Where to find childminders

[CatwomanXD]

Hi Can anyone point me in the right direction as to how to find a childminder? I have looked at various sites and I either have to pay to sign up to the site or its super expensive childminders.
I looked on local council website and nothing on there...
THanks

www.childcare.co.uk/

I think you might need to pay to contact the childminders, depending on the type of membership the childminder has, but it's not much as a one off.

Are you part of a local Facebook group? That’s where I found ours; I asked for recommendations and got loads of responses

Have a look for a local FB group, or phone your local councils young children and education dept, they should have a list of names and numbers!

Councils run a Family Information Service. It is likely to be at County level rather than borough but it does vary by area.

Where are you in the country?

Our town has a childminder vacancy Facebook page,where parents can post about their requirements and cms get in touch. Works well. Try searching on fb maybe.
The council run a families information service where cms can have their details added. The majority of cms I know are listed on our county page.
I was going to suggest going to Playgroups, and asking around, but then I remembered there haven’t been any groups For months, so that’s not currently an option.

You can ask for recommendations on fb/Instagram/other social media. Our town also has a general parent and child fb group and parents often ask for recommendations on there. Even on the General town fb page. Your best bet is a recommendation from other parents, so you need to ask around if possible.

If you contact the council, the family information service, they will have a list of registered childminders and nurseries. I'd recommend going through this way because these are usually the ones that are registered for funded hours when your DC is entitled to them.

Failing that you can sign up to childcare.co.uk, pay for a month and then cancel it.

If your DC is at school already, the school usually have a good relationship with regular childminders. I know my DC school does, but it is a small school. If you ask the school, they may be able to put you in contact with one.

Local facebook site. My council used to have a list of providers as well. Word of mouth. Don,t find chilcare.co.uk very helpful unless you are a gold memeber.

You can search on the Ofted website which will give you results of all childminders, nurseries registered with them and you can search based on post code. It's a good starting point:

reports.ofsted.gov.uk/

Councils have a list of childminders on the families information service number.
Childcare.co.uk has adverts with parents reviews....you dont have to pay as most will be members and message you if you like their listing.....but you need to fill out your profile with details of hours you need age of child and area....so many leave that blank and just tick looking for a childminder it becomes annoying so cms often ignore them....some at the moment have ticked all option...cm mothers help baby sitter tutor and nursery so obviously dont know what they want.
Beware of Facebook as many replies are from illegal carers uninsured and often charging more than registered care....make sure you see their registration.

Hi, Iam a childminder , I advertise on Facebook, childcare.co.uk, and have my on webpage. Childcare.co.uk is good as you get to see a list of local childminders and any reviews they may have. The problem with it is that childminders think the parents should pay to get there details and parents think that the childminders should pay. I personally do not pay as its expensive and not have not had much business from it , mine all comes from my webpage. When I am looking for business I sometimes wait for the special offers and sign up for a month. I second what some else has said you can sign up for a free account but please put down what you are looking for, days, hours, ages and when from etc I don’t even bother looking at the the ones that just say need childminder , if they can’t be bothered to say what they need I am not wasting my time contacting them.

Best place to look is your local council. They'll have a far more comprehensive list of childminders and they get their information direct from OFSTED. You're therefore guaranteed that any childminder on the list is registered and graded as advertised.
OFSTED themselves also have childminder reports for your area. Not all those childminders will have agreed to their names and addresses being released, though.

I used childcare.co.uk even though my council had a list simply because the list didn't correlate with childminders who had spaces.

@FourPlasticRings

www.childcare.co.uk/

I think you might need to pay to contact the childminders, depending on the type of membership the childminder has, but it's not much as a one off.

I recommend this site too. It’s really good you can put your postcode in and it shows you the distance in miles from your location to the childminders location. I’ve just found a CM through this site.