Decided I am going to register as a childminder....

[npg1]

I am currently working in a nursery, 4 days a week. My neighbour had a baby in november and I approached her and said I was thinking of becoming a childminder. She is desperately wanting me to have the baby but I wasnt sure, until today when I have just thought, yes this is what I want to do and I am going to register and hopefully have her 2 days a week I will give up the nursery 2 days a week. Just so worried my boss will be funny with me!

I have to make the right decision for me and my family.

I have printed off the regisration documents and am about to fill them in, guess this is the first step

Also I currently earn £50 per day at work and ant be out of pocket from childminding. I was going to charge either £50 per day, 9am til 6pm and her brother for 3 hours on top of that at 4.50 per hour.

Or do I charge a flat rate of £4.50 per hour all day? She was going to put the baby into a day nursery which charges nearly £50 per day.

Any way many thanks

Price depends where you are, what you can offer etc. look on childcare.co.uk to get an idea of prices. Sometimes childminding for neighbours/family can be awkward you need to make it clear from the start that you ate running a business not and are not just a babysitter. I mind a neighbours dc and he and my ds are best friends. A fab site for advice is www.childmindingforum.co.uk too. Good luck!

I pay £3 an hour inclusive of all food and trips etc. I think that is the lower end of the MN price range but is normal here. I pay £18 for a school day.

Thanks for all your help and advice. Where I currently work we are all part timers, think this makes it easier for her as she isnt PAYE registered, doesnt pay our NI so everyone as had to go self employed. She takes the pee really andI havent been happy there for a while. If she doesnt like it I will leave.

She is interviewing for september anyway and I thought rather than finding someone who can do 2 days she can offer my hours to the new person.

Congrats, it can b a great business but does need careful thought and planning.

Your house effectively does become a nursery and parents, grandparents and children all treat as such which can be very intrusive.

U have to get your head around running your own business and all that entails and do all your own policies, proceedures, courses etc with no back up like in a nursery.

I don't no where you live but u should compare yourself to other cms rather than local nurserys imo for pricing, no one gets the rates u mentioned around here but all areas are different.

However best of luck oh and get paid in advance even with the nicest of parents!!!

I live in Buckinghamshire and pay my childminder £4.50 per hour. She does not provide food, which I am perfectly happy with as I am fairly controlling on what my DS eats anyway!
She is fantastic and this is the going rate round here, although some charge the same including food.
I guess it does depend on the area you live in, I presume it's cheaper up north and more expensive in London.

Thanks, I am in essex. Yes it does all seem a bit daunting! So far I have got to fill the forms in and send them to ofsted, do I hae to go on a course? Or do they brief you in your own home?

M plan is only to have the baby who will be about 10 months old then and no other children so I cn give her 1 to 1 care and not be overloaded!

You are right to fill in the Ofsted forms first. Get them off ASAP. As it can take a long time to register.
You need to do a Childminder pre registration Course within 6 months of registering. But start ASAP as it will help you set up your business.
My Local Authority Early Years Department ran mine although they can be done at a college (check funding options out)
You also need a paediatric first aid (although you probably already have this)
And Food Safety/ hygiene.

I made the mistake of waiting until I had done my course before applying and I lost a couple of customers because I wasn't registered in time. I have been registered since November but still don't have definite customers yet. Do to a number of reasons parents losing jobs/ courses getting cancelled.

I would say though don't expect to earn what you were on at the Nursery. Do you have you own DC's? I tend to view it as though I haven't had to take my own child care costs off my earnings.

I am up north and hope to charge £3.50 per hour including meals.

£3 per child here in North Wales. All CMs in the area charge the same amount. That said, none of them include meals, but do include snacks. From 8-5 it cost me £27 per child.

Thanks everyone.

I am having a meeting with the mum on friday to discuss everything. I am wondering if nannying might be a better option?! but I dont fancy staying in her house all day! As we obnly live next door I guess I could pop back when I needed to

I am at you having to be self employed in a nursery, I thought my old employer was bad!

I have made the change from nursery to cm and I don't think you will regret it. You are experienced and you know you enjoy the work and you will have so much more freedom as a cm. I could never go back to nursery now as I love being able to take the kids out on daily visits to the beach, farm etc and building up the really sting relationships with the children and parents.

Your rates sound fine compared to the nursery. And very positive that you have work lined up. I bet your nursery job won't last long, you'll have people clamouring for you soon! Best of luck.

If nannying, you shouldn't pop back home. You could do on rare occasions but shouldn't do so as a matter of routine as you may breach childcare law and invalidate insurance. Also a nanny would be paid minimum of NMW, so probably £6.04 an hour in your case and the parents would be your employer so calling the shots, telling you what to do, and operating payroll.

You would have more control over what you do as a childminder but you would be running your own business. If you would only be caring for 1 child, I don't see how that is a viable long term business. Or are you just proposing to start off slowly and add other children over time?

Childcare is covered by law and I think you need to read-up on the current regulations to make sure you understand the different regulations for different types of childcare, or you could be agreeing to provide something that the law doesn?t allow. Don?t be tempted to flout the law, if you become the children?s nanny you can not just pop back home and ?nanny? from there, and don?t forget as a Nanny their mum would be responsible for your tax & NI so it?s not the easy option for her.
Becoming a Registered Childminder is not complicated (although it is time consuming) but you wouldn?t want Ofsted turning up on your doorstep with an enforcement notice ?especially as you already work in childcare! it is worth taking the time to go through the registration procedure and to get it right because childminding is a great job

Hi well I made some phonecalls yesterday to my local authority and she sent me this email

I have copied you into the childminder enquiries mailbox whom are
lodging all interested in becoming a childminder queries. Currently the
grant process for this new financial year 2012 is being agreed, so
presently we are holding details of all prospective applicants whilst
this is being finalised if you are looking to apply for a grant to
start-up.

The area of Rowhedge shows a potential need for Childminding provision

Does this sound promising and what should I do now? Should I send off the forms to apply for a start up grant?

l

I've used the pub's postcode as search start point... Ofsted reports 322 active childcare providers within 5 miles, which includes pre-schools. You could do a similar search and restrict to childminders if you wanted. That won't tell you if there is demand but may help to give you an idea of what childcare is already available in the area and thus who are your competition.

Do you need a start-up grant? If the local authority is holding applications pending the start-up grant funding decision, then if you started registration process now, you would be registered before those other potential childminders in your area.

sorry to sound silly, late at night lol, but if i can get a start up fund that would be fab! I am just goiing to send the forms off to ofsted and ring the start up grant number. what do u think?