As a childminder, the EYFS sets out the ratios you must adhere to
As a childminder, the EYFS sets out the ratios you must adhere to
No more than six children under the age of 8, of these no more than three should be young children (a child is considered a young child until the 1st of September following their 5th birthday) and of these young children, no more than one must be under 1.
The exact same ratio standards apply to any of your staff (assistants)
You should not go over six children under 8 years old in total, and if you would like to increase these overall numbers, it might be worth considering working with an assistant or another childminder. In the meantime, if you would like to take on four young children, or two under 1s, and feel confident in demonstrating how you will manage with an increased number of children, you can apply to vary the conditions of your registration through a Ratio Variation Application form, following the process below.
Starting an Application Form
Three Easy Steps ...
Start a 'chat with tiney' through the messenger function in your app
Select the options 'Running my setting' ⇾ 'Ratios'
Let us know that you would like to apply for a ratio variation (click the video button below for a run through of these steps)
In this Application form ...
You will need to demonstrate that you can adequately meet the needs of all children in your care, whilst being over your usual numbers of children.
The application will ask the following questions:
Why are you requesting a ratio change?
What are the dates and times that you would be over ratio?
What are the ages of all of the children that would be present?
How will you meet the needs of all of these children?
You will also need to provide two documents:
An updated Risk Assessment, which takes into consideration the risks of taking on additional children over your usual ratios.
An Emergency Evacuation Plan, which shows you have considered the additional child(ren) in your evacuation procedure (fire risk assessment).
Please add thorough detail on how you would ensure children are kept safe, with their needs met, access to outdoor play, sufficient equipment and feeding, sleeping and transporting resources.
Useful questions to ask yourself include, but are not limited to
Useful questions to ask yourself include, but are not limited to
Do I have enough indoor space, furniture and equipment?
How will I ensure each child reaches their potential in my tiney home?
How will I organise the day so that all children benefit from my time?
How will I manage outings, whether it’s a regular local trip or further afield?
Please Note:
You would need to ensure you have the appropriate space for the additional children, as per the EYFS space requirements.
It is also important to note that not all applications to vary registrations are successful and that you should not request a contract with a parent until your variation has been agreed in writing. Going over ratio without prior agreement even for short periods of time in a day would mean you were in breach of the terms of your registration.
FAQs
FAQs
How long will my application take to be reviewed?
If your variation request is approved, this will be confirmed in writing to you and added as a new condition of your registration through the app. We will endeavour to do this within three working days of receipt of an application.
This might be delayed when referred to the Safeguarding Team for further advice and we will always let you know when this is the case. Please note that if you are on a Support Plan grading your application will automatically be referred to the Safeguarding Team. Otherwise, the Customer Success Team review these.
What if I only need a variation for one day?
Let us know! We will still require an application, but do make this clear as this will help with the review, as permanent variations will be considered differently
What if my application is rejected?
If the variation request is not approved, we will give feedback about our decision and confirm this application outcome in writing to you.
Can I appeal this decision?
You can respond to the outcome received, to query this and request some further clarity around the decision and the Safeguarding Team's stance on ratios. Once a decision has been made, we cannot guarantee that this will be changed and often unlikely, however we can refer your appeal to the Safeguarding Team.
Scenarios
Scenarios
This would not be approved in any case:
Four or more children that are 1 year olds or younger (four children under 24 months)
Five or more children 4 years old or younger (five children under 48 months)
This would be less likely:
Three children 1 years old or younger, and an additional child is 2-3 years old
Anytime a childminder is also varying an assistants ratio over the EYFS standards as well as their own, we would expect assistants to stay within EYFS ratio but this can be reviewed on a case by case basis
Five young children would only be considered if one or more of the children are 4 years old or older and of school age.
EMERGENCY VARIATIONS
If you need a ratio variation today or tomorrow, please call +44 20 4525 7381