Guidance about unregistered childcare

Childcare registered with Ofsted includes statutory safeguards to ensure providers are:

• qualified and experienced
• suitably checked to work with children through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)
• properly insured

Unregistered childcare does not include these safeguards. Instead, parents are responsible for checking an unregistered provider’s qualifications, experience and suitability to work with children.

For more information about DBS checks, visit the Government website.

Types of unregistered childcare

• Nannies
  • Nannies are employed by parents to care for children in the family home
  • Parents are responsible for employer obligations, such as insurance and PAYE
  • While many nannies are qualified and experienced, there is no requirement for them to hold relevant qualifications
  • If using a nanny agency, parents should ask about the agency’s vetting process for staff suitability
  • Some nannies register voluntarily with Ofsted as home childcarers and are listed on the voluntary childcare register

• Au pairs
  • Au pairs are typically from overseas and live with a family, providing childcare (and sometimes housework) in exchange for pay

• Babysitters
  • Babysitters care for children in the family home, often to allow parents time for leisure or to bridge gaps in childcare arrangements
  • Babysitters are often friends or neighbours who are well-known to the family
  • Legal responsibility
    • Parents remain legally responsible for their children when left with a babysitter under the age of 16