Form

Disqualification from childcare registration and how to apply for a waiver

Updated 22 October 2026

Introduction

Some people are disqualified from registering with Ofsted on the Early Years Register or the General Childcare Register. These people may, in some circumstances, be able to apply to Ofsted to have their disqualification waived, which may mean that they can then apply to register.

This guidance explains:

• what disqualification means
• who can apply to have their disqualification waived and in what circumstances
• how to submit an application
• how we decide whether to waive a disqualification
• how to appeal if we refuse your application

What disqualification means

Disqualification from childcare registration means that a person is legally prevented from registering to provide early or later years childcare (for children under 8) or from registering voluntarily to care for children over the age of 8.

This could be due to being on the children’s barred list of the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), or due to having a previous childcare registration cancelled, or it could be due to being found to have committed certain types of offences, particularly violent or sexual offences or those involving children.

A person who is disqualified must not provide, or be directly involved in the management of, any early years or childcare provision, including a school providing early years childcare. This includes in childminder agencies, as childminders, or in childcare providers such as nurseries and pre-schools. It is an offence to do this. It is also an offence to employ a disqualified person in this kind of provision.

A disqualified person cannot register on the voluntary part of the General Childcare Register to provide early years and childcare provision that is exempt from registration, such as nannying, or working in schools and creches.

How do I know if I am disqualified?

The circumstances in which someone may be disqualified from registration include where they have been:

• found to have committed certain offences against a child^{[footnote 1]} (see section below on ‘spent convictions’)
• found to have committed certain offences against an adult (see section below on ‘spent convictions’)
• made subject to an order or determination removing a child from their care or preventing a child from living with them
• included on the list of those who are barred from working with children, held by the DBS
• made the subject of a disqualifying order
• previously refused registration as a childcarer or had a registration cancelled, unless the cancellation was only for non-payment of fees for continued registration after 1 September 2008
• refused registration as a provider or manager of a children’s home or had a registration cancelled

If we refuse your application to register with us, then you as the applicant will be disqualified, regardless of any waiver that we have previously granted. This also applies if we cancel your existing registration for any reason other than not paying your annual registration fee.

If the applicant is a company, it is the company that is disqualified and not the individuals listed as directors.  

A full list of all the circumstances that disqualify people from working with children is available in the Childcare (Disqualification) and Childcare (Early Years Provision Free of Charge) (Extended Entitlement) (Amendment) Regulations 2018.

You should also refer to the statutory guidance issued by the Department for Education and the tables and annexes in the Appendices for disqualification under the Childcare Act 2006 guidance: Disqualification under the Childcare Act 2006.

Please note that the guidance is not a substitute for the legislation, and any lists of offences may not be exhaustive or reflect subsequent legal changes.

If you think that you, or a person connected to your provision (including potential employees), may be disqualified, you can check by emailing us at disqualification@ofsted.gov.uk. This email address is only for queries about disqualification. Please do not use it to ask us about anything else.

Disqualification by association

If you intend to provide childcare or work in someone’s home (under a childminder or childcare on domestic premises registration), or if you have voluntarily registered as a nanny and you live in a household where a person who is disqualified lives or works, this means that you are disqualified too. This is called ‘disqualification by association’.

If a household member of a childminder is disqualified, all other adults in the household are disqualified by association. In this circumstance, household members who do not intend to be employed or involved in the provision of childminding or childcare do not need to submit a waiver application, but anyone who wishes to be employed or involved in providing childminding or childcare must do so. 

Spent convictions

Normally, under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, convictions, cautions, reprimands and warnings are considered ‘spent’ after a certain period of time. How long depends on the offence. 

However, this does not apply to the purposes of registering to provide childcare. Any convictions, cautions, reprimands or warnings you have received at any time will appear on your DBS check and may disqualify you from registration.

If you are applying to provide childcare from a home (under a childminder or childcare on domestic premises registration), this also applies to anyone who lives or works in your home. 

Further information on spent convictions.

Who can apply to us to waive their disqualification?

If you are disqualified, you can apply to us to waive the disqualification unless you:

• are included on the lists of those barred from working with children held by the DBS
• have committed an offence against a child within the meaning of section 26(1) of the Criminal Justice and Courts Services Act 2000, and the court has ordered that you are disqualified from working with children (under sections 28(4) and section 29 of the act)
• have committed an automatic barring offence (but are not currently barred because you were not in regulated activity at the time)

We do not have the power to waive disqualification in these circumstances.

