Childminding

[Loren1990]

Hi, I am interested in starting a childminding business just wondering if anyone can help me find out where you go to find out if there is a need for childminding in your area please??

[Rick]

Hi, I am interested in starting a childminding business just wondering if anyone can help me find out where you go to find out if there is a need for childminding in your area please??

Try your local authority Family Information Service as they have lists of childminders. Parents contact them about local childminders. You can also try childcare.co.uk

[moggy]

Hi, I am interested in starting a childminding business just wondering if anyone can help me find out where you go to find out if there is a need for childminding in your area please??

What Rick said.
...and speak to local CMers, ask how business is, talk to schools and playgroups where you'd be interested in dropping off/picking up and see if they are desperate for new CMers or not.

But, demand goes up and down and enquiries come like buses- none for months and then 3 at once. You can be full one minute and be given notice from 2 families the next. One CM's tale of 'no enquiries for months and desperate for work' can be matched with another in the same street who has a waiting list and full to the brim- it all depends on what you offer, who you know, your contacts and marketing, your fees and what you are willing to do etc.
Whatever you find out about demand in your area now may be different in 6mths once you are registered too- an after-school club or a nursery opens or closes and it is all change. There are seasonal dips and peaks, like Sept term start as well.
Think about what you can offer that makes you special, why someone would choose you over someone else, what schools/playgroups you could drop-off/pick-up from, are you willing to offer something special like weekend/late nights/over-nights? is there demand for this- like shift workers at hospitals/airport near you?
And it is chicken-and-egg situation as families may be thinking about mum going back to work but are not doing so because of lack of local CMer, so if you start up it might even prompt new demand.