Before school care and the Ofsted 2 hour rule

[Toffeebythesea]

Due to a lack of before and after school care at my children's school I am wondering if this is a service I could offer. I have a teaching qualification so do have experience of working with children, albeit at secondary school age.
Can anyone advise if I am correct in thinking that I would be exempt in needing register with Ofsted, so long as I only offer care for under 2 hours a day?
I am thinking that just before school care would fit in with this rule.
I am also presuming but unsure if the childminding ratios ( 6 children under 8) would still apply?
What other things do I need to think about? Some sort of indemnity insurance I presume.
Any advise about whether this is a feasible idea would be very much appreciated!

How much take up would there be for just one end of the day? Round here everyone wants after-school, but can often juggle before school.
No ideas on the legalities tho, sorry.

I think there would be interest as the breakfast club at the school is completely full, at least 20 parents on the waiting list who seem very desperate. I could potentially still stick with in the 2 hour rule and offer 1 hour of before school care and 1 hour of after school care which might suit some people

Won't most people want more than an hour after school?

School here finishes 3.10. People pick up from aftershock club at 4.30/5/5.30 mainly

It wouldn't suit everyone but would fit in well for some people. Primarily I'd be focusing on before school care which I know there is a demand for in our area.
Would be great to hear from anyone who knows anything about the ofsted 2 hour rule and whether it would be necessary to do anything outside of this if I keep to this restriction

Why not just register?

The ratio rule would need to be followed. Call ofsted and chat, they are quite nice! I was a childminder for years and spoke to them often. As for registration, it's a painful experience

I'm not necessarily opposed to registering with them but imagine there is lots of paperwork involved with being inspected etc which seems like a pain. Also I'd like to help some of these desperate parents out for September and don't know how long a process it is.
Giving them a call is a sensible suggestion!
I was just wondering if there was anyone on here who had offered a service without registering by keeping it to under 2 hours

Don’t you need the registration in order for people to claim the tax free childcare?

I think unless people know you well they might be reluctant to use unregistered care.

You're right about the two hour rule. I would give ofsted a call, it's worth following their rules/procedures even if you're not registered, because it gives you better coverage if anything were to go wrong.

There's definitely need for this in my town - school breakfast club only takes them from 8am, but hospital workers (big local employer) mostly need to be in work by 8.

Where would you offer this service from - your home? And how do the kids get to and from your house to school or from the school to your house?

If you expect parents to do it then you'd need to offer at least 2 hours for it to be worthwhile, and most would likely go for after school. Pick up kid from school, drop at yours, come back later. In which case you also need to offer food/snacks.

It more about the logistics for the parents for this to be a valuable money making opportunity.

Sounds like a good idea to me. I wouldn’t personally care it was Ofsted unregistered as long as you had it nicely thought through.

Will you charge a flat rate?
will you offer breakfast?
What happens if you’re sick and can’t have the kids?
what notice period will you ask people to give you if they don’t want the service any more?
what happens if one child in your group is dropped off and gets injured in your house, or you realise after drop off they are too unwell to go to school?

and so on

Thanks for the replies. I take on board the comment about people being less keen if I'm not Ofsted registered. I was hoping mentioning that I'm an ex- teacher might inspire confidence!
I would be running the service from my home as a childminder does. We have a good space for it which would be attractive to parents. We live 2 minutes walk from the school so this is also not a problem.
I had wondered about offering to start much earlier than the breakfast club at school I.e 7am or even 6.45. This is not offered anywhere else locally and I feel like there might be a market for it.

@WomanAtWork

These are all useful things to consider, thank you.

The breakfast club at school is £7 for 1 hour so I think I'd charge similar.
I would provide breakfast.
I hadn't considered what I'd do if I realised that the child was too sick for school, so this is something to consider

A lot of parents claim childcare costs back through universal credit. They can't do this is the provider isn't ofsted registered so it may put a lot of people off.

