Max numbers 2 childminders could have

[Starberries]

My partner and I are planning to childmind when our first child is born next year. Therefore we'll have 1x under-1 of our own.

How many other children are we allowed to mind? Just so we can do some figures, over-8's and under-5's figures too please. Thank you in advance - all so confusing!!

Depends on your floor space and what Ofsted are prepared to register you for, but ....

My DH and I are each allowed no more than
1 under 1
3 under 5
6 under 8

therefore, one of you would have to exclude the 1 under 1 of your own, so you might jointly be allowed no more than
1 under 1
5 under 5
11 under 8

This means, 11 children + your baby in total, not 1+5+11.

Does that make sense

Oh .... and are you registered already, because it takes AGES to get registered and CRB checked.

Nope, not registered, planning to do it as soon as we move (place we live in currently is lovely but rather too small for childminding).

So are you allowed 12 in total then regardless of age (i.e. 6 per minder total)? What about over-8 siblings of younger mindees?

Thanks for your answer very helpful

You can normally have as many over 8s as you want as long as they don't jeopordise (sp?) the care of the younger children and as long as your insurance covers them. Remember Ofsted will need to approve your numbers, based on the size of your play area, experience, etc.

I would start the registration process ASAP, particularly the CRB checks. Contact the Local Authority you are moving to and see what sort of registration courses they run. The first session with them will normall tell you lots of pros and cons of childminding.