Ka Lai Brightley-Hodges, Head of Coram PACEY
Part One: We risk the Ofsted registration process becoming one of the main barriers to joining the profession
According to Ofsted, it aims to complete the registration process for prospective childminders within 12 weeks. In other words, Ofsted’s stated timescale is that within around three months of confirming that an online application has been accepted, Ofsted should have completed the necessary background and suitability checks, carried out the pre-registration inspection visit and issued a registration certificate. Ofsted have recognised that some applications can take longer, but generally, within 12 weeks an Ofsted-registered childminder should be ready to welcome children and families into their setting.
Although 12 weeks is, in my view, still a lengthy wait, having a clear timeline enables prospective childminders to plan effectively. They can prepare their setting, build up enquires and a waiting list, and give parents greater confidence that they will be able to offer places from an expected date.
However, Coram PACEY has identified many cases across England where the registration process is currently exceeding the stated 12–week timeframe. Delays appear to arise for different reasons and at different stages of the registration process. We acknowledge that some of the delays are linked to local authority checks or dealing with third-party agencies rather than with Ofsted itself. Nevertheless, childminders and local authorities have reported cases where the process has extended beyond 16 weeks or more, with applicants still waiting for their registration to be completed.
These delays are having consequences across the country:
- They are discouraging prospective childminders from entering the profession.
- They are leaving people who have invested time and money into pre-registration training feeling disheartened before they even begin their new roles.
- They undermine local authorities’ efforts to increase childminder numbers in their area.
- Childminders are moving between agencies and Ofsted, creating inefficiencies across the sector and unnecessary costs to childminders.
It is important to note that delays beyond the usual 12–week registration period are not affecting every prospective childminder or every local authority. However, we have heard an alarming number of applicants and local authorities being affected.
Prospective childminders being put off joining the profession
Imagine you have been inspired by a fantastic childminder you know to join the profession, you’ve seen a great campaign from your local authority and thought you’d find out more, or you’re someone who already works in early years or teaching and feels like now is the right time to utilise your passion for children and start your own business. You’ve made your mind up to take that big step and start to look at how to become a childminder in your area.
Now imagine, that you have visited your local authority website, and it says ‘registering as a childminder can take roughly 12 months’ (that’s not a typo by the way). Would you still want to become a childminder?
I completely understand why the local authority wants to be transparent and manage expectations; I’m not criticising that approach. It is difficult for them to invest already limited time and resources into a supporting a prospective childminder, only for that person to withdraw a few months later because the registration process has become so prolonged.
However, this message does little to make becoming a childminder an attractive career choice. Instead, it risks deterring potential applicants at a time when local authorities and organisations, such as ours, are working hard to recruit more people into the profession. When lengthy delays cause prospective childminders to abandon their plans, those recruitment efforts and the resources invested in them are wasted.
Prospective childminders are disheartened before they have even begun their new roles
For those who have understood what the registration process involves and have remained committed to becoming a childminder, repeated delays and poor communication from Ofsted can have a significant emotional impact.
One prospective childminder told us that they were given a provisional registration date of 5 June 2026. By September, she was still being told that her application was “being reviewed”.
“Ofsted give very little updates, no one provides any helpful information. I’ve been extremely disappointed by the whole process. You would have thought the process would have been faster and straightforward but sadly it’s been a huge stress. I’ve felt so lonely”
Another individual currently going through the Ofsted registration process to become a childminder has told us of the toll that the financial pressure is putting on her.
“I’ve had a successful career in finance, but I had a three-month notice period. To become a childminder, I had to hand in my notice because I thought the registration process would take around three months. I started my application in February. Despite being advised on 21 August 2026 that all required checks had been completed and that my application had been passed to the regional inspection team, as of 4 September 2026, I am still waiting for the inspection team to contact me and provide a date for my pre-registration visit. This whole process has caused me stress and worry about my financial situation as I have no income coming in. If I do not get the registration certificate soon, I will missed the funding deadline for my families who have thankfully so far agreed to wait for me.”
Why has joining a dynamic, rewarding profession such as childminding become, in some cases, such a difficult, dispiriting and sad experience?
Local authority efforts to increase childminder numbers in their area hampered
We’ve spoken to a number of local authorities about the positive work they are doing to attract more childminders to the profession. In the year ending 31 March 2026, 20 local authorities recorded an increase in childminder numbers, compared to just 11 in the previous year.
Despite this progress, local authorities have told us that registration delays, including the additional delays experienced this summer, are among the main barriers in their recruitment efforts. They also report difficulty competing with childminder agencies that advertise registration times of between 1 and 4 months depending on the applicant’s experience.
In one area in the North of England, an early years team was told by Ofsted that there is a substantial backlog of registration applications. Some prospective childminders have reached weeks 15 or 16 of the registration process and have been told that their pre-registration visit would not be arranged for several weeks. The local authority has been told that they cannot chase Ofsted on an applicant’s behalf. This is particularly concerning for the local authority, which recently launched an exciting childminder start-up grant scheme.
