Calling experienced childminders-questions regards starting up Childminding business.

[julinka]

Hi everyone

I am thinking of becoming a registered child-minder.I have worked in primary schools,as a nanny and have my own child andthis is a next logical step for me.

Just have a few questions:
-As I understand initially, I should have a pre-registration session with local council.

-Next step would be a CRB check for me and my partner.

-Then First Aid Course and of course necessary childcare qualification that can be completed within 6 months of becoming registered childminder.

What is really confusing me:

1.Which course is compulsory?
NVQ in Childcare any level or introductory course for Childcare?
Is it enough? and can I do it as a home study or do I need to attend college?

2.Before I get registered,there needs to be risk assessment of my home but we have to find a bigger house with garden(which can take couple of months) and set it up nicely,so I guess this should be left for a very last min(registration).

So to conclude:
Shall I first concentrate on completing the relevant course or moving to a bigger home,set it up,start working and then studying whilst child-minding?(if it is possible)

Also do I need some kind of Food and Hygiene course,since I will be serving children food made at my place.

Any answers drawn from your experience will be very much appreciated.
Thank you very much.

contact your local family information service who will organise for you to go on a pre registration course which will explain what is involved and what you can expect. it is a long process, i had to wait a year to get on a pre registration course and once attended it has taken 7 months so far.

the process varies from area to area but you should expect to be sent on icp, first aid, safeguarding and other courses before you apply to ofsted. ofsted will organise your crb checks. your risk assesment for your home will need to be done before your initial inspection by ofsted, this inspection is to ensure you and your home are suitable and will take place shortly after ofsted receive your application.

you don't need to do a food hygeine course (unless you want to) and any mandatory courses will be provided to you by your local family information service. nvq's are done while you are working.

have i covered everything?

Thank you for that EmMum06.

That gives me more idea of what to expect.
First thing is to arrange pre-registration session and take it from there.

I guess the house hunting can wait for the very end until I have all the necessary paperwork sorted.

Also all the cost that involve ICP.First AID cert,registration can be deducted from the first Tax return after starting up the business,is that correct?

no probs, all of the mandatory courses that will be arranged for you through your local family information service are paid for by them, there is no cost to you. that is why they want you to go on the pre registration meeting, out of about 60 people who attended the meeting i did at least 10 left at lunch time and only about 25 went on to do the courses (icp ect.). it really isn't for everyone, not many people realise the amount of work involved in childminding.

I am in regular contact with 5 of the ladies who went on the courses with me and one of us got her registration in 6 weeks the rest of us are still waiting to hear, mine has been 8 weeks this wednesday.

The course that must be completed within 6mths is the pre-reg or ICP course, this can often overlap with reg, however you will have to have full paediatric 1st aid 12hr cert, before Ofsted will reg. You will also need to get on an NVQ course Level 3 if you don't have already, this minimum qualification will be compulsary shortly (was 2010 now 2012).

You will have initial costs, doctors fee for medical for instance, not all LA's will pay for your ICP course or 1st aid etc so please check with your local FIS. If an authority has a lot of CM's they don't offer the grant, so make sure you do plenty of market research.

You do need to register as a food business with your local environmental health authority this is now a legal requirement, and has been for about 2yrs, you need to contact them, explain you are regestering as a CM they will then arrange a home visit (although I know some CM's on here didn't get one, think it depends on area) During the home visit the inspector will talk to you about hygeine, have a shufty round the place, mine spent most of the time looking at my risk assessments and hygeine policys, you then get passed or not, but most LA's work on a star system 1-5 and your certificate will say how many stars you have if you need to do anything they will advise during the visit.

Anything you spend in relation to setting up can be deducted from your income, it is also very common for CM's who set up to "buy" equipment they already have in the home into the business at a reduced rate, for eg, if your DC had a cot they no longer sleep in but you would need to purchase one for mindees you can "buy" it from you to business at a suitably depreciated rate IYSWIM

Oh wrt moving bear in mind that if you move house during reg, your CRB check may or rather will be held up. Also if you move after Ofsted have done first visit you will need another visit. So really if you are going to move I would suggest you do that first, before registering, it is a pita to port a cert to a new property. Also thinking on it, if you do plenty of market research, you could move to an area / part of town that is a bit short on CM's.

I would agree that you should consider moving home first.

Reasons for that are:

1. You may move into a different authority area.
2. Moving will cause delays regardless of when you do it... but if you start registration from one address, then move, then it's possible for paperwork to get lost / sent to to the wrong place.
3. You can choose where to more so you are best placed to provide the service. By researching what parents want in the area, what is currently available, you may be able to find a location at which there is demand yet not much provision. For example, there may be a school which has only a few childminders collecting from it.

How far would you be considering moving... and is that going to involve moving to a different council area?