Ofsted registration for childminders

The rule: sections 33 and 52 of the Childcare Act 2006

Section 33 of the Childcare Act 2006 makes registration a condition of childminding young children in England. Section 33(1) of the Childcare Act 2006 reads: “A person may not provide early years childminding in England, where some or all of the childminding is provided on domestic premises, unless he is registered as an early years childminder– (a) in the early years register, or (b) with an early years childminder with domestic premises agency.”

Section 52(1) of the Childcare Act 2006 does the same for school-age children: a person “may not provide later years childminding in England for a child who has not attained the age of eight”, where some or all of it is on domestic premises, unless registered “in Part A of the general childcare register” – the compulsory part – or with a later years childminder agency. Together the two sections cover every child from birth to their eighth birthday.

What counts as childminding. Childminding is provision for reward by a small team. Under section 96(5) of the Childcare Act 2006, provision “is not early years childminding if at any time the number of persons providing the early years provision or assisting with the provision exceeds four”. The word has been “four” since 1 November 2024, when the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 raised it from three, so a childminder can work with up to three assistants or co-childminders. With five or more people the setting registers instead as childcare on domestic premises.

Ofsted's registration policy, Childminders based at home: Ofsted registration policy, first published on 22 October 2026, turns the law into four tests and a place:

Two consequences follow. First: “It is a criminal offence to provide unregistered childcare or to work from unapproved premises if you are legally required to register.” Second, Ofsted and a childminder agency are alternatives, not a pair: “If you register with a CMA you cannot register with Ofsted.” You also need to be 18 or over and have the right to work in the UK.

Which register, which type, and who is exempt

Ofsted keeps two registers, and the ages of the children you will look after decide which you join. The registration policy sets them out:

• Early Years Register – “if you will be caring for children at any point between their birth and the 31 August after their fifth birthday”. This is the register that brings the Early years foundation stage statutory framework for childminders, in force in its current version from 1 September 2026.
• Compulsory part of the General Childcare Register – “if you will be caring for children between the 1 September after their fifth birthday and their eighth birthday”. This is Part A, the register section 52 requires.
• Voluntary part of the General Childcare Register – for children aged 8 and over, or care that is otherwise exempt. Registration is optional; the EYFS framework says childminders caring only for children aged 8 and over can join it “if they want to enable parents and/or carers to use Tax Free Childcare or the childcare element of Universal Credit.”

A childminder who takes children from babies up to age 7 joins the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the General Childcare Register. The type matters as well as the register: a childminder based at home works mostly in a home and may spend some time on non-domestic premises; Ofsted publishes a separate registration policy, Childminders based outside the home: Ofsted registration policy, for a childminder based outside the home; and a team of five or more registers as a childcare on domestic premises provider.

The 2-hour rule. The legal threshold is more than 2 hours a day for at least one child. Article 3(1)(b) of the Childcare (Exemptions from Registration) Order 2008 exempts care provided “for a particular child for two hours or less per day”, and Ofsted's registration policy says “more than 2 hours”. Ofsted's page Providing childcare and the 2-hour rule deals with the other side – who can register: “You can only register with Ofsted if you look after at least one individual child for 2 hours or more a day.” That page adds: “The amount of time your setting is open does not matter. It is only the length of time the children are looked after that counts.” Ofsted makes one exception, to who can register rather than who must: “You can still register with Ofsted if you look after children for less than 2 hours as long as you are providing care immediately before or after school.” An update on 22 October 2026 clarified it: “‘Immediately’ means that there is no break between the child attending school and the care you provide, and that no-one else looks after the child between school and your care.”

Exempt, or not able to register. Ofsted's Childcare registration exemptions page, updated on 22 October 2026, lists who does not need to register and who cannot. In a home, the common cases are:

• a nanny “looking after children of any age, from up to 2 families, in the home of one of the children”;
• someone “only looking after children aged 8 and over”;
• a babysitter “looking after children at home between 6pm and 2am”;
• looking after the children of a friend, or several friends, for payment for 3 hours or less a day (article 3(1)(bb) of the Order; Ofsted's page says “less than 3 hours”);
• unpaid care – and you cannot register to look after only children you are related to.