Summer backlogs appear to be a recurring issue for Ofsted. Last year, childminders experienced similar delays when applying to register childminding assistants ahead of the final phase of the expansion of early education entitlements in September. Some who submitted applications for assistants in May, had still not heard from Ofsted by 1 September, meaning they could not offer the places they had planned and, in some cases, had to withdraw places to the disappointment of families. We raised multiple concerns with Ofsted at this time.
Ofsted has acknowledged that summer “is always a busy time” and we understand that some local authorities have been informed of backlogs. Whilst there is no doubt that Ofsted work hard to address these pressures and clear the backlog, I argue that seasonal demand should be planned for in advance. It is not sufficient to wait several months before recognising delays only after they have been raised or challenged.
If summer pressures are predictable, what investment and workforce planning from the Government is being put in place to ensure that Ofsted can at least meet its 12-week registration timeframe? Childminders need a reliable process to plan and establish their childminding business, and families need confidence that childcare places will be available when a new term begins.
*Please note, I will address my concerns around the current issues childminders face when registering their assistants in part two of this blog.*
Childminders changing between agency and Ofsted, creating inefficiencies across the sector and unnecessary costs to childminders.
One consequence of the 12-week Ofsted registration process and the further delays some applicants’ experience is that some prospective childminders are choosing to register with an agency so that they can begin operating and take on children sooner, then later applying to register with Ofsted and leave the agency.
We regularly hear from childminders who have taken this route to mitigate the financial risk to their new business. However, moving from agency registration to Ofsted registration is still complicated and stressful, even for someone who is already working as a childminder.
Childminders should be able to choose agency registration. That is absolutely their right to do so, and I believe that not one size fits all. However, no-one should feel compelled to join an agency simply because the Ofsted registration process is too slow or unpredictable. Where a childminder later transfers to Ofsted, they will ultimately incur additional costs that could have been avoided had they been able to choose one efficient, effective registration route from the outset.
The cost of setting up as a childminder is already a barrier for many. An inefficient registration process should not make entry to the profession even more expensive.
What can happen?
When the Ofsted registration process works well, we know that this has a significant positive impact on the new childminder at the start of their career.
“Mine was incredibly fast and smooth, 8 weeks from start to finish, I was seen on my original estimated pre–reg date, even with the additional need to have a phone call with their doctor. Certificate was with me within 3 days. I cannot fault the process at all, but I know many people have had and are having vastly different experiences!”.
Whilst this may be the experience of many childminders, which is encouraging, it is not the reality for everyone – and negative experiences can quickly spread by word of mouth and in online forums, where prospective childminders are hearing negative experiences from other childminders.
In its Best Start in Life strategy, the Government recognised that families’ access to affordable early education and childcare has been affected, in part, by the ‘decreasing numbers of childminders in recent years’. It includes a commitment that ‘will explore giving local authorities and Mayoral Strategic Authorities new powers to make sure there are enough places locally and parents have a good range of early education and childcare options including childminders.
To ensure this happens, Coram PACEY urges the Government to start:
A) Addressing the predictable annual ‘summer backlog’ of childminder registrations that are hampering the sector’s efforts to attract childminders to the profession and slow the decline.
B) Thinking proactively about how to improve or change the registration process to ensure more childminders are attracted to the profession and numbers once again increase.
I want to be clear. Coram PACEY is not calling for Ofsted to reduce the number of checks or make any changes that will lower the quality of childminders or increase safeguarding risks. In fact, we are calling for the urgent reinstatement of qualification requirements for childminders joining the Early Years Register.
We are calling on the Department for Education to work with Ofsted and Coram PACEY to address these ongoing delays and fully understand the impact that the current registration process is having on prospective childminders, local authorities and the declining childminding workforce.
We want to see investment in Ofsted that enables the registration timeframe to reduce from 12 weeks to 8. The response to the closure of Rutland Childminding Agency in 2023 showed that when the Department for Education provides the necessary support and strengthens capacity, Ofsted can accelerate the registration process.
I do not believe this is a challenge that any single individual, organisation or governmental department can solve alone. We want to work collaboratively with the Department for Education, Ofsted, local authorities and the wider sector to identify improvements that go beyond financial investment. The aim must be to reduce unnecessary pressure on Ofsted and ensure that registering as an Ofsted childminder is a clear, timely and positive experience for all.
Families and the Government rely on childminders to deliver more than 100,000 early years places in nurturing home-based settings, often providing the flexibility and personalised care that many children and families need. We should be looking at every opportunity to improve the registration process and attract new childminders to this vital profession, so that more children and families benefit.
*In part two of this blog, I will explain the concerns that the childminder sector has over changes to safer recruitment and the implications this will have on childminders delivering funded entitlement places and trying to grow their business.*
