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Childminder

Alternative titles for this job include

Childminders care for babies, toddlers and children in their own home, supporting their learning and development.

Average salary (a year)

Variable

Typical hours (a week)

Variable variable

You could work

evenings / weekends as customers demand

Meet Samantha

Samantha talks about how easy and enjoyable it was to set up her childminding setting.

For more information on how to become an early years educator visit the 'Do something big' campaign site.

3 minute watch

View transcript

My name is Samantha I'm a child minder and I work with my husband Billy.

It was actually my husband's idea of becoming a childminder. At the time of having my daughter I felt very strongly of being with her and wanting to spend time with her and that's what motivated me to become a childminder and I started my training and opened mini moons.

If you're thinking of a career in childminding I would really recommend it it's easy to set up and the process is straight forward.

The biggest myth for me when I went into childminding was it was simply a few toys and it felt more like babysitting. When in reality we are educators. We have a range of resources, we use our own settings personally, working on our strengths of how we can deliver a high-quality education.

The startup grant is an amazing opportunity. if it was available to me at the time, it would have been fantastic to buy some new resources, equipment and some furniture to set the nursery up with.

A day at our nursery is really family orientated. We have breakfast together and then we come into our playroom and we have circle time. And then we go on to focus led activities and child led play.

We have a range of different topics so when we started ‘around the world’, we asked the

families to talk about travels and holidays that they’ve been on.

Being of a childminding agency is great, there's such a community with regular meetups. We check in with each other throughout the week sharing topic ideas activity ideas.

The childminder agency offers thorough ongoing training via webinars. We've got an in-person training day coming up which I am super excited for! There’s a range of experts that will be presenting.

Myself and Billy enjoy attending the webinars. It's a great way to engage with the community and myself and Billy always have really lovely discussions afterwards of “oh that idea was great how can we bring that into our nursery?”

I would definitely use a child agency again the support and the training everything that came with it I would do again.

It's a fantastic job the children are wonderful to be with.

If you're thinking of becoming a child minder take the leap! I know it feels a bit nervous at first but it's so worth it, it's really worth it.

How to become

Explore the different ways to get into this role.

How to become

You can get into this job by:

  • registering with Ofsted
  • registering with a Childminder Agency

Other Routes

You can attend an introductory childminding briefing that covers everything you need to prepare to register as a childminder. Your local council can give you information on where to find a briefing.

The aim is to make sure that you understand what is involved before making a decision about whether it's the right career for you.

More Information

Registration

  • If you want to care for children under 8 for more than 2 hours a day, you have to register with one of the following:

    For this, you'll usually need to complete:

    • a home-based childcare course that covers the Early Years Foundation Stage framework
    • a paediatric first aid course
    • child protection training - safeguarding
    • a food safety qualification

    You may have to do a basic skills test to show that you have the minimum standard of English and maths needed to support the educational development of children in your care. You'll also need to pass an assessment of your home and any equipment you will use.

    Local councils, CMAs and professional bodies can provide pre-registration training to become a childminder. They also have information on registering and further training once you are working as a childminder.

    Your first step is to check out Ofsted's pre-registration briefing on becoming a childminder.

    You can read about the differences between registering with Ofsted and a CMA, to help you to decide which route to take. 

Career tips

It's a good idea to do some research to find out if there's a demand for childminders in your local area.

As you'll be self-employed, you might find it useful to learn about setting up your own business and your responsibilities for tax and insurance.

Further information

You can find out more about working as a childminder at Early Years Careers. 

You can contact professional bodies for advice on how to become a childminder, training courses and registration:

What it takes

Find out what skills you’ll use in this role.

What it takes

Skills and knowledge

You'll need:

  • sensitivity and understanding
  • the ability to work well with others
  • patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
  • to be flexible and open to change
  • the ability to accept criticism and work well under pressure
  • excellent verbal communication skills
  • a desire to help people
  • the ability to understand people’s reactions
  • to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device

Restrictions and Requirements

You'll need to:

What you’ll do

Discover the day to day tasks you’ll do in this role.

What you'll do

Day-to-day tasks

As a childminder, you will:

  • provide inspirational learning activities
  • offer safe play activities, both indoors and outside
  • plan, prepare and serve meals
  • change nappies and make up bottles for babies
  • take older children to and from playgroup or school
  • record accidents and report child safety concerns
  • speak to parents and carers about their child's day

Working environment

You could work from home.

Your working environment may be physically and emotionally demanding and outdoors some of the time.

Career path and progression

Look at progression in this role and similar opportunities.

Career path and progression

Once registered, you could take further training, like a free online course covering child development during early years.

With experience you could expand your business and take on a childcare assistant or become a network co-ordinator, supporting other local childminders.

You might also:

  • move into nursery work
  • become an early years teaching assistant
  • train to be a tutor on childminding courses

Current opportunities

Find apprenticeships, courses and jobs available near you.

Current opportunities

Apprenticeships In England

We can't find any apprenticeship vacancies in England for a childminder right now.

The Find an apprenticeship service can help you with your search, send alerts when new apprenticeships become available and has advice on how to apply.

Courses In England

Early Years Workforce

  • Provider: SOUTH DEVON COLLEGE
  • Start date: 17 September 2025
  • Location: Paignton

T Level Education and Early Years - Education and Early Years

  • Provider: GREY COURT SCHOOL
  • Start date: 02 September 2025
  • Location: RICHMOND
Find courses near you

Jobs In the United Kingdom

The Find a job service can help you with your search for jobs and send alerts when new jobs become available.

Search further careers

Related careers

Skills assessment

Take an assessment to learn more about your skills and the careers that might suit you.

Speak to an adviser

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