I have been a childminder for eight years. My own children are now at school full time, so I decided I could put more time into caring for other parents' children.
I did my research so that all the requirements for the fire safety regulations and risk assessment had been put in place, and I then applied to Ofsted for permission to provide a 24 hours a day, seven days a week service to cater for parents who work shifts.
I have an assistant working with me during the day, so she had to be CRB checked, and my husband decided to register as a childminder so I would have back-up in the case of an emergency. He attended the Introduction to Childminding Practice course and had a pre-registration inspection.
We had full support from Ofsted and the whole process took less than six weeks.
Once all this was in place, we required planning permission to increase the number of children we care for during the day from five under eight years old to ten children. We had the house plans drawn up by an architect at the cost of 150 and submitted them to planning.
We had visits from environmental health and highways officers, both of which were painless, and we submitted a scheme for noise control.
Within seven weeks we received our approval letter, giving us permission for 12 months, with a view to permanent permission being granted at the end of it.
We had no problems whatsoever. All the people involved were very helpful.
The time scales we were given were all met. The whole process was straightforward and stress-free.
* Nicola Dickinson, Hollyhocks Childcare, Castleford, West Yorkshire
