Childcare registration exemptions
Guidance for childcare providers on when you're not eligible to register with Ofsted or a childminder agency, and when registration is not required.
Applies to England
Introduction
Most childcare providers looking after children under the age of 8 must register with Ofsted or a childminder agency. This guidance explains when you cannot register, and when you do not have to but can choose to do so.
Who cannot register
You are not eligible to register if you:
- look after each child for less than 2 hours a day, unless you are providing before- and/or after-school care
- have parental responsibility for, or are otherwise related to, all the children you look after (‘related to’ includes by marriage or civil partnership and half-siblings)
- provide care in a children’s home, care home, hospital, residential family centre, secure training centre or young offender institution
- provide healthcare or respite care for children that is mainly health related
- are a school providing care as part of education or any other supervised school activity during school hours for a registered pupil who is not in the early years age range
- are a school providing childcare for children aged 2 years or more and are exempt from needing to register, as set out in our guidance for registering and inspecting school-based provision
- only offer online education or online tuition services
- are disqualified from registration
Who is exempt from registering to provide childcare
When caring for children from 0 to 8 years of age, most childcare providers are legally required to register on the relevant compulsory register.
However, if you provide certain types of childcare, you do not need to register with Ofsted. We refer to this as being ‘exempt’ from registration.
Whether or not you are exempt depends on:
- the type of provision
- when the care is provided
- the operating hours
- where the care is taking place
You will be considered exempt from having to register if you meet one of the exemption criteria below. The exemption must cover the whole provision and all the children attending the provision. You must meet all the criteria of that exemption.
If the childcare you provide meets an exemption, you can choose to register with Ofsted on the voluntary part of the General Childcare Register.
See also the section: If you are already registered.
When you do not have to register but choose to
If you are looking after children aged 8 and over, or are otherwise exempt from needing to register, you can choose to apply to register on the voluntary part of the General Childcare Register providing you meet the relevant requirements.
The voluntary part of the General Childcare Register is the only way you can register if you are exempt.
Schools and education-related provision
If you are a school offering early years or childcare provision, you may be exempt from registration in some circumstances. The criteria that school-based early years provision must meet to be considered exempt from registration are set out in our registering and inspecting school-based provision guidance.
If your school is unable to demonstrate the school-based early years and childcare provision exemptions (or a different exemption), then you will be required to register that provision.
Looking after children in a home
Looking after children in a home is known as either childminding or childcare ‘on domestic premises’. The home can be your own or someone else’s.
You are exempt from registration if you:
- are a nanny, looking after children of any age, from up to 2 families, in the home of one of the children (nannies can care for children from multiple families as long as they are not caring for children from more than 2 families at any one time)
- are only looking after children aged 8 and over
- do not receive any money, vouchers, goods or services in return for childcare (‘services’ do not include reciprocal childcare arrangements)
- are a babysitter, looking after children at home between 6pm and 2am
- look after children of a friend or multiple friends for payment for less than 3 hours a day
- are providing home education to a child of school age who is educated outside school full time
Tutoring, coaching and clubs (activity-based provision)
You are exempt from registration if you provide tutoring or coaching in 1 or 2 of the following activities for children aged 3 and over:
- school study support or homework support
- sports
- performing arts
- arts and crafts
- religious, cultural or language studies
This applies if children aged 3 to 5 attend the childcare, including the activity, for less than 4 hours in any one day. If children aged 3 to 5 attend for longer than 4 hours a day, you are not exempt and need to register. Children aged 5 and over can attend for longer than 4 hours and you will still meet this exemption.
To be exempt from registration, the activity must be the main focus of what you offer, and any childcare must happen because of that activity. This means that all the childcare should involve that activity, except for time spent at the provision while children are being picked up, and at breaktimes when children are eating and drinking.
You should be providing specific tuition or coaching for children, and the aim of all activities must be for the children to improve their skills.
For example, if the provision is sport, it should be focused on improving sporting skills rather than on general physical activity. Physical activity like using a bouncy castle would not qualify, as it is not sports coaching. Similarly, a nature exploration club would qualify if it is focused on learning about the outdoors, and a computer-based club if it is focused on computer coding.
The staff do not need to be specialist coaches, but they should have relevant skills.
