A Childminder is registered to look after one or more children under the age of eight to whom they are not related on domestic premises for reward and for a total of more than 22 hours in any day.



Q. Will the childminder be qualified to care for my child and are they checked in any way?
A. All registered childminders must undertake training. They must hold a current paediatric first aid certificate training within the first six months of registration as a childminder. Registered childminders are also checked by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and Ofsted to ensure they are suitable to work with children.



Q. What is a registered Childminder?
A. Registered childminder's are professional day carer's who work in their own homes to provide care and education for other peoples children in a family setting. Unlike nannies and au-pairs they must be registered under the 1989 Children's Act by Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education) in England, or by CSIW in Wales. Registered childminder's are inspected prior to registration being confirmed, this means checks are carried out to make sure they are suitable to look after children. Then again within the first year of minding, if the childminder gains a satisfactory grade or above the next inspection will be within a 3 year period.



Q. Do childminders work to an educational framework?
A. Childminders will play a key role in delivering the Early Years Foundation Stage framework that comes into force in September 2008 in England. From September 2008 all childminders registered in England to care for children under 5 must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and will be registered and inspected against it by Ofsted.

The EYFS framework sets the standards for the learning, development and care of children from birth to the end of the Foundation Stage – this is 31 August after their 5th birthday



Q. What age range are the children with a childminder?
A. A childminder's registration allows them to look after children from birth to age eight, however, they can look after older children should they want to.



Q. Do all Childminders take the child care vouchers?
A. Not all childminder's take vouchers but most are willing to look into the voucher schemes and will discuss options with parents. I do accept Child care vouchers from most of the main providers..



Q.What are the working hours for a childminder?
A. Childminders are self-employed and so they decide on their own working hours. Childminders can provide care between 8am and 6pm with many offering more flexible hours to include early mornings, evenings, weekends and overnight. You will need to negotiate hours, terms and conditions with the childminder.

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Q. Are all childminders covered by accident insurance?
A. All registered childminders must have public liability insurance and business use car insurance. You should always ask to see their certificate of insurance to ensure they have the cover.