expert cms please

[aceandskill]

Hi
DH and I are registering as cms. We were told we could have a maximum of 6 mindees each, but when working together the total maximum would still be 6 unless we obtained planning permission from the council. This is children of any age, even over 8s and including our ds. Is this right? sounds like it might not be worth both of us registering as we will always be working together. We do get 5 under 5, i spose that might help as these could be full timers. Does anyone else have this problem or have applied for pp and got it? any advice much appreciated.

I' not sure of the number but yes you do have to get planning permission but to be honest even if its a weeks wages its still worth doing. Speak to the council before applying and see how much it is.
There are also some couples on here so they have experience of the process, definately worth doing though even if you have to jump through a few hoops.

How old is your ds? if he is under 5 that would make sense of the under 5 numbers. Usually over 8's are not counted in your ofsted numbers but having over 8's must not have a detrimental effect on the care of the under 8?s present. You'll neeed to talk to your council about planning persmission.

DS is 15months - i get the under 5 numbers but thought the total number of mindees you could have before needing pp was more like 12?

With an assistant (2 registered, one is dh) I'm allowed 8, of which 6 can be EYFS - 5 mindees as ds2 is only 2). I believe I could have had more but I only wanted 8 and wasn't sure my house was big enough. Certainly haven't got planning permission for that!

I had to get planning permission for DH and I to have 12 children. I applied for it and got it with no trouble. I had a visit from the council and they spouted some rubbish about painting parking bays and widening the drive entrance (until I changed their minds). They also talked about noise disturbance for neighbours, but I pointed that the neighbours have added security, as we work from home and that would deter burglars. Apart from that, no problem at all and the inspector was lovely. There was no trouble with the paperwork, despite my very amateur drawings, which were kind of almost to scale :).

I work with my DH and there are times it is useful both of us being registered. Like for instance now. He is at the stay and play with one of the mindee's and I am waiting one to start in 5 mins here at home. It does have it's advantages. Also when he does the school run I go and take the younger one for a explore around the estate. We meet up again when he has finished.

Also when one of you are ill the other can take over with the confidence that your in your numbers still.

Sandym3g - do you only have permission for 6 between you then?
Interesting loonytune - no-one said you had to get permission for 8 then? 8 would be the right number for us.

It is all about your individual council - but the rules (when I applied) was anything more than 6 children (so childminder plus childminder or assistant) you need planning permission.

So individual councils may make exceptions

I have had to pay twice, once temporarily for 8, then a year later to make it permanent, then again to make it 12

Well I'm worried now. I wasn't told by Ofsted I needed to, should I have just known myself? If so, I better sort it although hardly seems worth it as I'm back to having 6 now.

Maybe your council have different rules like KatyMac says. Might be worth finding out though cos it might invalidate house insurance or something, there's always something...(feeling a bit negative today)

In my council area they will allow 2 childminders together. However when I employed an assistant I rang the planning office and was told I 'might' need it. After a little sweet talking and writing a letter to demonstrate that there wouldn't be any negative impact on my neighbours they agreed that I wouldn't need to apply.

The best thing you can do is ask your planning office.

Well HSMM and I share the same council so I'm If you're still there HSMM, who told you about the PP?

I had to apply for mine about 10 yrs ago and I can't remember who told me. It may well have changed since then. I think it was in some paperwork I had at the time. Just check with local planning. They are pretty good via email if you want something in writing (and probably have much more important things to worry about).

We are registered for 6 each but the HOUSE is only registered for 6. That way we in effect can have 6 together under the eyfs. We can have 2 under 1's as long as we are working together (or unless one of us is ill and covering for the other etc- classed as an emergency)

If however one of us had gone out shopping or training or something then we would have to make sure that there was only 1 under 1 with the one that was working. Iyswim

Our LA specifies 12 too. They assess the impact on the following, noise, traffic, pollution, economic impact on the area, impact on neighbours. You EYP will probably know what you need for your own council, worth remembering as well that you will need 1 toilet and sink for every 10 mindees I also had issues getting insurance some companies set limits on the registered numbers of mindees in the policies, also if you have planning permission the council may decide to rate you as business premises, which also impacts on capital gains tax, worth checking all aspects out before deciding.