How difficult is it attract new mindees?

[vroomvroommum]

I recently had a life event that has made me take stock and realise that I'm only ever really happy playing with the various kids in my life at the weekends. With this in mind I am planning to give up a perfectly good job with a good salary and begin childminding!!! Husband is supportive as are friends and family.
My main concern is finding "mindees". I am new to the area and don't have a circle of mum friends around here. I only really need 1 full timer to cover everything financially and wouldn't want anymore than 2 anyway.
So my question is.... How hard is it to attract new mindees? The government is always saying that we need more child care but when I look on line at my local council website there are already nearly 60 within a mile of my house!!!!

Make a profile on childcare.co.uk
I found my fantastic Nanny on there. You can send people messages if they are in your area and you can message potential families too.

That meant to say and potential families will message you!
Doh -

Could you try to meet some of these other local childminders and ask them about how much demand for childcare there is in the area.

Could you ask your local authority Family Information Service for a current vacancies list... that may help give you some info about what sort of vacancies exist in the area.

It can take a long time to become registered... many months, sometimes 3, sometimes longer. So would you give up your job before becoming registered as a childminder?

Are you in England? If so, another list you can use is the one held by Ofsted, which will list all childcare providers within a mileage radius of a postcode. It may well give the same listing as your council website, or it may give a different figure. Whilst 60 may sound a lot, it may be a town location, or part of a city. If there were 60 in the village in which I work, about 1 in 3 households would be a childminder!

Look around your local area, do you see childminders advertising quite a lot - that may be a sign that they are not full, though some childminders may have permanent adverts at some locations.

It can be a struggle in some areas to find children to mind, whilst in other areas it can be hard to find childcare.

Thanks ladies great tips.

Try speaking to other CMs too as if they are full they maybe able to recommend people on to you iykwim

I know in my estate people advertise on the fb community group and if one is full they suggest someone else

Think hard.... After initial sucess, I had three leavers leaving me with 2. And I know this will be down to one by the summer holidays. I'm praying that I get someone soon.....but I am applying for jobs even though I'll hate working in an office again

As others have said try & speak to local CM's, but also do be prepared for the fact that FT enquiries are actually far less common & you might have to take on 2 or 3 PT mindees before you're actually full. I initially thought 1 max 2 like you but actually have 3 younger children on my books & still have 1.5 days without mindees (although fill these at least once a month with ad hoc clients)

If your area has lots of minders then seems that there is obviously a need for them. There are lots round by me too. Childcare.co.uk is brilliant- worth paying subscription. Word of mouth counts for an awful lot- get along to toddler groups etc & chat to people. It's amazing how many people know people that need childcare.

I have been minding for 5 years now and never been full despite advertising all over the place and having good references etc. it barely pays my bills at the moment.

If you okay want 1 child, make sure you advertise that, as its a huge USP.

I agree with a PP, full time mindees seem to be hard to come by. They used to be more common but now many mums only work part time or use family for 1 or 2 days a week. I get lots of enquiries from shift workers and parents with odd hours but don't always want to take these on. A lot of parents with straightforward hours just opt for a nursery without giving much thought to a childminder.

So far I have been lucky and have always managed to find mindees but it does typically take me a couple of months to fill a space after one leaves. Lots of mums look for childcare very far in advance, often 6-12 months before returning to work. So if one of my spaces suddenly becomes available it can be hard to find a child to start soon enough.

I think childminding is a lovely job if you can afford to go for a few months here and there without earning much but it could be very stressful if you depend on the money each month to pay basic bills.

I am full with a waiting list and am turning at least one person away a week. I am nothing special its not a boast! There is just a massive demand and there are loads of childminders around where I live. I love my job, I too left a well paid job for it and I am glad I did. Wish it paid more but other than that its great. I knew already there was demand before I started as I had tried to get my own child a place with a childminder and had really struggled.

It is so much down to area that really no-one on here can answer your question. In my particular area there are only 3 childminders who pick up from my dds school (90 children in each year) so childminders are in really high demand. I only work three days a week, through choice, and I currently have 5 families on my waiting list for any spaces which may come up in September. This is clearly not the case everywhere though.

Thanks to everyone for sharing you personal experiences. I see it's very localised, and I really just need to research the market locally. Childcare.co.uk only have 5 advertised locally so who knows where the other 55 are

When I registered I also thought I would have one full time and that I would manage with that. In reality I know have 4, all part time no more than 2 days a week each.

My first came through from finding out my details from the Family Information Service, one through word of mouth and 2 from a mum at school who recently went back to work.

However whenever I have updated my profile on childcare.co.uk I have always had a lot of interest, I just haven't been able to accommodate their needs due to my existing mindees.

It can take time to do the training and register. Some LA's only run training a few times a year, some expect you to pay. Your best bet is to contact them first and get your name down for the next training that is coming up and this will give you a better idea of time frames and when you might be ready to start minding.

Also some local authorities are happy to accept online courses, which can speed up the process considerably. I registered direct with Ofsted and did the ncma CYPOP5 course online. I was halfway through the process before I even got on the LA "is childminding for me?" course.