Hello and welcome to the Childminding Forum. Please take a moment to read through this information as it may help answer your questions:

This forum is owned by International New Media Limited. A private company registered in England and Wales under company number 6020111 with our registered office at 1 High Street Mews, Wimbledon Village, London, SW19 7RG.

FORUM RULES, TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

The first and main rule is HAVE FUN!

This is a very friendly forum and although we welcome differences of opinion, and varied views, please discuss these in a way that does not become personal or offensive to anyone who disagrees with you.

The childminding forum was started in 2006 by a registered childminder and in 2012 was acquired by the parent company of Childcare.co.uk, the UK's largest childcare website.

The forum is designed to be exclusively for registered childminders and to this day is still operated by a team of highly experienced childcare professionals including 'Outstanding' rated Ofsted registered childminders. The Childminding Forum community can offer you very varied and helpful information not only in running your childminding business but in all aspects of childcare and family life. We have several different type of membership depending on how much you join in. You can learn more about these by logging into the Forum and reading the Member Information Section.

Information within this forum is offered in good faith, it's accuracy is not guaranteed and it is recommended that you check all information before acting upon it. No responsibility is accepted by The Childminding Forum, or its owners, for outcomes whatsoever occurring, when acting upon the information contained within this site.

The Private Messaging Service is offered for members to contact each other privately. Anyone misusing this service to abuse other members or to sell products, advertise products or websites in any way (without prior permission) will be banned from the Forum.

We do not endorse any comments, opinions or reviews made by anyone on our site and we do not review their accuracy or content, but we reserve the right to remove any comments, opinions, reviews or other materials from our site without reason or notice.

We may also provide links on our site to the websites of other companies, whether affiliated with us or not. We cannot give any undertaking that products or services you purchase from third party sellers through our site, or from companies to whose website we have provided a link on our site, will be of satisfactory quality, and any such warranties are disclaimed by us absolutely.

Commentary and other materials posted on our site are for guidance purposes only. We therefore disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such materials by any visitor to our site, or by anyone who may be informed of any of its contents.

The material displayed on our site is provided without any guarantees, conditions or warranties as to its accuracy.

You agree not to use our website for any unlawful purpose. You shall indemnify us against all damages, losses and expenses arising as a result of any action or claim in relation to any material posted, or linked to, our site by you.

We have the right to revise and amend these conditions from time to time to reflect changes in market conditions affecting our business, changes in technology, changes in relevant laws and regulatory requirements and changes in our system's capabilities.

These Conditions and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them or their subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims) will be governed by English law and will be subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.

If you have any concerns about material which appears on our site, please contact us at info@childmindinghelp.co.uk

POSTING MESSAGES:

If you wish to mention or post a link to your own personal website or blog (including your childminding advertising websites) you MUST add a link to the Childminding Forum or Childminding Help to your website/Blog/Facebook page etc. BEFORE posting. This includes links/mentions in signatures, profile and posts. Websites/Blogs/Pages etc. without a link will be removed.

Members must seek permission before posting links to commercial websites, petitions, blogs, facebook pages/groups or other social media sites.

We make it a policy not to link to other similar forums. We make it a policy not to promote other similar forums. We are sure you agree that it is not good business to send our members off to another site and would politely ask you to respect this. We have a variety of sections and these can be used to discuss many topics so we think we can cover everything without sending members away.

If stars, like this ****, appear in your message when posting please edit out the link you have typed and contact admin or a moderator for more information.

Please treat all members with respect and politeness. If you have different views to another member of the forum, please remain civil and not be abusive in any way.

When giving out advice, please ensure that the information/advice you are giving is correct. If you are unsure please say so instead of giving incorrect information

If the forum admin or moderators feel any posts are inappropriate, we reserve the right to edit and delete posts without notice. If inappropriate posts are still being posted, you could either be suspended from the forum or even banned.

You are given the option to edit your posts for a short period after posting. This is only for minor editing such as grammar or spelling. Please do not edit large content of posts after replies have been made as this can make it difficult for members to follow/understand the thread. If you need to edit a post after the allowed time period please contact admin.

Please do not double post. If you are posting about the same thing, please keep it to one post instead of starting a new one. This enables members to read through everything which has been posted and avoids missing information.

Try to choose the most appropriate section to post in, but don't worry if you get it wrong, any posts which we feel to be in the wrong board will be moved.


POSTING NEW TOPICS/THREADS:

Please would you make sure that you include an appropriate subject for your new topic. Avoid subject titles such as 'OMG' and 'Please Help'. A clear subject title helps members when searching for specific posts or subjects and you are more likely to get a reply.