Information for employees and potential employees who are disqualified 

If you want to work looking after children for a registered provider 

If you are disqualified and you intend to take up employment with an organisation running early years or childcare provision, you must apply to us to waive your disqualification and Ofsted must have agreed to waive the disqualification before you can start work. It is an offence for an organisation to knowingly employ a disqualified person.

If you are applying for a post and we decide to waive your disqualification, it is still your potential employer’s decision whether or not to employ you.

You can apply to waive your disqualification even when you do not have a role to move into.

If you think that you may be disqualified, you can check by emailing us at disqualification@ofsted.gov.uk.

If you want to join an organisation that provides early years and childcare provision

If you want to join an organisation that is already providing early years and childcare, and you are disqualified – for example, if you want to be a committee member, director or partner – you must apply to us for your disqualification to be waived.

You should do so before you join the body, otherwise we may have to tell the person who represents the organisation that you are disqualified (although we will not tell them why). If you join the organisation and we have not agreed to waive your disqualification, this will affect the organisation’s suitability to provide early years and childcare.

We will tell them of any decision we make about your application to waive disqualification. The organisation must then decide about your future role.

Information for employers and potential employers

If you want to employ someone who is disqualified

If you are an employer and wish to employ someone who is disqualified, it is the disqualified person who must apply to us to have their disqualification waived. You cannot apply for a waiver on their behalf.

It is an offence to knowingly employ someone who is disqualified from working with children.

If you think that a person you are considering employing may be disqualified, you can check by emailing us at disqualification@ofsted.gov.uk.

You will also need to consider whether you need to take any further action regarding the staff member or their role, to remove any possible risk to children.

We take action to safeguard children where we find that a disqualified person is providing or working in Ofsted-registered early years or childcare provision. For those registered on the Early Years Register and the General Childcare Register, the law requires us to cancel the registration of a registered person who becomes disqualified. The registered person may be a childminder, or an individual or organisation that is going to be the provider of childcare.

We may suspend your registration if we find that you have employed someone who is disqualified.

If you are a school employing staff who will provide childcare, and they are disqualified, please refer to the Department for Education’s guidance: Disqualification under the Childcare Act 2006.

Duty to disclose

If you are a registered person on the Early Years Register and/or General Childcare Register, you must tell us about any information that disqualifies you. Where the childcare is provided in a domestic setting or under a domestic premises registration, this includes disqualification by association.

You must provide:

• details of the precise order, determination, conviction or other grounds for disqualification
• the date when the order, determination, conviction or other grounds for disqualification arose
• the name of the body or court
• the sentence imposed (if any)
• a copy of the relevant order

The information must be provided to Ofsted (or to the childminder agency if a childminder is registered with one) as soon as reasonably practicable, and in any event within 14 days of the time when you became aware of the information or would have become aware had you made reasonable enquiries. A failure to meet this requirement may lead us to consider taking enforcement action.

In the case of all early years providers, there is also a requirement to notify Ofsted of certain significant events. This includes notifying us of ‘any other significant event which is likely to affect the suitability of the early years provider or any person who cares for, or is in regular contact with, children on the premises on which childcare is provided to look after children’. This includes telling us about a disqualification. 

If you are a childminder on domestic premises or a childcare on domestic premises provider, you also have to tell us about the disqualification of any person you live with or who lives or works on the premises where childcare is provided. Childminders without domestic premises must tell us about the disqualification of anyone looking after children at any non-domestic premises used for childcare. These must be notified in advance where practicable or, otherwise, as soon as reasonably practicable, but in any event within 14 days of when the event occurred.

Failure to notify us of these events, without reasonable excuse, is an offence.

If someone you employ becomes disqualified

If you are an employer and you discover that a current employee has become disqualified, it is the disqualified person who must apply to us to have their disqualification waived. You cannot apply for a waiver on their behalf.

It is an offence for a person to knowingly employ someone who is disqualified from working with children.

If you think that a person you are considering or are currently employing may be disqualified, you can check by emailing us at disqualification@ofsted.gov.uk.

We take action to safeguard children where we find a disqualified person is providing or working in Osted-registered early years or childcare. This can include taking steps to suspend a childminder’s or childcare provider’s registration or to cancel it.