The 14-day exemption for temporary childcare does not help a childminder: “This exemption is not available to childminders who work from their own or someone else's home.” Someone who is disqualified from registration cannot register without a waiver; the childcare disqualification guide covers who is in scope.

This guide covers England. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland register childminders through their own bodies – Care Inspectorate Wales, the Care Inspectorate in Scotland and the health and social care trusts in Northern Ireland – under different rules.

Before you apply: the checks, the health declaration and the training

Ofsted will not accept an incomplete application, so the checks come first. The registration policy says: “You will need to arrange:”

1. A DBS check – “a home-based ‘enhanced DBS check with barred lists’ – you can apply for DBS checks through the Ofsted DBS application service”. Ofsted's pre-registration briefing “strongly recommends joining the DBS update service”, and adds: “You must register for the update service within 30 days of the certificate being issued. If you are not on the DBS update service, we cannot accept Ofsted DBS checks older than three months, or checks obtained through a different organisation.”
2. A health declaration – “a health declaration form signed by you and signed or stamped by your GP (if you are applying to join the Early Years Register)”. Ofsted's suitability checks page says this is “to check for any health issues that may affect your suitability to be in contact with children.”
3. A certificate of good conduct – if you have lived abroad in the last 5 years.
4. References and employment history – if you are applying to join the Early Years Register.

Ofsted carries out the rest itself: local authority children's services checks for all applicants (“You do not need to contact your local authority”), Ministry of Defence checks where they apply, and a check of whether you are known to a childminder agency.

Everyone else in the home. “Anyone aged 16 or over who lives or works in the home will need to get a DBS check to provide to Ofsted.” The type differs: anyone who lives in the home needs a home-based enhanced DBS check with children's barred lists, and anyone who works there but does not live there needs an enhanced DBS check with children's barred lists. Ofsted is plain about the consequence: “We will not be able to accept your application unless all relevant people have the right kind of DBS check.” The Ofsted DBS checks guide covers the route, the Update Service and the household member who turns 16. For helpers, paragraph 3.17 of the EYFS framework for childminders requires enhanced criminal records and barred list checks for relevant people including volunteers, except supervised volunteers who only help out occasionally; since 1 September 2026, section 139 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026 has meant that someone who works closely and frequently with children is in regulated activity whether or not they are supervised.

Training and qualifications. No childcare qualification is needed to register as a childminder on the Early Years Register or the compulsory part of the General Childcare Register. For the Early Years Register the policy requires two things: “you must have attended child protection training that helps you to identify, understand and appropriately respond to signs of possible abuse and neglect at the earliest opportunity; you must have a current first-aid certificate. For people caring for young children and babies, this must be a paediatric first-aid certificate and must be renewed every 3 years”. Paragraph 3.42 of the childminder framework says childminders “are required to have a paediatric first aid (PFA) certificate to register and must continue to hold this at all times that they are registered.” Paragraph 3.34 makes the childminder the designated safeguarding lead, and paragraph 3.36 says the training “must be renewed every two years.”

The course is optional. Ofsted removed the introductory course from its briefing in February 2024, recording that “Training is optional and no longer a legal requirement as of 4 January 2024.” Search results and the AI summary above them still say an approved introductory course is required; for the Early Years Register it is not. Ofsted's policy still lists “a relevant childminding course” for the compulsory part of the General Childcare Register, and its briefing places it under “Compulsory part of the Childcare Register only”.

The home. The briefing says the inspector will check “your understanding of risk assessment, safety and security”, and the visit tours the whole house and garden, so the premises need to be ready before the visit is booked, not after. Plan the space against the ratios you will register for: “childminders on the Early Years Register can look after a maximum of 6 children. Of these, no more than 3 may be young children … and there should only be 1 child under the age of one”, with exceptions such as siblings or your own child.

