What is a registered childminder?
Registered childminders are professional childcarers offering a home-based, flexible, family friendly service
Childminders must be registered with Ofsted in order to look after children under the age of 8 years old.
All Ofsted registered childminders have to:
- Comply with the 14 National Childminding standards
- Hold an up to date paediatric first aid certificate
- Be Police/CRB checked
- Attend an introductory childcare course
- Have appropriate insurance cover, including Public Liability Insurance.
Ofsted are responsible for registering and inspecting childminders. Details and outcomes of these inspections (since May 2005) are published on the Ofsted website.
Registered childminders work from their own homes, so minded children benefit from being in a family environment. Childminders only look after a few children at a time so they can give each child lots of attention, meeting their individual needs. This is particularly important for babies and very young children. Childminders can also care for older children so siblings can be cared for together in a real family environment.