Its probably been asked but...

[Evesmama]

im hoping to become a c/m.
however i have to come of I.B first and start earning, so am trying to set up my own ironing business.
my plan is...to do night courses on childminding, but have just got a booklet from childcare dept(council) which says you dont need any qualification to become a c/m???is this true?
and if it is, then what do i need?
and are the wages really that bad???
TIA

You do an induction course, mine was spread over three evenings and you need your first aid certificate and child protection training, in my case child protection was over two evenings and I think my first aid was completed over four evenings.

Your local council will probably have an induction evening when they can tell you all the deatils.

You can do more courses when you start working but it is up to you.

AS for pay that depnds on you local going rate. I am just setting up, waiting for CRB clearance and I am charging £25 for a nine hour slot or £3.25 per hour. Some childminders here charge as little as £2 an hour up to £3.50 an hour. If you go on your local childcare information website you can check the local going rate.

Not loads of money, I don't know it could be a main income if you are working from home on your own but if you have a couple of children it could be a nice little earner and a way to get off benefits. For example if I had two children four days a week I could earn £200 a week. Not bad considering I have no childcare costs to pay myself and I am not doing a 5 day week.

I am not sure but can you not earn £20 a week before you loose you Incapacity Benefit, so if you get offered some after school minding for a few nights a week you could take that on without loosing your benefit to see if it is for you.

thankyou, thats really helpful

ive also just googled childmining and its brought loads up, so have plenty of reading to do

You need to go to an induction course and get a CRB check and have your ofsted inspection. Then either before you start or within 6 months of being registered you must complete your introducing childminding practice course and your first aid course (I would strongly advise you do both of these before getting registered as the ICP course helps you to prepare for your ofsted inspection). There is lots of other training you can do later but the above ones are compulsary.
As for making a living, well, it depends where you live, where I am you can only charge £2.50-£2.80 per hour so I don't make lots of money but having said that if I went out to work, by the time I had paid a childminder I probably wouldn't make much more money, but I do get a lot of job satisfaction.
Good luck.

Registration with Ofsted (if you are in England) can take a while to go through. Target is 12 weeks but it can take longer.

If you have not already got your application pack, contact your local Children's Information Service - you can find out their number using ChildcareLink
CIS can also tell you about the ICP (Introduction to Childminding Practice) course and also may be able to tell you about any funding that is available.

A good book for childminders (be they just planning to register, have just started childminding, or who have been childminding for a few months, or even years) is Registered Childminding The Secrets of Success which is written by an experienced mother and daughter team of childminders.