How much does it cost to become a childminder with tiney?

As a minimum, at tiney, you need to be:

• Over 21 years of age
• Not living in shared or emergency accommodation (living with family is ok)
• Living in a non-smoking home
• have the right to work in a self-employed role in the UK

For each tiney pathway there are a few specific requirements to be aware of. To join our Experienced pathway you will need an existing Childminder course qualification, such as an NVQ Level 3 in childcare. To join the Switching pathway you will need to be an existing Ofsted or agency registered childminder. If you want to care for under 5’s, and have little or no Early Education experience, then the Complete pathway will be the best fit for you.

The only type of homes we do not accept are studios, but we have successful tiney homes of all shapes and sizes, ranging from one-bedroom inner city apartments to rural farmhouses. In terms of space, as a registered childminder, you must meet the following indoor space requirements:

• Children under 2 years: 3.5 m² per child
• 2 year olds: 2.5 m² per child
• Children aged 2 to 5 years: 2.3 m² per child

If you are concerned, have a call with our adviser and schedule a video home consultation so our experts can help you design your childminding space.

Yes you can, over half of our tiney homes are run from rented properties, but you will need written landlord permission. Council-owned flats are also possible, you will just need written permission from the council.

Alongside access to our high value training, the joining fee covers some of our admin to help you toward registration - including the time to process your necessary checks including Known to Ofsted and Local Authority background checks. With tiney’s membership model we are able to unlock all your online training without any upfront costs to you on the basis that in the future, and as your business succeeds, you’ll be a paying member of tiney.

In terms of other costs during training you will be responsible for the following;

• Paediatric First Aid training (£80 with tiney discount, normally over £100 if you go direct)
• DBS checks (£55.50 for each adult in your household above the age of 16)
• Health Declaration (varies by GP, but typically £20-£75)

At tiney, your membership fee is a percentage of your childcare income. We believe this works best for us and you, because the only way for us to be successful is to help you become successful! We only earn when you do, meaning your income goals are aligned with ours. This minimises your upfront costs and establishes tiney as your long-term business partner.

As your business partner our main goal is to ensure that with tiney you earn more, not less, than if you go it alone. We do this in three ways - first, we reduce all your costly admin time making sure that you aren’t losing hours of billable time each week and can decide when and how you want to work. Second, we enable you to charge a fairer rate by improving the customer experience families receive via the tiney app and helping you more confidently market your setting under the tiney brand. Third, we reduce your expenses by including things like insurances, tax services and big discounts on other business costs. All of this combined means that your membership fee to tiney is offset by the benefits we offer. To top it all off, the tiney fee is also a qualifying business expense on your end of year tax return.

In summary, tiney offers the complete package for childminders, and this approach encourages you to realise the most value from the things we offer. Alongside your yearly inspection and ongoing CPD, you’ll have access to more with tiney than at any other agency. Each week you’ll have the opportunity to join regular webinars and access expert Safeguarding, EYFS and SEN support. Regularly throughout the year we’ll also host online and offline whole Community events, whether that’s our hugely popular book club, or our in-person Community Conferences, where you’ll meet other childminders and hear from industry leading experts at the forefront of Early Years education.

Yes, however your children will count towards your childcare ratio if they are in your care while you are running your childminding business. You can look after up to 6 children under 8yrs old, 3 of these can be under 5 yrs and 1 of these can be under 1. Many of our childminders also employ assistants to increase their ratios and boost their earnings. A huge benefit of childminding is being able to care for your own children whilst caring for other peoples, meaning that if you need to pick your kids up from school or want to save on your own childcare fees, you can. For many of our childminders, spending more time with their own little ones, whilst also being able to make a competitive income, is one of the biggest plus points of childminding.

No, you do not need a drivers licence to be a childminder. It can come in handy for school pick ups and drop offs, but is not necessary.

Yes, our payments team helps accept and process funded placements for you and tiney works closely with many Local Authorities to make this process even smoother than if you were registered independently.

Yes, you will just need to have a pet policy which we have templates for.

Yes, however you cannot smoke in your home or whilst you have children in your care.

Yes, you can and should take holidays as a childminder. As you will be self-employed, you can set how many holidays you want to take each year. Plus, with the tiney app, we make it super simple to set your holiday requirements contractually and make sure these are stuck to with your families.