Official Statistics

Childcare providers and inspections as at 31 December 2017: main findings

Updated 26 August 2021

This release contains:

• the number of Ofsted registered childcare providers and places, and their most recent inspections and outcomes on 31 December 2017

• the number of providers that have registered with Ofsted (joiners) and the number of providers that have left (leavers) between 31 August 2017 and 31 December 2017

The number of childminders registered with Ofsted has continued to decrease.

There were 42,300 childminders registered with Ofsted on 31 December 2017. This was down by 500 (1%) since 31 August 2017, and by 15,100 (26%) since 31 August 2012.

The number of non-domestic providers has increased slightly.

There were 27,100 childcare providers on non-domestic premises on 31 December 2017. There were more non-domestic joiners than leavers between 31 August and 31 December 2017.

More than 9 in 10 providers on the Early Years Register were judged to be good or outstanding.

The proportion of childcare providers on the Early Years Register judged to be good or outstanding was 94%. This has been consistent since 31 August 2017, but represents an increase of 20 percentage points since 31 August 2012.

The proportion of childminders judged to be good or outstanding is nearing that of non-domestic providers.

On 31 December 2017, 93% of childminders were judged good or outstanding compared with 95% of non-domestic providers. This gap has narrowed by one percentage point since 31 August 2017.

Figure 1: Overall effectiveness of active early years registered providers at their most recent inspection over time

1. Introduction

The early years and childcare sector is primarily made up of private nurseries, pre-schools and childminders. These are categorised into 4 provider types:

Type of provider	Description
Childcare on non-domestic premises	Nurseries, pre-schools, holiday clubs and other private provision on business premises, usually registered on the Early Years Register because they look after children aged 0 to 5.
Childminders	People who are paid to look after one or more children they are not related to in someone’s home. The majority are registered on the Early Years Register because they look after children aged 0 to 5, but those who look after 5 to 7 year olds need to register on the Childcare Register.
Childcare on domestic premises	Where 4 or more people look after children together in someone’s home. The majority are registered on the EYR and some are registered on the Childcare Register, depending on the age of the children they look after.
Home childcarers	Nannies who care for children aged 0 to 18 wholly or mainly in the child’s own home. They are not required to register with Ofsted but may choose to do so on the Voluntary Childcare Register.

Childcare on non-domestic premises and childminders make up the majority of early years provision registered with Ofsted. Further information about provider types is available in the glossary.

Childcare in early years also occurs in the schools sector. This is discussed in the Early years provision in the schools sector section of this document.

2. Number of providers

2.1 Changes in provider numbers, by provider type

There were 80,500 childcare providers registered with Ofsted on 31 December 2017. This figure has remained broadly consistent since 31 August 2017, and down 16% since 31 August 2012 when there were 96,200 providers ^{[footnote 1]}.

Childminders

42,300 providers on 31 December 2017, down 500 since 31 August 2017. This continues a downward trend, with 26% fewer providers than at 31 August 2012.

Childcare on non-domestic premises

27,100 providers on 31 December 2017, up 100 since 31 August 2017. Numbers are fairly stable over time, having decreased by just 3% since 31 August 2012.

Home childcarers

10,800 providers on 31 December 2017, an increase of 200 since 31 August 2017. Numbers are fairly stable over time and at a similar level to those seen on 31 August 2012.

Childcare on domestic premises

These are not included in Figure 2 as there is only a very small number registered with Ofsted (200 on 31 December 2017).

2.2 Factors influencing changes in provider numbers

Overall, childcare provider numbers have decreased steadily since August 2012. This has been driven by a large decrease in childminders, a small decrease in non-domestic providers, and no notable change in the number of home childcarers (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Total number of childcare providers registered with Ofsted on any register over time, by provider type

The decline in the number of childminders is driven by more providers leaving than joining the childcare sector. For example, 1,900 childminders left the sector in August to December 2017 and 1,400 joined – a net decrease of 500. However, provider numbers have decreased at a slightly slower rate since December 2016.

