This means care that children might receive from a person or setting that is not registered with Ofsted.
This could be:
- an individual or group only caring for children aged 8 and over;
- an individual who cares for a child or children in the child's home e.g. a nanny or au pair;
- a group where no individual child ever stays longer than 2 hours during a day even if the childcare service is open for longer than 2 hours e.g. a shopper's crèche;
- a relative who cares for a child or children under the age of 8;
- an individual who cares for children under 8 years without receiving any payment or reward;
- a babysitter who only provides care between 6:00pm - 2:00am;
- an open access scheme which allows children over the age of 5 to leave the provision unaccompanied;
- a breakfast club which meets for less than 2 hours;
- a school, either maintained or independent, that provides education or care for children aged 3 or over.
Whilst there are advantages to many families to use unregistered care, parents need to be aware that no claim for the childcare element of Working Tax Credit can be awarded if you use unregistered care. Also it is illegal for anybody (apart from the exceptions listed above) to care for children under 8 for more than 2 hours a day for reward – either money or gift – if they are not registered.