REPORT A PROBLEM POST:

If you are concerned about a post and think it is inappropriate or breaks the rules you'll find an icon on the top right of the posts (a triangle with an exclamation mark in the centre). Clicking this will let you send the administrator and moderators a report of your concerns. You may also use this option to bring your own posts to the admin/moderators attention.

Please DO NOT try to tell another member off. If you spot someone breaking the rules, report the post and then ignore it. Don't get involved in the argument.


REMOVING POSTS:

We do not remove usernames or past posts. It disrupts the history of the forum for all users, breaks links and causes confusion. If you don't want to post on the forum any more, simply stop posting. No one else will use that account. However, if there are specific posts of yours which cause you concern you can contact Admin, please include a link to the post/thread you wish to have removed and an explanation as to why or use the 'Report a post' button as above. Posts are removed at the administrators discretion.


YOUR MEMBERSHIP:

You are responsible for your own membership of this Forum, the rules you agreed to when registering are shown below. When you joined you agreed NEVER to share your log in details or password with anyone else. NEVER allow another person to log into the forum using your account. Anyone found doing this will have their membership terminated. You may only have one account/membership on the Forum.

Members are held responsible for their own postings and any repercussions that occur if you should damage an individual, organisation, business, service or supplier of goods. The owners of The Childminding Forum nor any of its associates will not be in any way held liable for the content of any postings.

Members are responsible for any decisions that they make based upon advice given within forum postings, and cannot proportion blame to the instigator of the posting if that advice does not prove to be correct or ideal. Advice from the forum does not replace that of Ofsted, your insurance company or any other body.

The Private Messaging Service is offered for members to contact each other privately. Anyone misusing this service to abuse other members or to sell products, advertise products or websites in any way (without prior permission) will be banned from the Forum.

If you feel a Private Message you have received is inappropriate please report it.


MEDIA REQUESTS/FEEDBACK/SURVEYS:

If you have any sort of Media request, are writing articles which you would like members involvement with, would like to request members to take part in surveys or give feedback on your ideas please obtain permission first by contacting the Administrator on info@childmindingforum.co.uk with details of your request. Those without prior permission will no go on.


MORE INFORMATION:

You can find more information about using the Forum, the various usergroups and member priviledges plus competitions and more by logging in and going to the "Member Information Section"


RULES YOU AGREED TO UPON REGISTRATION:

Although the administrators and moderators of Childminding Forum will attempt to keep all objectionable messages off this forum, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author, and neither the owners of Childminding Forum, nor Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. (developers of vBulletin) will be held responsible for the content of any message.

By agreeing to these rules, you warrant that you will not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-oriented, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violative of any laws.

The owners of Childminding Forum reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason.


FORUM AGREEMENT:

You also agree, through your use of this forum, that you will not post any material which is false, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise in violation of ANY law. Legal actions can be taken against you. You also agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or you have consent from the owner of the copyrighted material. Spam, flooding, advertisements, chain letters, pyramid schemes, and solicitations are also inappropriate to this forum.

Note that it is impossible for us to confirm the validity of posts on this forum. Please remember that we do not actively monitor all the posted messages and are not responsible for their content. We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information presented. The messages express the views of the author, not necessarily the views of this forum. Anyone who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to notify the administrator or a moderator of this forum immediately. We reserve the rights to remove objectionable content, within a reasonable time frame, if we determine that removal is necessary. This is a manual process, however, so please realise that we may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately. This policy goes for member profile information as well.

You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and you agree to indemnify and hold harmless this forum, and any related websites to this forum. We at this forum also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or any information we have about you) in the event of a complaint or legal action arising from any information posted by you.

You have the ability, as you register, to choose your username. It is advised that you keep the name appropriate. With the user account you have or are about to register, you agree to never give your password out to another member, for your protection and for validity reasons. You also agree to NEVER use another member's account to post messages or browse this forum.

After you register and log into this forum, you can fill out a detailed profile. It is your responsibility to present clean and accurate information. Any information we deem inaccurate or vulgar will be removed.

Please note that with each post, your IP address is recorded, in the event that you need to be banned from this forum or your ISP contacted. This will only happen in the event of a major violation of this agreement.

You are solely responsible for any and all attachments that you post to this forum. You may not post files to this forum which contain copyrighted material that you do not have permission from the author to post.

The information contained in this website Childminding Help and Childminding Forum for help and advice from starting out all the way to EYFS is for general information purposes only and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.

In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.

Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of childmindinghelp.co.uk. We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.

Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, childmindinghelp.co.uk takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.


The Forum Rules may be amended at any time without notice - please ensure that you regularly check back for updates.