The number of providers on non-domestic premises has remained relatively stable since 31 August 2017, with a slightly larger number of providers joining than leaving the sector in August to December 2017. Following a legislative change, schools have been exempt from registration on the Early Years Register since May 2015, if they looked after children aged 2 or over. This means that many schools providing childcare for 2 year olds are not on our Early Years Register and may have contributed to the overall 4% decrease in childcare on non-domestic premises since March 2015.

3. Number of places

3.1 Registers and places

On 31 December 2017, 81% of Ofsted registered childcare providers were on the Early Years Register (EYR). The remaining 19% were not on the EYR, and so only appeared on the voluntary (VCR) and/or compulsory (CCR) parts of the Childcare Register. More information about the different register types is available in the glossary.

Childcare places data refers to all places offered by providers on the EYR for children aged under 8 years old. Most providers on the EYR are also registered on the Childcare Register (CR) because they look after children up to the age of 8 years old. Therefore, the number of places in the early years age range (0 to 5 year olds) is likely to be lower.

While the majority of providers on the EYR have places information recorded, for some providers we have calculated estimates. For more information on the estimation process, see Number of places in the glossary.

For non-domestic providers, their number of places reflects the number of children they intend to provide childcare for at any one time. Providers have no maximum limit on the number of places they can offer, as long as they have a suitable ratio of staff to children.

For childminders, the maximum number of places that they can offer if they do not have any assistants is 6. All childminders are recorded as offering 6 places at registration. This is updated at inspection. On 31 December 2017, 71% of childminders on the EYR were registered as offering six places. The total number of childminder places available may be lower.

In summary, it is likely that the data for non-domestic providers is more representative of the number of places they provide in practice than it is for childminders.

3.2 Providers and places

Looking at the number of childcare places by provider type^{[footnote 1] [footnote 2]}, on 31 December 2017:

Childcare on non-domestic premises

Offered 80% (1.0 million) of all childcare places, which is an increase of 2 percentage points since August 2012.

Childminders

Offered 20% (253,500) of all places, a decrease of 2 percentage points since August 2012.

Childcare on domestic premises

Offered less than 1% (4,700) of places.

Despite decreasing numbers of childminders, the number of childcare places has remained broadly stable since August 2012 (Figure 3). While childminder places decreased slightly between August and December 2017, there was a larger increase in the number of places offered by childcare on non-domestic premises, which resulted in an overall increase of almost 1,600 places. On 31 December 2017, there are currently 1.3 million childcare places offered by providers on the EYR.

Figure 3: Childcare places on the Early Years Register over time, by provider type

Childminder provider numbers have decreased by 26% since 31 August 2012, but the number of places offered by childminders has only decreased by 11%. This means that each individual childminder is, on average, offering a higher number of places – even though there are fewer childminders and fewer places on offer overall.

On 31 August 2012, the average number of places offered by childminders on the Early Years Register was 5.1, whereas on 31 December 2017, the average was 6.3. However, for reasons outlined earlier in this section, the majority of childminders are registered as offering 6 places. This average takes into account childminders with assistants, who are permitted to offer more than 6 places.

3.3 Introduction of 30 hours free childcare

Since 1 September 2017, working parents of 3 and 4 year olds in England have been eligible for 30 hours of free childcare. There were an estimated 202,800 children in a 30 hours place in the autumn term, representing 90% of all eligibility codes issued to parents for that term.

This may have contributed to the slight rise in the number of Early Years Register places in childcare on non-domestic premises.

4. Inspections and outcomes

New providers joining the Early Years Register (EYR) are normally inspected within 30 months of registration. The Being inspected as a childminder or childcare provider guidance provides more information about inspection. On 31 December 2017, 80% of the 65,000 providers on the EYR had been inspected, with the remaining 20% yet to be inspected.

4.1 Proportion of providers on the EYR judged good or outstanding

On 31 December 2017, 94% of childcare providers on the Early Years Register were judged to be good or outstanding. This was in line with 31 August 2017, and a substantial increase from 31 August 2012 when the proportion was 74%. This increase can be attributed to a steady rise in the proportion of providers judged good, with only a small increase in the proportion of providers judged outstanding (Figure 1).

