disclose, and what they need not. The guidance says “All the offences listed in Table A in the appendices must always be disclosed, as should any offence involving death or bodily injury to a child (even if not specifically listed in the table).” It also says schools should tell staff that they “do not need to provide details about any protected cautions or protected convictions” – the cautions and convictions filtered under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975.

What a school must not ask for. The guidance says schools “must not ask for medical records, details about convictions of household members, or copies of a person's criminal record from the police (this is not the same as a DBS certificate which can be obtained for the individual concerned)”, and must not ask staff to request their own criminal records, because that “will amount to an enforced subject access request, which is an offence under the 2018 DPA” (section 184 of the Data Protection Act 2018).

The record. “Schools must keep a record of those staff who are employed to work in, or manage relevant childcare provision. They should record the date on which the information about disqualification was provided.” The record can sit in the single central record or separately, and Ofsted and the independent school inspectorates check it at inspection. KCSIE paragraph 352 lets schools add an optional single central record entry for “whether relevant staff have been informed of their duty to disclose relevant information under the childcare disqualification arrangements”. Where a member of staff objects to more being held, the guidance says to record only the date the declaration was made, details of any additional safeguarding restrictions, and whether an Ofsted waiver has been granted. The single central record guide and the DBS record-keeping guide cover what belongs where.

When the check finds someone is disqualified. Once a school is satisfied a member of staff is disqualified, the guidance says it must tell them and explain the implications, including whether they can apply for a waiver. The school must not continue to employ them in relevant childcare without a waiver covering the role. For early years providers, paragraph 3.27 of the group framework adds that a provider which becomes aware of information that may lead to someone being disqualified “must take appropriate action to ensure the safety of children.”

Disqualification by association, and waivers

Disqualification by association means a person is disqualified because they live in the same household as a disqualified person, or in a household where a disqualified person is employed. Since 31 August 2018 it applies only to childcare on domestic premises. Regulation 9 of the 2018 Regulations disqualifies such a person “to work in domestic premises”, and section 98 of the Act defines domestic premises as “premises which are used wholly or mainly as a private dwelling”. The Department for Education's appendices say: “we have removed disqualification by association for individuals working in childcare in non-domestic settings (e.g. schools and nurseries).”

In schools and nurseries, regulation 9 no longer applies, and the Department for Education's guidance says “schools are not entitled to ask their staff questions about cautions or convictions of someone living or working in their household”, and that schools should review their staffing policies and safer recruitment procedures accordingly. A declaration form that still asks about the cautions or convictions of partners, adult children or lodgers should be revised.

For childminders and childcare on domestic premises, it still applies, including to an assistant working under a domestic registration on non-domestic premises for up to half the time. Paragraph 3.24 of the childminder framework says a childminder or assistant working in domestic premises “will also be disqualified if they live in the same household as another person who is disqualified”. Ofsted's guidance adds that convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings for household members are normally treated as spent, but that “This rule does not apply to the associates of childminders.” Early years registered providers must give Ofsted or their childminder agency details of any ground for disqualification of themselves or anyone living or employed in their household within 14 days of becoming aware (group framework 3.25 to 3.26, childminder framework 3.26 to 3.27); the guide to notifying Ofsted and the Ofsted DBS checks guide cover those notifications and household checks.

A childcare disqualification waiver lets a disqualified person work in a particular role. Ofsted's guidance Applying to waive disqualification (updated 10 September 2026) sets the rules:

• The disqualified person applies, not the employer: “the disqualified person, not you as their employer, must apply to us to have their disqualification waived.” Someone disqualified who is taking up new employment must apply before they start work. Where the applicant is a company, Ofsted says “it is the company that is disqualified and not the individuals listed as directors.”
• No waiver for the barred list or a court order. Ofsted cannot waive disqualification for someone barred from regulated activity with children (or on the old Protection of Children Act list), or where a court has ordered them disqualified from working with children following an offence against a child (regulation 10).
• The waiver is written and can be limited. Ofsted's consent is in writing and specifies its extent (regulation 10(3)); Ofsted says it “may limit the decision to waive disqualification to one type of employment or to particular premises”, and the person should keep the letter to show an inspector or a new employer.
• A refusal can be appealed to the First-tier Tribunal (Care Standards); Ofsted says the appeal must be made “in writing within 28 days of the date of our decision letter.”
• A waiver does not oblige anyone to employ. Ofsted says that if it waives disqualification, “it is then still your employer's decision whether or not to employ you.”

Staff in schools apply under the same rules on a separate Ofsted form, Early years provision in schools: apply for disqualification waiver. While an application is considered, the Department for Education's guidance points first to redeployment: disqualification bars someone from relevant childcare, not from the school, so “a member of staff could be disqualified from working with children of reception age or under in a school, but could work with children aged 6 and 7, provided they were not working with them in childcare provision outside of normal school hours.” Where that cannot be arranged, “the school will need to consider whether to grant paid leave or similar, or as a last resort suspend the member of staff, while the waiver application is under consideration.” If the person does not apply, or the waiver is refused, the school has to consider permanent redeployment or lawful termination.

