argghhh where is the government list for registered childminders?

[addictediam]

I've just been googling for 30 minutes and cant find it. It used to be on directgov but all i can find is a sign saying it stopped offering this service in march 11. So where am i ment to go to find a list of all the childminders in my area now!?

Have you tried the ofsted website? pop your postcode into the search this will show inspection reports. Families information will be able to post you out a list. childcare.co.uk advertises cm's (for a fee).

Does ofsted give out details? I'm looking for the phone number of the lovley childminder who lives accross the street. I don't really want to just go knock on her door as she might think its rude!
Childcare.co.uk don't have any cm's in my area.

So the only way you can get a list is to phone the fis? Nowhere on the internet anymore? How sad, when I was a cm that's how I got all my business, all this fustrating googling is making me want to just give up!

www.openfamilyservices.org.uk/ofs/ is trying to link up each of the individual local authority databases so that parents can search it nationwide.

So check on there to see if your local authority is uploading data. If they are not, then get in touch with them and ask WHY they are not uploading data to OFS - as all local authorities have been told about it's existence.

So for now you need to contact your local Families Information Service which is run by your local authority (could be local county council).

It is very hard to match up an address or Ofsted registration to a childminder's name. The current online system run by Ofsted does not allow it. All you can do is locate a probable registration number... by entering the precise postcode into Ofsted's report search function (though there is no certainty that the first report displayed does match with that particular childminder, there could be several childminders in the same postcode). I think NCMA are partly to blame for that, as they didn't want childminders details to be easily findable - in order to protect people working alone at home.

Your local authority may have decided to go against that however, as I can certainly find myself on OFS and it gives a partial address (does not provide house number or street name, but does give full postcode - thus you can work out street name).

How about the old fashioned method - put a note through the letterbox asking them to contact you.

I thought about a not but I can't remember her name! I might just pop over on monday and ask when would be a good time to talk.
This is such a faff, I only want to know if she'd be able to look after dd when I go into labour (paid ofcourse), until my mum can get here (lives quite far away and i have complications whic mean i need to be in hospital from the start) as were new to the area so don't know anyone!

Lists of childminders have always been maintained by Local Authorities. This can be a bit of a pain if you live on the edge of an LA as you have to contact more than one (we live within half a mile of 3), but the centralised Family Information Directory was too expensive and didn't work: it was only live for a couple of years so maybe you are thinking of something else?

I was only a childminder for 18 months and it was how I got all my business, I didnt realise it didnt work for every one else.