Applying to us to waive your disqualification

How to apply for a waiver

If you know that you are disqualified and want to apply for a waiver, you should complete the relevant application form (see below) and submit this to us via the email address on the form.

If you have already applied to register with Ofsted, and we determine through information that is shared with us that you are disqualified, we will write to you. You can then request that we waive your disqualification, and we will place your application on hold until we have made a decision about your waiver. 

The application for Ofsted to waive your disqualification and the application to register childcare are separate. Ofsted cannot grant your application to register if you are disqualified.

If we decide to waive your disqualification, this does not automatically mean that we will grant your registration, or that you are suitable to look after or be in regular contact with children. We will refuse to grant registration if, after carrying out our checks, we do not think you are suitable to provide childcare.

Applying to waive a disqualification is a voluntary process. If you decide to apply for a waiver, you should complete the form to the best of your knowledge and belief and submit it to us in writing with the required information.

You must read the declaration and consent section of the form carefully and then sign and date the form to confirm your consent. 

You will need to download and fill out one of the following forms:

• Early years provision in schools waiver application form
• Childminders, childcare on non-domestic premises and childcare on domestic premises waiver application forms

How we decide whether to waive a disqualification

We consider each request on its own merits. You will need to demonstrate and evidence to us that you are now suitable to be in regular contact with children. The factors we take into account may include:

• the reasons for your disqualification
• the length of time since the matter took place that disqualifies you
• the reasons you have given us that your disqualification should be waived
• any risks to children from allowing you to provide or work in early years and childcare provision

We may ask you for more information or to obtain a police certificate or a DBS certificate at a specific level, or we may ask you to attend an interview.  

We will notify you in writing of our decision. If we decide to waive your disqualification, our letter will explain the reasons for our decision, and the circumstances and the basis in which it applies. We may limit the decision to waive disqualification to one type of employment or to particular premises. You will need to keep your letter (and those relating to anyone connected) safe in case you need to show it to an inspector or a new employer.

How to appeal if we refuse to waive your disqualification

You can appeal to an independent body, the First-tier Tribunal (Care Standards), against our decision to refuse an application to waive your disqualification. You must make an appeal in writing within 28 days of the date of our decision letter – see how to appeal.

You can obtain guidance on how to appeal from the tribunal by:

• telephoning 01325 289 350
• emailing cst@hmcts.gsi.gov.uk
• writing to the secretary of the Tribunal:

First-tier tribunal: Care Standards Tribunal 
HM Courts and Tribunals 
1st Floor, Darlington Magistrates Court 
Parkgate DL1 1RU

The tribunal will confirm its decision in writing and tell you the reasons for it. The decision takes immediate effect. The tribunal will let you know if you are able to request a review of the decision or to appeal it and, if so, how to do this.

More information

Useful addresses and contacts

Ofsted
Piccadilly Gate
Store Street
Manchester
M1 2WD

Email: disqualification@ofsted.gov.uk

Website: www.gov.uk/ofsted

Acts of Parliament and supporting legislation

The Childcare Act 2006 and supporting regulations set out the registration requirements for childminders and childcare.

See also:

• Section 68 of the Children Act 1989 and the Disqualification from Caring for Children (England) Regulations 2002.

• The Childcare (Disqualification) and Childcare (Early Years Provision Free of Charge) (Extended Entitlement) (Amendment) Regulations 2018.

• Section 33 of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 gives the power of a senior court (Crown court and above) to make an individual the subject of a disqualification order if the court believes that a convicted individual will continue to be a risk to children.

Other information

See Ofsted’s enforcement policy.

If you are applying to be registered with us, you can find out more information at: Early years and childcare registration.

The Disclosure and Barring Service is responsible for holding information about those who are barred from working with children and young people.

The First-tier Tribunal (Care Standards) is an independent body established under section 3 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007.

The Department for Education is responsible for Guidance on how the disqualification provisions affect schools. 

1. Found to have committed means a person has been:
   (a) convicted of an offence;
   (b) found not guilty of an offence by reason of insanity;
   (c) found to be under a disability and to have done the act charged against them in respect of such an offence; or
   (d) on or after 6 April 2007, given a caution in respect of an offence by a police officer after admitting that offence.
   
   A person is found to have committed an offence that is ‘related to’ an offence if that person has been found to have committed an offence of
   (a) attempting, conspiring or incitement to commit that offence; or
   (b) aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the commission of that offence (The Childcare (Disqualification) Regulations 2018). ↩