This article is brought to you by Slough Borough Council, on behalf of The Department for Education, for the attention of Childminders.
Registering a childminder assistant: what you need to know
Childminders and childminder assistants play a vital role in childcare. At the end of 2025 there were nearly 25,000 childminders in England, with the vast majority providing education and care for early years children. Of these, 41% have an assistant listed on their registration – including the current longest-serving childminder, who has been in the role since the 1970s!
As a childminder, employing an assistant can enable you to expand your provision, take on more children, and help create more government-funded early years places for children. In this blog, we explain the process of registering a childminder assistant.
Between April 2024 and March 2025, we made 1,533 assistants suitable – which means they were cleared to start work as a childminder assistant within the staff-to-child ratios.
Assistants must be deemed suitable by Ofsted before being counted in ratios or being left in sole care of children. Once approved, assistants can support childminders by caring for children, for example while the childminder does school pick-ups and drop offs or attends appointments. Childminders and assistants have distinct roles and childminders are responsible for the work of assistants.
We understand that assistants play a vital role in childcare and give childminders much-needed flexibility. We want to ensure that, when you do apply to register a childminder assistant, we are able to review and process your application quickly and fairly.
To read more: Registering a childminder assistant: what you need to know – Ofsted: early years