Looking at the 2 main provider types on 31 December 2017 (Figure 4) ^{[footnote 2]}:

Childcare on non-domestic premises

95% were judged to be good or outstanding at their most recent inspection, the same proportion as the end of August 2017. This was made up of 74% of childcare on non-domestic premises judged good and 22% judged outstanding.

Childminders

93% were judged good or outstanding, unchanged since the end of August 2017. This was made up of 78% of childminders judged good and 16% judged outstanding.

Figure 4: Percentage of childminders and non-domestic providers judged good or outstanding at their most recent full inspection over time

4.2 Changes in the proportion of childminders judged good or outstanding

Since the beginning of August 2016, Ofsted has prioritised inspections for childminders who had been previously judged requires improvement (RI) or inadequate.

On 31 December 2017, 89% of childminders, who had previously received a judgement of RI or inadequate, improved to good or outstanding. This improvement has a double effect: as the number of good or outstanding childminders increases, the number of RI or inadequate childminders decreases.

Other factors that have influenced this upward trend in the longer term are:

• providers are more likely to be judged good or outstanding at their first inspection than they were in August 2012

• providers leaving the sector are more likely to have had inspection judgements of RI or inadequate than those that remain

4.3 Changes in the proportion of childcare on non-domestic premises judged good or outstanding

Over time, the proportion of childcare on non-domestic premises judged good or outstanding has seen a steady increase. Part of this increase can be attributed to a change in the childcare inspection policy. Since November 2013, all childcare on non-domestic premises judged requires improvement must be re-inspected within 12 months. This means that non-domestic providers have had more opportunity to demonstrate improvement than they did previously.

4.4 Regional inspections and outcomes

All 9 regions in England have experienced a rise in the proportion of providers judged good or outstanding over time.

On 31 December 2017, all regions had fairly similar proportions of providers judged good or outstanding. The North West has the highest proportion (96%) and London the lowest (91%).

On a national level, 95% of non-domestic providers were judged good or outstanding compared with 93% of childminders – a gap of 2 percentage points, compared with 3 percentage points seen on 31 August 2017^{[footnote 2]}. This indicates that the gap is narrowing.

Across the regions, this gap ranged from one percentage point in the South West to 3 percentage points in London (Table 1).

The proportion of childminders judged good or outstanding drives regional differences in the gap between the proportion of childminders and non-domestic premises judged good or outstanding.

In the South West, the gap between childminders and childcare on non-domestic premises was only one percentage point, and 95% of childminders were judged good or outstanding. Conversely, in London the larger gap of 3 percentage points was due to a lower than average proportion of childminders judged good or outstanding, at 90%.

Table 1: Percentage of providers judged good or outstanding (childminders and non-domestic providers), by region, on 31 December 2017

Region	Childcare on non-domestic premises (%)	Childminder (%)
England	95	93
North West	95	92
North East	97	95
Yorkshire and The Humber	96	94
East Midlands	95	93
West Midlands	95	93
East of England	95	94
London	93	90
South East	96	95
South West	96	95

Additional information on local authorities and parliamentary constituencies can be found in the provider level data file which accompanies this release.

5. Childminder agencies

Childminder agencies were introduced in September 2014, enabling new childminders to choose to register with Ofsted directly or register with an agency. Existing childminders could also choose to deregister with Ofsted and register instead with a childminder agency. Childminder agencies have the responsibility of inspecting the childminders who are registered with them, with Ofsted inspecting the childminder agencies.

Childminder agencies are only eligible for inspection when they have childminders on roll and there are only 2 overall effectiveness inspection outcomes: ‘Effective’ and ‘Ineffective’. On 31 December 2017, 11 childminder agencies were registered with Ofsted. Of these, 6 had childminders on roll and were therefore eligible for inspection. Four childminder agencies have been inspected to date and all have been judged ‘Effective’.

Data for childminder agencies is available from the provider level data file which accompanies this release.

