I'm also planning to start up a childminding business when I move house in a couple of months. It is right near a primary school that has no registered childminders covering it (your LA should have this info on their website for you), and a private nursery opposite that does offer wrap around care for nursery children attending the school, but is at full capacity. I know of several people who use this private nursery for their children but they regularly cancel sessions for children accessing funded places as they don't have the staff. It is always the funded spaces that they cancel as they have the payments from the government in advance, so the money is already in the bank. One of these children that regularly has sessions cancelled is my niece, and it is extremely frustrating for my sister. For this reason I think childminding in this area may do well, so although it is a risk I am going to give it my best shot.
So, back to your question.. You must register with Ofsted. I'm sure it is a legal requirement if caring for a child for more than 2 hours a day. I believe their registration fee is around £220 (correct me if this is wrong) and apparently is taking a little longer than usual at the moment. I'm expecting it to take around 4-6 months for me to set up.
That agency fee you mentioned is expensive.. I did a free webinar last week about setting up a childminding business. It was hosted by homechildcare, a childminding agency and its worth finding out when the next one is as it was very informative. I think their fee was £70 registration and then £35 a month but it does include lots of training and ongoing support. I'm going to try and make a go of it on my own though.. the less outgoings while its growing the better! Advertise on your council website and also create a profile on childcare.co.uk (also free). You could always join an agency to get set up quickly, they predicted 2 months on that webinar. But then you are obligated to stay with them for a set period. As the agency is Ofsted registered you won't have to be. Instead you are registered with the agency and they are the ones who complete your inspections etc and they do this every 12 months. You are still graded (good, outstanding etc), and can still advertise this as an Ofsted rating apparently, as this is what parents recognise. Basically the agency is your Ofsted, so a quicker route.
I'm concerned about income.. being an optimistic person I have been bought down to earth with a bump after looking at cm salaries. Living by the school means I wont have to use fuel on school runs. And as my children are older they wont count in ratios, so potential for higher income.
Do you have childcare qualifications?
I'm planning to leave my part time job in a school for this so I really hope it works out!!
Sorry for the loooong reply... bit of a chatterbox 😂