Childminding from home

ironman1

Has anyone got any experience/advice please.

My wife is currently a Nursery Manager in London and has worked in childcare for 20 years. She has been advised to start up her own business from home by some of the parents and also has many others who say they would like her to look after their children especially when the nursery charges £95 a day per child!

We live in a 4 bedroom house and there is quite a bit of room and the house was previously owned by someone who had a childminding buinsess here before we moved in 10 years ago. 

I realise it won't be easy and we are not sure how much money is in it especially with buinsess rates etc but with her experience and already having the qualifications we would like some advice on here as we have had some informative options in the past. 

Thank you. 

Joe

Marcon

If you google on 'start a childcare business from home UK' you get masses of links, so reading some of those should give you plenty of food for thought. There are a number of links which lead to local councils ( https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/childcare-professionals/running-your-childcare-business/setting-up-a-childcare-business/how-to-set-up-a-childcare-business and https://fisd.westminster.gov.uk/kb5/westminster/fis/site.page?id=Fhb7UpaFjkQ  looked particularly helpful, especially if you live in either of these areas!).

AskAsk

a colleague of mine had a child minding business from home.  his wife had to get a licence from the council so you would have to apply to the council for a licence to run the business.  you would have to get liability insurance for the business as well i would expect.
you would have to inform your buildings insurance that you will be running a business as your home insurance will have been taken out as a residential property.

you will probably also be subject to capital gains tax when you subsequently sell the property as it is not used as your main home only.

Savvy_Sue

If she's a nursery manager, she'll probably have some idea of why the nursery charges £95 per day per child, but she'll need to give some thought to how she makes a profit, and how much she needs to charge in order to do so. Especially if she needs extra staff etc. 

My local childminders used to work together, covering each other's sickness, which was very helpful. 

One friend who did this, years ago, said her advice to anyone thinking about this was to first buy a filing cabinet. The amount of record keeping involved was tremendous, and it all needed to be kept for at least 20 years. 

But again, a nursery manager would be well aware of this side of things. 

Marcon

AskAsk said:

you will probably also be subject to capital gains tax when you subsequently sell the property as it is not used as your main home only.

Happily not on the whole property. See https://www.gov.uk/tax-relief-selling-home/y

ironman1

Hi thanks for the help. 
I was unaware of the capital gains tax. We are looking to stay in the house at least for the next 8 years until mortgage is paid off. 

Does anyone know if she has an extra person helping out like her niece for example, do they need all the same qualifications? 

ironman1

In terms of paper work and the business side of things yes it is definitely a lot of work as mentioned! I can definitely support with this as I work in finance and am pretty good with this kind of thing 

scaredofdebt

Crunch the numbers thoroughly as it's not as lucrative as you may think.

How much will she charge and will customers pay that amount?  Is she feeding the children?  What's that cost and is she charging extra for it?

How many children is she legally allowed to look after, she will know this but it varies by age etc.

There's loads of paperwork nowadays but I expect she is aware.

Is the house safe for young children?  I believe inspections are required to check on this.

Has she written all the policies she needs, ie Health and Safety etc.

ironman1

Hi. Not got as far as discussing feeding the children etc. Nor fees for the parents. But many of them have mentioned how she should start it from home especially as the nursery she works it is charging almost £100 a day! Going to look into it all in more detail.

We have spent  a lot renovating the house and considering it was a childminding home before we moved in (and a bit of a state!) I'm hopeful/ sure it would pass the safety checks now. 

Really appreciate the views and tips etc. Thanks 

Mrsn

OP my sister has been a childminder first the last 12 years from home and it works quiet well for her.

She has 1 decent size room that is used for the “playroom” this backs out onto the patio area in her garden so is used for free flow play through the day. I do agree there is a spectacular amount of paperwork.

If she wanted a childminders assistant they would need to apply to ofsted for official clearance and of course a DBS check. They don’t need to have any official childcare qualifications otherwise. Something else to be aware of is any other person who resides in the property  over the age of 16 (possibly 18...) will also have to have a DBS check in place.

You will need to get in contact with your local authority to get the ball rolling and there will be inspections of the house to ensure it is suitable etc. 

Savvy_Sue

What you're paying for in a nursery is rock solid reliability, IMO. The nursery won't close if staff are unwell or on holiday. A childminder will normally tell parents when they intend to take holiday, and not offer a service then. If a childminder is unwell, there's no expectation that cover will be provided (although they MIGHT be able to suggest alternatives).

What I suspect some parents want is a nursery without the cost. What is your wife thinking of offering? Is that actually what parents want?

The numbers game is also difficult to balance, and again a nursery can probably offer more flexibility if parents have another child / want to change hours and days etc.