• Find an early years and childcare inspection report
• Understanding an early years and childcare inspection report
• Types of early years and childcare Ofsted inspects
• Inspecting early years and childcare
• Types of early years and childcare Ofsted regulates
• Caring for children in their own home
• Regulating early years and childcare; applying to be a provider
• Children's centres
• Safeguarding children
• About our survey reports
• How to complain

Caring for children in their own home

We use ‘home childcare’ for care that takes place in a child’s home:

• a home childcarer cares for children from birth up to the age of 18 at the home of one of the children; the children must be from no more than two families at any one time.

Nannies and au pairs are the most common examples of home childcare.

A prospective home childcarer from another country must have the right to work in the United Kingdom; the UK Border Agency has information on working in the UK.

A home childcarer does not usually need to register with us. However, they can choose to register on the voluntary part of the Childcare Register.

We have requirements that a home childcarer must meet if they are registered on the voluntary part of the Childcare Register. These cover issues like:

• the welfare of the children being cared for
• the safety of the children being cared for
• other health and safety issues
• qualifications and training
• information the home childcarer must give to the parents and/or us
• dealing with complaints
• insurance.