6. Early years provision in the schools sector

Childcare in early years also occurs in the schools sector. This takes place in maintained nursery schools (state-run nurseries), and early years provision within maintained schools and academies.

On 31 December 2017, there were 400 maintained nursery schools in England. Of these, 398 had been inspected and 98% received a grade of good or outstanding at their most recent inspection.

In maintained schools and academies, early years provision is given its own judgement as part of the overall inspection of the school. Of all early years provision inspected in maintained schools and academies, 90% were judged good or outstanding on 31 December 2017 – unchanged since 31 August 2017.

Please note that the 90% is based on those schools that had an early years judgement at their most recent inspection. Ofsted did not provide separate graded judgements on the overall effectiveness of early years between January 2012 and August 2014. If the most recent inspection of the school was a short inspection that confirmed the school was still good or outstanding overall, a separate judgement for early years was not provided.

For more information on school inspections and outcomes, please refer to Ofsted’s official statistics on maintained schools and academies inspections and outcomes.

Many independent schools also provide nursery provision. The most recent published data on non-association independent schools relates to the sector on 31 December 2017.

For more information, please see our management information release on non-association independent schools.

Please note that Ofsted only inspect non-association independent schools. Association independent schools are inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) or the School Inspection Service (SIS).

7. Notes

An explanation about main uses of this data, further contextual information and the arrangements for quality assurance is provided in the methodology and quality report which accompanies this release.

The methodology and quality report also provides information on the strengths and limitations of the statistics.

7.1 Revisions to previous release

The provisional data in the previous release related to inspections which took place between 1 April 2017 and 31 August 2017 and were published by 30 September 2017. A revised list of inspections in this period is provided in Tables 14 to 19 of the Childcare providers and inspections charts and tables document for this release. This revised data includes 8 inspections that were published by 31 January 2018 (that were not published by 30 September 2017).

These revisions did not result in any changes to the main findings identified in the previous publication.

Revisions to data in this publication are published in line with Ofsted’s revisions policy for official statistics.

7.2 Common Inspection Framework (CIF)

Inspections from 1 September 2015 were carried out under the Common Inspection Framework (CIF), meaning that the inspection judgements are common across the Early Years, Schools and Further Education and Skills remits. Ofsted evaluates the overall quality and standards of the early years provision in line with the principles and requirements of the early years foundation stage. Inspectors judge the overall effectiveness of the early years provision, taking into account 4 judgements:

• quality of teaching, learning and assessment
• personal development, behaviour and welfare
• effectiveness of leadership and management
• outcomes for children

Ofsted is required to inspect all providers who were on the Early Years Register (EYR) on 1 August 2016 at least once by 31 July 2020. Providers who have registered after this date will normally be inspected within 30 months of registration.

8. Glossary

Under the Childcare Act 2006 childcare providers register on either or both of 2 registers:

Early Years Register (EYR)

The EYR is for providers who care for children in the early years age group, from birth to 31 August following their fifth birthday. Registration is compulsory for such providers and they must meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage (EYFS).

All providers on the EYR are inspected on a 4 year cycle. The last inspection cycle ran from 1 September 2012 through to 31 July 2016. The current inspection cycle runs from 1 August 2016 through to 31 July 2020.

Childcare Register (CR)

The CR is for providers who care for children from birth to 18 years. It has 2 parts:

• Compulsory Childcare Register (CCR) – for providers caring for children from 1 September after the child’s fifth birthday up until their eighth birthday

• Voluntary Childcare Register (VCR) – for providers for whom registration is not compulsory, for example nannies, or providers who care for children aged 8 and over

Providers who are registered on either part of the Childcare Register do not need to submit their places information to Ofsted.

For providers registered on the Childcare Register, Ofsted inspects a sample of 10% of active providers per year.

Venn diagram showing the Ofsted registers for childcare providers

Early years foundation stage (EYFS)

The EYFS is the statutory framework for the early education and care of children from birth to 31 August following their fifth birthday.

