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Childcare

Childminder

Childminders care for babies, toddlers and children in their own home, supporting their learning and development.

Annual Salary

variable

Average UK salary in 2022 was £33,200
(source Office for National Statistics)

Working hours

variable

You could work: evenings / weekends; as customers demand

5.4%
Future employment

There will be 5.4% more Childminder jobs in 2027.

Day to day tasks

As a childminder, you will:

  • provide inspirational learning activities
  • offer safe play activities, both indoors and outside
  • plan, prepare and serve meals
  • change nappies and make up bottles for babies
  • take older children to and from playgroup or school
  • record accidents and report child safety concerns
  • speak to parents and carers about their child's day

Working environment

You could work from home.

Your working environment may be physically and emotionally demanding and outdoors some of the time.

You can get into this job by:

  • registering with Ofsted
  • registering with a Childminder Agency
Other routes

You can attend an introductory childminding briefing that covers everything you need to prepare to register as a childminder. Your local council can give you information on where to find one.

The aim is to make sure that you understand what is involved before making a decision about whether it's the right career for you.

Requirements and restrictions

You'll need to:

More information

Career tips

It's a good idea to do some research to find out if there's a demand for childminders in your local area.

As you'll be self-employed, you might find it useful to learn about setting up your own business and your responsibilities for tax and insurance.

Further information

You can find out more about working as a childminder at Early Years Careers.

You can contact professional bodies for advice on how to become a childminder, training courses and registration:Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years; Early Years Alliance; Foundation Years; Organisation for Childminder Agencies

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Once registered, you could take further training, like a free online course covering child development during early years.

With experience you could expand your business and take on a childcare assistant or become a network co-ordinator, supporting other local childminders.

You might also:move into nursery work; become an early years teaching assistant; train to be a tutor on childminding courses

You'll find information on careers and courses in childcare from:

Foundation Years has information about early years education and childcare.

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Skills required and how your skills match up

What skills are required?

You'll need:

  • sensitivity and understanding
  • the ability to work well with others
  • patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
  • to be flexible and open to change
  • the ability to work well under pressure
  • excellent verbal communication skills
  • a desire to help people
  • the ability to understand people’s reactions
  • thinking and reasoning skills
  • to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device
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