Apply to register your nursery or other
daycare organisation
You must apply to register your nursery, or other daycare organisation
for children outside the home, with Ofsted.
Contents
1) Who should apply
2) What counts as daycare
3) Childminders and other adults working together
4) Nannies
5) Daycare in schools
6) Information you will need
7) How to apply
8) Next steps
You should read this guide if you will be looking after children:
• at somewhere other than in your home or the children’s home
• at any age between their birth and their eighth birthday
Who should apply
If you want to look after children in this way, you will need to register the daycare
with Ofsted.
Working on the assumption that your application is successful, to do this you will
need to be one of the following:
• the individual owner of a daycare organisation
• one of the registered individuals of a daycare organisation owned by a company or
group
• one of the registered individuals of a school which does any of the following:
• admits children to their register who are not yet 2 years old
• provides care for children under 2 years old where at least 1 child attends for
more than 2 hours a day
• provides care for children who are not pupils at the school
Registered individual of a daycare
Whether you are a registered individual for an organisation will depend on the type of
organisation. For:
• companies set up solely or mainly to provide childcare - everyone listed on
Companies House as being legally responsible for the company
• charities set up solely or mainly to provide childcare - the trustees listed on Charities
Commission as being legally responsible for the charity
• partnerships - all the partners
• committee-run childcare - all the committee members
The ‘nominated individual’ will usually complete the application for schools or
daycare organisations owned by a company or group. They will be one of the
registered individuals who is chosen to represent them and the daycare with Ofsted.
Nominated individual of a daycare
To be the nominated individual of a daycare organisation owned by a company or
group with:
• the sole or main purpose to provide childcare, you must be a member of the
organisation’s governing body
• a different purpose than providing childcare, you must be the most senior person in
the organisation with direct responsibility for childcare in the organisation
There are exemptions to the requirement to register.
What counts as daycare
A daycare for children can include:
• a nursery
• a playgroup
• before-school care
• after-school care
Childminders and other adults working together
You will need to register as a daycare organisation if you are running a childcare
business where both of the following:
• you are working with 3 or more other adults at the same time
• the children are looked after in someone’s home, either your home or someone
else’s
This is known as providing ‘childcare on domestic premises’. An example of this
happening is where a childminder expands their business to join with other
childminders or assistants. However, 4 or more adults can set up this sort of
childcare without any being registered childminders.
If you are looking after children in your own home with fewer than 3 other
childminders or assistants, you only need to register as a childminder.
If you want to work part of your time as a childminder, and part with 3 or more other
childminders or assistants, you must register separately for each. You will need to
pay 2 fees and have separate inspections.
Nannies
If you are only looking after someone else’s children in their home, you must read
the guidance on becoming a nanny instead, as you may not need to register with
Ofsted.
Daycare in schools
You will need your school’s unique reference number.
Information you will need
To register your organisation, you will need to have the following details:
• your name and contact details
• your organisation’s contact details, including individuals who form part of it
• the contact details of your organisation’s nominated individual
• details of any previous registration with Ofsted
Everyone who wants to join your organisation in a governance position, such as a
committee member, will need to apply to Ofsted.
How to apply
Check whether you should be registering as one of the following instead of as a
daycare organisation:
- a childminder
- a nanny
Registering as the wrong type of childcarer may delay when you can start work.
Apply to register >
Next steps
Your application to register as a nursery or other daycare will not be reviewed by
Ofsted until these 2 steps are also completed.
When you have completed this application, you must also:
• add a setting to your application for each setting that you want to provide childcare
from
• ensure each person who will be in a governance position applies to join the daycare