How many children is a childminder meant to have at any one time?

[kazzianne]

Hi all.My boyfriend daughter lives with her mum who works full time,and she uses a childminder before & after school and all the holidays.I bumped into this childminder at a fun park the other day and she said that she was having a manic day as she had 10 children with her,and had brought two friend to help out!! Surely this is too many? She is registerd properly with the authorities by the way.Might explain why her house is so beautiful - she must be earning a bomb!! Lol

[hammerman]

Sounds a bit dodgy to me. The helpers should have a police check.

Contact http://www.ncma.org.uk/ if you have any queeries

[stoo_pid]

Ask to see her childminding certificate - the total number she is allowed to look after will be clearly stated.

Registered childminders (working alone) are allowed to look after an absolute maximum of 6 children, aged up to 12 years at any one time (they could have more on their books but look after them on different days). Of these 6 children, no more than 3 children not yet attending primary school can be looked after and no more than one child aged under 1. Importantly, this also includes the childminder's own children.

If her helpers are registered child minders there may be no problem but the National Child Minding Association should be able to confirm that.

[kazzianne]

Hi stoo_pid. She def has a certificate - my boyfriend interviewed her when he placed child with her.But as him and ex are no longer together he doesnt have any dealings with her direct really.I know she has 3 children of her own.So does that mean that she is only allowed 3 more when she goes out? What if she take more out but doesnt get paid for them? Do they count?

[stoo_pid]

They all count for any specific time she has those children with her - irrespective of whether she is being paid or not. She can only be in charge of a maximum of 6 children at any one time. The reason I said to check her certificate is because that states the number of children she is allowed to look after (it may be less than 6).

So, for example, if she has her 3 children with her & is looking after one of her friend's children for free, she is allowed to look after a maximum of 2 more children as a paid child minder.

Or another example, if her children are all at school and she has 2 of her friend's children with her for free, she can look after a maximum of 4 more children as a paid childminder. If her 3 children came home from school (e.g. for lunch) then at least 3 of the children she was looking after (paid or unpaid) would have to go.

[SaxyJag]

Stoo-pid, you sound as though you know a fair bit about this. Would it be worth kazzianne going to, say, social services (or whoever approves childminders) and getting things checked out? Surely that could be done anonymously?

Oh, and that bit about a beautiful house? Who has that many kids around and keeps a house like that? ;-)

[ayla44]

Registered Childminders must now display their certificate on the wall during childminding hours (they can take it down when they are not minding).

In England, the maximum of 6 children actually applies to Under Eights (not 12 years as posted earlier). Of these no more than 3 can be under five and only 1 can be under one. It is possible to get variation permission for 2 under ones (eg to care for twins) or 4 under fives, if so the Childminder will have a Certficate to show this.

As well as 6 under eights the childminder can look after over eights. The Ofsted registration does not limit the number of over-eights but Ofsted will need to be satisfied that the number of over-eights does not adversely affect the care of the under-eights. In addition, the childminder's public liability insurance will state the maximum number of children the childminder may have overall (usually 10 including their own children).

So it is possible this Childminder is not breaking any rules - maybe her friends have been registered as assistants?

However if you wish to report your concerns you should contact Ofsted on 0845 601 4772.

[stoo_pid]

Many apologies - I spoke to the childminder we used to use & she told me that things have changed a little since then. ayla44 is completely correct with their answer.

[kazzianne]

Stoo_pid,Ayla - thankyou so much for your replies - I will get boyfriend to check out her certificate.Why anyone would wana look after that many kids anyway is beyond me - my idea of madness!!!

[kathlick]

hhhmm... all very easy for people to say they are registered with the NCMA/ ofsted, if she had to have a spot check or inspection and have more than 6/8 (the legal amount for a registered childminder) then she would loose her licence to work from home.

also, she needs to have ONE adult to every THREE children, you said she had two mates helping her out, now if they are just mates, and not registered or experienced childminders then she shouldnt be looking after children if she is going to put other peoples children at that kind of risk, AND, if she was registered, then ofsted would see to it that those "assistant" were paid staff instead of mates.... sounds a bit dodgy to me... who is she and what area does she work in? i wont be sending my kids to her... its not fair on the other kids for her to have so many, the youngest cant be getting the one on one attention they need etc... hmm sounds very strange.. be sure to check it out if you can and let the authorities know.

www.ofsted.com

[ayla44]

Its www.ofsted.gov.uk .

[rara3589]

Heya i am a registered childminder, THat is completely illegal. Here friend has to registered with OFsted, needs to have first aid, and needs to be CRB (police) checked, Also the childminder, is allowed up 6 children at 1 time, only 3 of these are allowed to be under 5, and only one of those 3 are allowed to be under 1. it isnt uncommon for childminders to have helpers, however you need to check that her OFSTED registartion certificate has a named helper.

[simplybe21]

i have a problem with my neighbour who is a childminder,she has claimed that she is living next door but we know she lives down the road.(which suggests that she isnt paying any business rates)i often see her after school with 13 children in tow.my husband is very poorly with cancer and come summer im not to hapy about all these children running a round in the back garden as the noise will be unbearable as my husband needs his rest..i have contacted the local council.they did a spot check and say she is good to carry on with childminding there but i can bet she didnt have all these children with her at the time..can anyone help?

[haemorrhage]

Hi Simplyb2, I have the same with my neighbour. She lives across the road, we live on a small cul-de-sac. She childminds and regularly has 12 children walking home with her plus her own 4, which is 16 children in all. She only has parking for her own 2 cars so they all have to park outsde my house. Between 5-6 o clock we hav 12 cars pulling up. I get all the cars parking,reversing and general agro. All she says is space is limited, even though she has some extra bushes that could be taken out to make way for more parking. As long as the customers are coming and paying she couldnt care less where they are parking.