Zara Smith, Coram PACEY Advisor & The Childcare Professional Editor and Writer

From 1 September 2026, childminders in England must follow the updated Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework. The changes strengthen and clarify several safeguarding and welfare requirements. They come alongside a revised Ofsted early years inspection toolkit and the 2026 edition of Working Together to Safeguard Children.

This is a good opportunity to go beyond simply updating documents. Check that your day-to-day practice, risk assessments, parent information and arrangements for any assistants or volunteers reflect what your policies say.

Policies to review

Start by reviewing the following policies and procedures.

• Safeguarding and allegations: Update your wording so it refers to an allegation of harm, rather than serious harm. Check that contact details for children’s social care, your local safeguarding partnership, the LADO, and Ofsted or your childminder agency (CMA) are accurate and easy to find.
• Safer recruitment, suitability and volunteers: Make sure your procedures now cover enhanced DBS checks for volunteers, as well as any other person with regular contact with the children. New employees should not start before the necessary checks have been returned and an appropriate written reference has been obtained. Details about this can be found in section 3.2 of the EYFS for Childminders. Review induction arrangements, declarations of suitability and processes for responding to changes in circumstances.  Make sure that your assistants are clear that they must now also discloses any arrest and charges, as well as convictions, cautions, court orders, reprimands and warnings they previously had to disclose. Update your documentation to reflect this change.
• Safer sleep: The EYFS (paragraph 3.86) now includes more explicit safer-sleep requirements. Review individual sleep arrangements, checks on sleeping children, sleep records, training for assistants and conversations with parents. Most importantly, ensure that everyone involved understands and follows the agreed approach consistently.
• Food, weaning and safer eating (EYFS paragraph 3.36 – 3.70): Revisit supervision at mealtimes, choking-risk controls, allergen management, food preparation, weaning routines and relevant training. Ofsted’s revised toolkit gives particular attention to whether safe sleeping, weaning and safer eating are understood and put into practice.
• Premises, pets and risk assessment: Registered childcare cannot be provided where a banned dog breed is kept or present.  For more details refer to the EYFS paragraph 3.81. Update your pets policy and household risk assessment, including arrangements for outings, visitors and any alternative premises you use.
• Screen use: Childminders must have regard to the new early-years screen-use guidance. Your policy should explain when screen use may be purposeful, how passive use is minimised, and how you communicate your approach with parents. Further details can be found on  Help for early years providers : Screen use.

Strengthen safeguarding practice

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2026 replaces the 2023 edition and applies to childcare settings. It reinforces the importance of multi-agency working and highlights babies’ particular vulnerability, domestic abuse, online and in-person harms, overlapping needs and risks, and anti-racist, anti-discriminatory and culturally informed practice.

Use these themes in safeguarding training, supervision and discussions about children and families. Consider whether your recording forms help you capture the child’s lived experience, patterns of concern, family strengths, cultural context, actions taken and outcomes, not just one off isolated incidents.

Refresh your knowledge, and that of any assistants, of local referral and escalation procedures. Your local safeguarding partnership’s threshold guidance should remain central to decisions about when and how to share concerns.

Prepare for inspection

Ofsted’s revised early years inspection toolkit also takes effect on 1 September. It can be used to support reflection and self-evaluation, not just inspection preparation. The toolkit considers safeguarding; inclusion; curriculum and teaching; achievement; behaviour, attitudes and routines; children’s welfare and wellbeing; and leadership and governance. It can be found here: Early years inspection: toolkit, operating guide and information – GOV.UK.

For childminders, inspectors may look at DBS records, recruitment arrangements, paediatric first-aid training, safeguarding leadership responsibilities, and the implementation of safer sleep, weaning and safer-eating practice. They will also consider children’s experiences, including those of babies, children with SEND and children facing barriers to learning or wellbeing.

Keep evidence proportionate. Have key records accessible and be ready to explain how you know each child, adapt care and learning, work with parents and respond when concerns arise. The EYFS does not require excessive paperwork or physical evidence for ongoing assessment.

KCSIE: relevant, but not statutory

There are also updates to Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2026. Whilst KCSIE is not statutory guidance for registered childminders, its focus on a whole-setting safeguarding culture, clear reporting routes, secure record keeping, safer recruitment and timely responses to concerns provides a useful benchmark for childminders, particularly working with school-aged children or liaising regularly with schools.

Practical areas to consider include:

• Information sharing: Make sure your confidentiality and information-sharing procedures support effective communication with schools. Be clear that consent is not always needed to share information where a child may be at risk of harm.
• Online safety: Include online harms, device use, images and social media in safeguarding and screen-use policies. Consider how children are protected when using technology and how concerns are recorded and escalated.
• Child-on-child concerns: Ensure your safeguarding procedure covers age-appropriate responses to harmful behaviour between children, such as bullying, coercion, inappropriate sexualised behaviour or unwanted contact.
• Record keeping: Safeguarding records should be factual, dated, secure and clear. Record what was seen, heard or disclosed; the action taken; who was consulted; and the agreed next steps or review date.
• Safer recruitment and suitability: Alongside EYFS requirements, review how you assess the suitability of assistants, regular volunteers and household members whose circumstances may affect children’s safety.
• Professional curiosity: Encourage a “notice, record, share and follow up” approach. Seemingly small concerns can form a pattern over time, especially for babies, children with SEND and children living with multiple pressures.

A practical September check

1. Read the childminder-specific EYFS framework and identify every requirement using “must”.
2. Read the updated early Years Inspection Framework and make sure that you understand each evaluation area and how you are meeting the requirements.
3. Update and revise policies as necessary to reflect these changes, then share relevant changes with assistants, regular volunteers and parents.
4. Complete a premises and pet check; review sleep spaces, mealtime routines, DBS records, first-aid certificates and emergency contact lists.  Make any changes required and share with assistants and volunteers
5. Ensure that your and any assistants safeguarding training is up to date and covers -all the criteria of effective safeguarding training in Annex C of the EYFS.  Coram PACEY offer comprehensive safeguarding training: Training
6. Test your procedures with a realistic scenario. For example: what would happen in the first hour after a volunteer raises a concern, a child arrives with an unexplained injury, or an allegation is made about a household member?

Use these changes to make your childminding safeguarding arrangements practical, personal and easy to follow in your own home-based setting. Your policies should reflect the children you care for, the rooms and outdoor spaces you use, the people who live or regularly work in your home, and any assistants or volunteers involved in your provision.

Do you know where to find the right contact details, when to seek advice, how to record a concern factually and securely, and when you need to inform Ofsted or your childminder agency. If you have assistants and regular volunteers do they know what to do and who to report concerns to? Do your everyday routines match your policies and procedures?

Clear, up-to-date procedures give you the confidence to respond promptly and consistently, while helping parents understand how you keep their children safe, well and supported every day.