Childminding from a non-home?

[ElizabethDarcy]

Hi all.. a question for other childminders/people in the know...

My husband is seriously considering becoming a childminder... which will be GREAT. He's excellent with kids and we'd have such fun doing activities together with the children.

The numbers of children we care for would be more than I care for currently, and herein lies the question that has cropped up.

We are VERY happy in our current home, it's perfect for childminding too, for ME, but I think it'll be a tad squashed to have more kids with hubby joining me... hence me wondering if we could still live here and we rent another property close by and childmind from there together? We live in an expensive area, so could afford to rent a bigger place, but not buy a bigger place.

What do you think? CMing is from a 'home'.. would we then have to register as a nursery as we wouldn't actually be living there?

And then, thinking along that line... what would I have to do to register as a nursery? Qualifications etc.

Many thanks!

ps: Our other option is to move waaaaaay out of London... to be able to afford a bigger house so we could childmind together. Our lives are here though and we love our current home. Hence me wondering re this scenario...?

could you not rent out your home and rent out a bigger home for you to live in and use for CMing?

I have to say my dd went to a nursery/CMinders that was ran from a 3 bed small mid terrace - so they had up to 6 children there and a large back garden and it was fine.

Are there any adaptions you can make to your current home? Changing the living areas around or using a bedroom. Maybe adding a conservatory with heating etc. Renting and setting up sounds expensive. Sorry I have no relevant experience to share. I ended up adding an extension to my home and it works very well.

Someone has to live there, though it need not be you.

Registering as a nursery may not be easy, as it can involved a change of use in terms of building planning regulations. EYFS 2012 contains details of staffing ratios and qualification requirements.

We cannot make any adaptions to current home... terrace and communal garden. Gorgeous place to live, happy with everything except with hubby joining me, it becomes too small.

nannynick, that's interesting... so it needn't be US that live there then? Could be my mum (crb'd of course) who lived there (and her bedroom wasn't registered for childminding).

Having my EYFS 2012 briefing next week... should be interesting!