The registration process: applying, the fee and how long it takes

You apply online to Ofsted once the checks are in hand, choosing the register or registers. Ofsted's Registration fees for childminders, nannies and other childcare providers, first published on 22 October 2026, sets the childminder registration fee:

Two rules on the fee catch people out. “Ofsted cannot refund fees, even if you withdraw your application.” And after registration: “We will cancel your registration if you do not pay your annual fee.” Ofsted also says “The government decides on the fee amounts. Fees may change in the future.” The fee is separate from the data protection fee; the data protection fee guide explains who pays that one.

How long Ofsted registration takes. Ofsted's pre-registration briefing, last updated on 2 April 2026, gives “12 weeks – Early Years Register and Childcare Register applications”, and adds: “The registration timescales begin once we have accepted your application.” The 12 weeks therefore run from acceptance of a complete application, not from the day you first apply, and a missing DBS check for a household member stops the clock before it starts. “We will update you every two weeks on the progress of your application.”

The new registration policy says the registration visit “will take place once all your checks are complete. You will have been given a proposed registration visit date as part of our initial review of your application, and this date will also be included in your acknowledgement email.” The April briefing, written before the restructure, put it at usually eight weeks after acceptance.

The childminder registration visit and the decision

For the Early Years Register, an Ofsted inspector visits before Ofsted decides. The registration policy describes what happens:

• The house. “We will carry out a full tour of the home in which you will be looking after children, inside and outside (even areas that are not being used for childcare).”
• Safeguarding. The inspector checks your understanding of safeguarding, “including concerns about the conduct or behaviour of staff or other people working with children.”
• Eating and sleeping. “If you are applying to join the Early Years Register, we will check your understanding of safer eating and safer sleeping requirements.”
• The requirements. Your “knowledge and understanding of the requirements of the register(s) you have applied to join” – for the Early Years Register, how you will meet the EYFS, the policies you will follow and the records you will keep. The childminder policies guide and the childminder record keeping guide cover those; at the visit you are explaining them, not yet producing records about children.

Ofsted's policy lists the documents the inspector will ask to see: photo ID, two proofs of address, proof of any name change, your employment history, your paediatric first-aid certificate, childcare training certificates, DBS certificates for you and everyone aged 16 or over who lives or works in your home, and driving documents if you will drive children.

Registered or refused. “If you are applying to register on the Early Years Register and/or the compulsory part of the General Childcare Register, you cannot look after children until you have the certificate.” If Ofsted proposes to refuse, the policy sets the sequence: “we will serve you with a notice of intention to refuse. You will have the chance to make an objection”; if Ofsted still refuses, “we will serve you with a notice of decision to refuse. At this stage, you will have the opportunity to appeal. Your appeal will be considered by the external body First-tier Tribunal (Care Standards).”

What starts with the certificate. From registration the EYFS framework for childminders applies in full, the annual fee falls due on each anniversary, and changes such as a new person living in the home have to be notified; the notifying Ofsted guide lists them and the deadlines. Inspection follows: “If you are on the Early Years Register, your first inspection will take place within 18 months of your registration date. After that, we will inspect your provision within a 4-year window, although we may inspect more frequently.” The early years inspection guide explains what that inspection grades.

The first parent conversations, and where they will live

Registration checks you, your household and your home. It does not ask where the conversations of the business will happen, and for most new childminders the answer is a personal phone from the first enquiry onwards: a parent asking about settling-in sessions, a photograph sent to reassure a parent at work, a parent explaining late in the evening that a grandparent will collect tomorrow, an assistant mentioning that a child arrived with a bruise.

Several of those messages are things the role requires you to act on and keep. The registered childminder is the designated safeguarding lead, so a concern raised by an assistant is the start of a safeguarding record; a change to who collects a child is something you have to act on; and every one of those messages is a child's or a family's personal data under UK GDPR, which you hold as a business. If they sit in a personal chat alongside your own family's messages, they are hard to keep, hard to find when an inspector or a parent asks, and hard to delete when you should.

