Can anyone answer a few questions about becoming a childminder please

[honeybehappy]

Can anyone answer a few questions about becoming a childminder please:

Do you have to have a large house and garden?

What sort of price do you charge?

How long does it take to register?

How many mindees can you have?

Can me and my sister do it together in the same house? but have our own mindees?IYSWIM

thanks!!

If you do a search on here there are quite often posts like this where you might get some more info from. But in answer to yours

1. It helps if you have a big house, lots of stuff to store, cots, highchairs, toys etc but you don't have to have lots of room. Children must have access to outside space, if you don't have any then you have to show how you will provide outside play ie: trips to park etc.

1. Price depends on area, most CM's charge per hour, some per day, in my area it ranges from £2 - £3.50 some include food costs, some charge extra. If you live in the south rates can be £6+ perhour.

1. Registration may take some weeks / months you will need to do an initial course run by local council approx 6wks, 1 eve per week, a medical from your GP, Paediatric 1st aid course 12hrs, and a criminal records check this is the bit that usually takes the time can be anything from a few weeks to a few months (mine took 3mths & I already had one)you will also need to apply to ofsted who will visit your premises to do an initial check, and you will need to register as a food business with your local environmental health dept who may also inspect, if you plan to work with someone you may need planning permission depending on how many mindees you hope to care for. You will also need a level 3 qualification in childcare (this is not compulsary atm but will be shortly, so if you don't have one it is best to work towards this now).

1. To find out how many mindees you may be able to care for have a look on the ofsted website as a general rule cm's can care for no more than 3 under 5 with no more than 1 being under 12mths old, and 3 mindees over 5 but under 8 so 6 in total, but if you have children of your own they will be deducted from these figures. Ofsted don't govern over 8's (yet) so it depends on what your insurance cover allows. If you plan to work with an assistant or co-mind your ratios will be adjusted, but this does not necessarily mean that you will be able to have double the numbers as ofsted take into consideration size, ability to care for etc, and you must ensure that your ratios carer:child and the early years register are met at all times which can be a pita as they arnt always the same .

1. You can work with someone else if you wish, You can either have an assistant, you will be ultimately responsible for the care of the children though and you will need consents from mindees parents for the children to be left in sole charge, but different rules apply for the early years regiser that you will need to be aware of, they will also need to have police check, 1st aid as a minimum, and you will need references etc as to their suitability. You can also co-mind with another childminder who is registered in their own right so will have to do all of the processes, this will mean that if you work from your house you will have 2 ofsted ispections one for each of you.

Your local councils website will have information about regestering which is specific to your area, as councils requirements do differ at times so will be worth a look.

hth

That is a great answer

wrt you & your sister having separate children - how will you deal with it if all your children give you notice & she is full - will she still be able to work at your house? will you cope with no income if she is rolling in it?

Thats a good point, do you really want to play host to your sisters business or vice versa. Co-minding isn't always a good option and have you thought about if you both have children of your own how this will effect your income capacity, and will you both take holidays at the same time or will you be having mindees in your home if you are off lots of things to consider, being a cm is a full on job, my house looks like a day nursery as we use the whole of the ground floor and two upstairs rooms as well, I'm used to it but I know many people would find it hard to live like this.

You will also need to do quite a lot of training which is usually evenings and weekends so you need to think very carefully as its a pretty big commitment all around. Can be a good and rewarding career though