Can I childmind in a property that is NOT my home?

[Bromers]

Hi all,

I was just wondering if anyone knows whether it is possible to childmind in a property that is not my home, or does that make it a nursery? My home (rented) is not big enough for childminding, which is a shame as it is in a perfect location and has LOTS of outdoor space! Of course, the other concern with running a CM business elsewhere means extra rent but there are some low cost rents nearby.

Any advice would be welcomed!

Thanks,

Bromers

[sarah707]

The definition of a childminder is someone who works from home... I think you need to check this one out with Ofsted - 0300 1231231 :D

[blue bear]

You need to be living on the premises for it to be classed as a childminding business otherwise you need to register as childcare on non domestic or childcare on domestic premises.

[sarak31]

Check with ofsted to be sure but.. I have looked in to this too and I am pretty sure that

- childminding is in your (or someones elses eg. if you are two childminders working in one of your homes), home
- childcare on a domestic premises is based within a home but has different regulations and ratios (for larger enterprises with more than 3 adults working on the same day in the business) (there's a factsheet on the ofsted website on this)
- childcare on a non domestic premises is based in any, including 'homes', property that is not a domestic, ie. lived in, property.

So what you are talking about is childcare on non domestic premises as it isn't a home. This would mean that you would first have to apply to planning to change the use of the building from domestic to business use. This would require going through the usual planning permission process. Then you would be able to apply for planning permission to run a childcare business from that premises. Then once that is all granted apply to ofsted to run childcare from there. If you are thinking about renting rather than buying I am not sure how all that is possible.

Complete nightmare hence we haven't done it!

Best way I think if you want to run it from somewhere else is to ensure it is lived in, eg. if you employ staff to offer accomodation with the job, and then you can skip the first part of the planning process and just apply for childcare on a domestic premises. Or even better, find a premises that already is registered for business use to rent. Eg. a nursery opened up nearby in a house and on investigating it to find out how they did it I found it was previously a doctors surgery and therefore was already registered as a business.

If I've got it wrong I'd be very pleased for someone to put me right as we are thinking about this too!:)

Hope all that helps - good luck if you decide to go ahead. I've decided it's difficult but not impossible so am still thinking about it!