You can offer any number of activities as long as they fall into no more than 2 of the areas in the list above. If you offer activities in 3 or more areas listed above, the childcare is not exempt, and you need to register.
If you meet the exemption but choose to register on the voluntary part of the General Childcare Register, you will need to register as one of the following:
- a childminder with or without domestic premises
- a childcare on domestic premises provider
- a childcare on non-domestic premises provider
Temporary provision for less than 14 days
You are exempt from registration if you look after children under 8 in one place for 14 days or less in any year. The year starts on the first day you provide this childcare.
This exemption is not available to childminders who work from their own or someone else’s home.
If you will be looking after children for more than 2 hours a day, you must let Ofsted know in writing at least 14 days before the first day you will begin caring for children. We could take action against you if you fail to do so.
If you prefer, you can let us know your plans up to a year in advance.
It is your responsibility to track the number of days you provide care in any one location. You do not have to notify us if the number of days changes, as long as it does not exceed 14 days in any one year.
If you meet the exemption but choose to register on the voluntary part of the General Childcare Register, you will need to register as one of the following:
- a childminder without domestic premises
- a childcare on domestic premises provider
- a childcare on non-domestic premises provider
Crèches
Crèches are exempt from registration if all the following apply:
- you look after children aged under 8 for no more than 4 hours each day
- the children’s parents plan to stay close enough so that you could summon them immediately, for example at a shopping centre or a gym
- childcare is a short-term convenience for parents, without commitment, such as while they are shopping
If you offer childcare where parents can leave their children while they work or take part in training lasting several weeks, this is not exempt from registration. It counts as a long-term commitment to provide childcare.
If you meet the exemption but choose to register on the voluntary part of the General Childcare Register, you will need to register as one of the following:
- a childminder without domestic premises
- a childcare on non-domestic premises provider
- a childcare on domestic premises provider
Open-access childcare
You are exempt from registration if you provide open-access childcare.
An open-access scheme is one that operates on a drop-in basis. This means that it lets children arrive and leave the setting by themselves – for example, some council-run holiday clubs or youth clubs.
This only applies to children who are above the early years age range. You cannot offer open-access childcare to children in the early years age range.
If you meet the exemption but choose to register on the voluntary part of the General Childcare Register, you will need to register as one of the following:
- a childminder without domestic premises
- a childcare on non-domestic premises provider
- a childcare on domestic premises provider
If you are already registered
You cannot apply an exemption to part of your provision, or only to some of the children you look after. Exemptions apply to the whole of the provision.
This means that if you are already registered to provide childcare and want to provide additional childcare, this cannot be exempt unless it is separate from the original provision.
The factors that determine whether new provision counts as separate depend on your provider type. This will include factors like whether the new childcare is happening at different times or on different premises from the childcare of the original provision. If it does not meet the criteria for separate provision, it will be considered as part of the existing provision, and it cannot be exempt.
For example, if you are a registered provider of childcare for children aged 5 to 7, and you then decide to expand the childcare you offer to look after younger children at the same time (even if it is for less than 2 hours), this would count as the same provision, and you would need a new registration on the early years register too. You would not be able to claim an exemption for it even if it otherwise meets exemption criteria.
If you need to discuss whether new provision you intend to offer qualifies as separate and can be exempt, or if you believe you are registered incorrectly, contact us at enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk from the email address on your registration, quoting your unique reference number (URN). If you are registered incorrectly we will work with you to make sure that you can register again, or resign your registration so that your childcare provision is not operating illegally.
Information for specific provision types
Holiday and food programme childcare
The holiday activities and food (HAF) programme, funded by the Department for Education (DfE), is primarily for school-aged children, from Reception to the end of Year 11, who are entitled to free school meals.
Clubs offering the HAF programme may need to register with Ofsted, depending on the provision they offer. Or they may meet the exemption criteria above, and either choose to register on the voluntary part of the General Childcare Register or choose not to register.
If you are a HAF provider, it is your responsibility to understand whether you are required by law to be Ofsted registered. You must review your status if the provision you are offering changes.
If you are considering setting up HAF provision, you should work with your local authority to determine whether you need to register with Ofsted.
Uniformed youth associations
The DfE considers Scouts, Guides and other uniformed youth associations as ‘out-of-school settings’. This means that they are not treated as ‘childcare’ as outlined by the Childcare Act 2006. These providers do not have to register with Ofsted.