When the information arrives by message

The check is a record, but what feeds it often arrives as a conversation. A supply agency confirms by text, the evening before, that the sports coach it is sending to run the after-school club has been told about the disqualification rules. A reception teaching assistant messages the headteacher on a Saturday to say she has had a letter she needs to talk about. The head and the business manager then agree, in a thread, to move her to year 2 during school hours and off the breakfast club rota while Ofsted considers her waiver.

Each of those messages is part of the evidence the law cares about. The date someone first told you something is the date the guidance asks you to record, and the employer's defence turns on what the school knew and when. If the agency's confirmation is only a text on the business manager's phone, and the redeployment was agreed in a personal chat, the school cannot show either when an inspector, a tribunal or a new headteacher asks.

ComplyChat is built for the work conversations a school or nursery needs to keep. On paid plans, staff, and agency workers or volunteers added by their mobile number, talk in channels the setting controls, everyone added is told the channel is on the record, and once the setting's Microsoft 365 tenant is connected, conversations are kept there, under the retention schedules the setting already runs. It is not a DBS service or an HR system: it does not run the check, hold certificates or decide who is disqualified, and details of someone's offence belong with the person who keeps the record, not in a shared channel. The question for the next leadership meeting: if someone's disqualification status changed tomorrow, where would we show the date we first heard?

Questions people ask

What does “childcare disqualification” mean?

Childcare disqualification means a person is barred by the Childcare (Disqualification) Regulations 2018 from providing, managing or being employed in early years or later years childcare in England, on grounds such as being on the DBS children's barred list, certain offences or cautions, or certain orders about the care of children. Under section 76 of the Childcare Act 2006 a disqualified person must not provide or be directly concerned in the management of that childcare, and no one may employ them in connection with it.

How do I carry out a childcare disqualification check?

Identify which staff are in scope (early years up to the end of reception, childcare for under-8s outside the school day such as breakfast and after-school clubs, and those who manage it), and tell them what they must disclose and how it will be used. For new staff, the enhanced DBS certificate helps establish relevant offences, and KCSIE 2026 says shortlisted candidates should be asked to self-declare whether they are disqualified from providing childcare; for existing staff, rely on disclosure, with the DBS Update Service as a supplement. Keep a record of the staff in scope and the date the information was provided, in the single central record or separately; a separate declaration form is not necessary and, if used, should be limited to what the legislation needs.

Is there a gov.uk childcare disqualification check?

No: there is no gov.uk service or public register to search for childcare disqualification. The Department for Education's guidance builds the check from the enhanced DBS certificate with barred list information, the DBS Update Service and what staff disclose. Where someone is unsure whether they are disqualified, they can describe the circumstances to Ofsted (disqualification@ofsted.gov.uk, or on the waiver form, which asks Ofsted to confirm whether they are disqualified).

Can you work in a nursery with a criminal record?

Often yes. Only the grounds in the 2018 Regulations disqualify. They include listed offences and cautions against children or adults, any offence involving bodily injury to or death of a child, equivalent offences abroad, certain orders about the care of children, refused or cancelled childcare registration, and being on the DBS children's barred list. A disqualified person may apply to Ofsted for a waiver, except where they are barred or a court has ordered them disqualified from working with children; any record still has to be weighed for suitability, and if Ofsted grants a waiver it is still the employer's decision whether to employ them.

What is disqualification by association?

Disqualification by association means a person is disqualified because they live in the same household as a disqualified person, or in a household where a disqualified person is employed; since 31 August 2018 it applies only to childcare on domestic premises, such as a childminder's home (regulation 9 of the 2018 Regulations). Schools “are not entitled to ask their staff questions about cautions or convictions of someone living or working in their household”.

Who regulates child care services in England?

Ofsted: the Childcare Act 2006 gives registration of childcare in England to His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills, and Ofsted decides applications to waive childcare disqualification. Childminders may register with a childminder agency instead of directly with Ofsted.

Official guidance and your next step

The law is in sections 75 and 76 of the Childcare Act 2006 and Part 2 of SI 2018/794. Schools should start with the Department for Education's statutory guidance Disqualification under the Childcare Act 2006 and its appendices, then paragraphs 296, 313, 342 to 346 and 352 of Keeping children safe in education 2026. Nurseries and childminders should read section 3 of the EYFS statutory frameworks. Ofsted's Applying to waive disqualification covers waivers. Quotations are from those pages as published on 21 October 2026.

The Department for Education's guidance has not been revised since 31 August 2018 and remains the current statutory guidance, which KCSIE 2026 names at paragraph 346. Its data protection references predate the UK GDPR wording and the change of regulator (section 118 of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 abolished the office of Information Commissioner on 30 September 2026; the regulator is now the Information Commission, still the ICO), so follow its practical steps and take data protection law from current sources.

This guide covers England and is not legal advice. A decision about a named member of staff, a dismissal or a waiver application is a matter for your HR adviser or local authority.

Then do one thing: list every role that touches your nursery or reception classes, your breakfast club or your after-school club, including agency and self-employed staff, and check each has a recorded date on which the disqualification information was provided. Any gap is the first conversation to have this week.