The Early Years Register and the Childcare Register

Updated 8 November 2026, checked against Ofsted’s registers, exemptions and fees guidance (22 October 2026). For England. A guide, not legal advice: if you’re unsure, ask Ofsted or your council’s early years team.

Which register do you need?

• Mixed ages: caring for under-5s and 5 to 7-year-olds means joining both registers. If you join the Early Years Register, the General Childcare Register is free on top, when you apply or later.
• The other way round costs more: if you’re only on the General Childcare Register and want to take younger children, you need a full new application and fee.
• Register first: you can’t start caring for children until you’re on the right register.

The Early Years Register

Nurseries, pre-schools, childminders, and before-school, after-school and holiday clubs that take Reception-age children all join it. To register you have to show you understand the EYFS, then keep meeting it. Ofsted runs a registration visit before you open and inspects you after.

Clubs that only care for Reception children before or after school or in the holidays don’t have to follow the EYFS learning and development or assessment sections, but the safeguarding and welfare rules still apply.

The General Childcare Register

• Compulsory part: for children from 1 September after their fifth birthday until their eighth birthday, unless you’re exempt. There are separate requirements for childminders and for group settings, lighter than the EYFS.
• Voluntary part: for children 8 and over, nannies, and childcare that’s exempt. You still meet its requirements. It’s the only way an exempt provider can register, and it lets parents use Tax-Free Childcare.

Fees

You pay when you apply, and the same amount every year on the anniversary of your registration. Ofsted cancels the registration if you don’t pay. Fees aren’t refunded, even if you withdraw or are refused. DBS checks and training cost extra.

Who doesn’t register

You can’t register if you:

• look after each child for less than 2 hours a day, unless it’s before- or after-school care
• only look after children you’re related to or have parental responsibility for
• provide care in a hospital, children’s home or similar, or care that’s mainly health-related
• are a school caring for its own pupils as part of the school day, or meet Ofsted’s school-based exemption

You’re exempt (and can choose the voluntary register) if, for example, you:

• are a nanny in one child’s home, for no more than 2 families at a time
• are a babysitter working between 6pm and 2am, or only look after children 8 and over
• run tutoring or coaching in no more than 2 areas (sport, performing arts, arts and crafts, study support, or religious, cultural or language studies), and 3 to 5-year-olds stay under 4 hours a day
• run a crèche for up to 4 hours a day where parents stay nearby, such as at a gym
• run childcare in one place for 14 days or less a year (you must tell Ofsted 14 days before if sessions run over 2 hours; not for home-based childminders)

An exemption must cover the whole provision and every child. Scouts, Guides and similar groups don’t count as childcare. Full details are on Ofsted’s exemptions page.

Ofsted or a childminder agency

Childminders and childcare on domestic premises can register with a childminder agency instead of Ofsted. The agency sets its own fees and checks quality. Nurseries and other group settings on non-domestic premises register with Ofsted. Steps and checks for each are in how to become a childminder and how to open a nursery.

Once you’re registered

• Tell parents which register you’re on and share your inspection report: see what to share with parents.
• Prepare for your first inspection: see the inspection checklist and how the new grades work.
• Want to offer funded hours? See early years funding 2026 to 2027 and the funded hours calculator.

Sources

• The early years and childcare registers, Ofsted, 22 October 2026
• Childcare registration exemptions, Ofsted, 22 October 2026
• Registration fees for childminders, nannies and other childcare providers, Ofsted, 22 October 2026
• Childcare and the law, Ofsted’s register-with-Ofsted guidance, updated 24 September 2026

More guides: all our guides for nurseries, childminders and schools.