Yes that's something to also consider. I don't know much about tax free childcare as we're still on the childcare voucher system. With the vouchers it was always the case that some childminders don't take them anyway. I'm not sure if this is different with the tax free system

As a mms

Ofsted registration is required to use tax free payments or get the UC childcare element so you would have to charge a lot less to be attractive to parents....then you still need insurance, pay tax, feed and entertain. Do you have first aid training? It's a lot of expense for 2 hours per child per day so what £10 to £15 a child an income of £50 or do before tax a week.

If under 8 you can have 6 children

Over 8 don't count

Or May be diff as only 2hrs so not registered so can have as many as you like ?

So you are differing 7-9 so 2hrs a day at £7ph so £14pc x 6kids so if full then £84 a day so £420 a week

Breakfast included in that

Guess if lots of parents needing before school or could work out

Ofsted really don’t encourage this so if you called for advice they would advise against. Plus as everyone else has said you would be able to join any of the tax free childcare schemes.

Personally I would get the ball rolling for registration and offer two hours whilst it goes on. If it’s a before/after school club you may wish to only be on Childcare register - if this is the case you won’t be inspected. As they inspect that you are following the EYFS but if it’s only school aged children you’re looking after this won’t be relevant (reception get their EYFS requirement from school so you don’t need to provide this). Registration also protects you. Whilst most parents are great there can be some that make malicious complaints if relationships sour or can disagree with things that you may do so don’t leave anything to chance in terms of your procedures and covering yourself.

At an absolute minimum you should have done the 2 day paediatric first aid corse recommended by Ofsted, have you and other members of your household on the DBS update service, have undertake safeguarding and DSL training with your local council and have PLI insurance in place. Without these things I think you open yourself up to a lot of criticism and perhaps accusations of negligence if anything bad were to happen at your setting. I also imagine that companies such a Morton Michael have the above as terms of their PLI insurance and you DO NOT want to be operating without that.

Legally you need to make sure you have notes about allergies and that hazardous items and chemicals are appropriately stored. Also that your house is appropriately safe. If you are offering breakfast you likely need to be registered with The Food Standards Agency.

You’ll also need robust contracts and policies - as a must for OFSTED you need to have a safeguarding policy and a complaints procedure so I would make sure you have these. It would also be advised to have an illness and emergency policy etc and you will need to have on file a number of emergency contacts for each child.

You probably won’t be able to get tye proper public liability insurance you need or cover for items in your home against damage

registered childminders will spread your name around and probably tell parents to avoid you as you won’t be regulated or monitored

I was a registered childminder for over 15 years. Genuinely most people did not care about being registered. If a local mum would offer cash in hand care cheaper they were there like a shot.

You would need to be cheaper than average tho due to not doing childcare vouchers. Would you do contracts? Have a notice period , or would it be adhoc? Are you close enough to school to walk? If not you would be limited for your car. Are you offering food? If yes you need food hygiene. You would need dbs and indemnity would be a good idea. You also can't take photos unless you register with I think it's ICO but I could be wrong. What about first aid and safeguarding?

Thank you all very much. Lots of things I hadn't thought about. As a parent myself I genuinely think that the options near us are so limited that parents would be very happy to pay equivalent to the clubs at school, for the service I'd be able to offer. Even without being able to use childcare vouchers and without being registered. I am an ex- teacher so familiar with safe guarding and have done first aid previously.
That being said it sounds like it's going to be complicated without the Ofsted registration so I will look into doing this.

Just remember it's 2 hours per child per day, not per session

The two hour rule is per day not per session. I would think most parents would want before and after school so more than 2 hours. You wouldn’t be able to get insurance if not registered so have you considered if a child had an accident and a parent sued you?
I think you should register with Ofsted - it’s not that difficult. You will be providing a service that will quickly be fully booked I think. Most children would prefer you to an after school club and most child minders in my area don’t do school runs anymore . Good luck

Your local council might have a department where someone could talk this through with you. Where I am it's called something like Families and Children.