A sole childminder with a few families may need no product at all: a separate phone for the business, a clear line in the policies about how parents contact you, and the habit of copying what matters into the child's record can be enough. ComplyChat is designed for the point where that stops being enough, such as when an assistant or co-childminder joins. Parents and assistants are added by their mobile number, verified by SMS, so they need no account on your systems; everyone added is told the channel is on the record and can object or leave; and messages are recorded on the server as they are sent. Free is a permanent personal tier, with one private group, direct messages and three calendar months of recent history, and is not a statutory record; on paid plans, once your tenant is connected, conversations are kept under retention schedules within your own Microsoft 365 subscription. ComplyChat is not a registration service, a learning journal or an EYFS record system.

The question to answer before the first child starts: where will the conversations you would have to show an inspector or a parent actually live?

Questions people ask

Do all childminders need to be registered with Ofsted?

No. A childminder in England must register with Ofsted or with a childminder agency, not both, if they look after children under 8 who are not related to them, for payment, for more than 2 hours a day. Childminders who care only for children aged 8 and over do not have to register, but may join the voluntary part of the General Childcare Register so that parents can use Tax-Free Childcare or the childcare element of Universal Credit.

What is the 2 hour rule for Ofsted?

You must register only if you look after at least one child for more than 2 hours a day: care for a particular child for two hours or less a day is exempt under the Childcare (Exemptions from Registration) Order 2008. It is how long each child is looked after that counts, not how long you are open. Care immediately before or after school is still exempt at 2 hours or less, but Ofsted lets you choose to register it; on 22 October 2026 Ofsted clarified that “immediately” means no break and nobody else caring for the child in between.

How to become an Ofsted registered childminder?

Arrange a home-based enhanced DBS check with barred lists through the Ofsted DBS application service, the right DBS check for everyone aged 16 or over who lives or works in the home, a GP-signed health declaration, references and employment history, a paediatric first aid certificate and child protection training. Then apply online, pay the fee (£35 for the Early Years Register), have the registration visit, and start only once the certificate arrives.

Who is exempt from registering with Ofsted?

Exemptions in a home include unpaid care, a nanny caring for children from up to 2 families in one family's home, care only for children aged 8 and over, babysitting between 6pm and 2am, and looking after a friend's children for payment for 3 hours or less a day. You cannot register at all if you are related to all the children, or if you look after each child for less than 2 hours a day, unless the care is immediately before or after school.

What qualifications do I need to be Ofsted registered?

No childcare qualification is required to register as a childminder on the Early Years Register. You need a current paediatric first aid certificate, renewed every 3 years, and child protection training; the childminding training course stopped being a legal requirement on 4 January 2024, though Ofsted still lists a relevant childminding course for the compulsory part of the General Childcare Register.

How long does Ofsted registration take?

Ofsted's timescale is 12 weeks for Early Years Register and Childcare Register applications, counted from when it accepts a complete application. The registration visit happens once all checks are complete, on a date Ofsted proposes when it first reviews the application; its April 2026 briefing says usually eight weeks after acceptance.

Official guidance and your next step

The law is in section 33, section 52 and section 96 of the Childcare Act 2006 and the Childcare (Exemptions from Registration) Order 2008. Ofsted's Early years and childcare registration collection, restructured on 22 October 2026, starts with Childminders based at home: Ofsted registration policy, with the registration fees, the suitability checks, the exemptions and the 2-hour rule beside it. Ofsted's pre-registration briefing for childminders (April 2026) predates the restructure and may be revised; where it differs from the policy, follow the policy. The EYFS statutory framework for childminders is what you register to meet. Quotations are from those pages as published on 28 October 2026.

This guide covers registration with Ofsted in England and is not legal advice. A childminder agency, or your local authority's early years team, may run its own briefing on registering.

Then do one thing: list every person aged 16 or over who lives or works in your home, and check each has the right kind of DBS check. Ofsted will not accept an application until it is, and the 12 weeks do not start until then.