Childcare providers

Childcare providers care for at least one individual child for a total of more than 2 hours in any one day. This is not necessarily a continuous period of time. They must register on the CCR to care for children under the age of 8, although there may be some exceptions to this. They can register on the VCR to care for older children.

Domestic premises

These are any premises which are wholly or mainly used as a private dwelling, i.e. someone’s home.

Childcare providers on domestic and non-domestic premises

If 4 or more people look after children at any one time in someone’s home, they are providing childcare on domestic premises, not childminding. Childcare providers on non-domestic premises are people or organisations providing care for individual children in premises that are not someone’s home. These premises can range from converted houses to purpose-built nurseries.

Childminder

This is a person who is registered to look after one or more children, to whom they are not related, for reward. Childminders work on domestic premises alongside no more than 2 other childminders or assistants. They must register if they care for children under the age of 8, and can choose to register if they care for older children. They care for:

• children on domestic premises that are not usually the home of one of the children unless they care for children from more than 2 families, wholly or mainly in the homes of the families

• at least one individual child for a total of more than 2 hours in any day (not necessarily a continuous period of time)

Childminder agencies

Childminder agencies were introduced in September 2014 as an option for childminders to register with. Childminders who register with an agency no longer need to register or be inspected by Ofsted, although the agency itself will receive an inspection.

Childminder agencies are only eligible for inspection by Ofsted when they have childminders on roll. Childminder agencies have the responsibility of inspecting the childminders who are registered with them.

Home childcarers

Home childcarers are usually nannies who care for children of any age up to their 18th birthday wholly or mainly in the child’s own home, and care for children from no more than 2 families. They are not required to register with Ofsted but may choose to do so on the voluntary part of the Childcare Register.

Inspection cycles

All providers on the Early Years Register which were registered before the start of Ofsted’s 4 year inspection cycle are inspected within the cycle. The previous inspection cycle ran from 1 September 2012 to 31 July 2016. The current inspection cycle runs from 1 August 2016 to 31 July 2020. New providers joining the EYR are normally inspected within 30 months of registration. For providers on the CCR, a sample of 10% of active providers are inspected per year.

No Children on Roll (NCOR)

If there are no children present on the day of the provider’s inspection, they receive an NCOR inspection. The inspector will make a judgement on the ‘Overall quality and standards of the early years provision’, with 3 possible outcomes:

• met
• not met – actions
• not met – enforcement action

Number of places

Registered places are the number of children that may attend the provision at any one time. Registered places are not the number of places occupied, nor the number of children who may benefit from receiving places through providers offering sessions at different times of the day. Place numbers are only collected for providers on the EYR. Provider type averages are used to estimate the number of places for a very small number of providers whose place numbers are not available at the time of the analysis. There may also be small discrepancies in totals due to rounding.

Joiners and leavers

Joiners are childcare providers that have registered with Ofsted during this reporting period. Most of these are new registrations, but Tables 3 and 4 and Chart 1 within the Childcare providers and inspections charts and tables document also include providers with re-activated registrations and those that have changed provider type or register. At local authority or regional level, this may also include providers that have relocated into a new geographical area.

Leavers are mostly childcare providers that have left Ofsted during the reporting period. Most of these are resignations, but some are also providers that have had their registration cancelled or have changed provider type or register. At local authority or regional level, this may also include providers that have relocated out of a geographical area.

9. Further information

Ofsted publishes the following information on the inspection of early years providers:

• Early years and childcare statistics

• Common inspection framework: education, skills and early years from September 2015

• Regulation of services on the Childcare Register

9.1 Contact for comments or feedback

If you have any comments or feedback on this publication, please contact Anita Patel on 03000 130 914 or [email protected].

9.2 Acknowledgements

Thanks to the following for their contribution to this statistical release: Louis Noble, Tristan Browne, Helen Woodley, Lucy Conway, Jade Price-Stephens.

1. Numbers of less than one million are rounded to the nearest hundred. Numbers of more than one million are rounded to the nearest 100,000. ↩ ↩²

2. Percentages do not sum to 100 due to rounding. ↩ ↩² ↩³