Tax and Expenses for Registered Childminders in the UK 2026/27
How registered childminders handle Self Assessment, simplified use-of-home expenses, food and toy costs, and Tax-Free Childcare interaction for the 2026/27 tax year.
Are Registered Childminders Self-Employed?
Registered childminders who care for children in their own home, whether working independently or affiliated with a childminding agency, are almost always self-employed for tax purposes. This means they set their own fees, choose their own hours, take on the financial risk of running a small business, and are responsible for their own Income Tax and National Insurance -- rather than being paid a wage through PAYE by the parents or an agency.
Being self-employed brings tax reporting obligations, but also the ability to deduct legitimate business expenses from income before tax is calculated, which is where the specific childminder rules become valuable.
Registering With HMRC and Your Regulator
Two separate registrations are required to legally operate as a childminder in England:
- Regulatory registration with Ofsted (or the Early Years Register/Childcare Register), which is a legal requirement before you can care for children professionally, and confirms you meet safeguarding, first aid, and premises standards.
- Tax registration with HMRC for Self Assessment, required once you start trading as self-employed, normally by 5 October following the end of the tax year in which you started.
Equivalent childcare regulators apply in Scotland (Care Inspectorate), Wales (Care Inspectorate Wales) and Northern Ireland (Health and Social Care Trusts), but the HMRC Self Assessment registration process is the same across the UK.
Simplified Expenses for Using Your Home
Because childminders run their business from their own home, HMRC has published specific simplified flat rates just for childminders, recognising that a large share of the home is given over to childminding activity during working hours. Rather than working out an exact percentage of heating, electricity, water rates, council tax, rent or mortgage interest, buildings insurance and general household running costs, childminders can apply HMRC's published percentage guidance based on the number of children cared for and the rooms used, simplifying what would otherwise be a complex apportionment exercise.
Alternatively, childminders can calculate an exact business-use percentage of home costs based on the rooms used and the hours the business operates, if this produces a more favourable and equally defensible figure. Most childminders find the simplified approach both accurate enough and far less time-consuming.
Food, Toys and Equipment
Costs directly related to caring for minded children are allowable business expenses, including:
- Food and drink provided to children during the day
- Toys, books, arts and craft supplies
- Nappies, wipes and other consumables (where not reimbursed separately by parents)
- Equipment such as highchairs, travel cots, buggies, car seats and safety gates
- Outdoor play equipment and garden safety items
Where an item is used partly for the childminder's own family (for example, a garden trampoline also used by the childminder's own children), only the fair business-use proportion should be claimed.
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Estimate your childminding take-home profitMileage and Travel
Childminders regularly drive children to and from school, nursery, holiday clubs, and outings such as soft play centres, parks, and libraries. This mileage is claimable using the standard simplified mileage rates of 45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles in the tax year and 25p per mile after that, provided the childminder uses their own vehicle. As with any self-employed mileage claim, choosing the mileage rate method means fuel, insurance and servicing cannot also be claimed separately for that vehicle.
Training, Registration and Insurance Costs
Ongoing professional costs are generally fully allowable, including:
- Ofsted or regulator registration and renewal fees
- Enhanced DBS check costs
- Mandatory paediatric first aid certification and renewal
- Safeguarding and other required training courses
- Public liability insurance (essential for anyone caring for other people's children)
- Membership fees for professional bodies such as the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY)
Tax-Free Childcare and Fee Payments
Many parents fund childminding fees through the government's Tax-Free Childcare scheme, where for every 80p a parent pays in, the government adds 20p, up to a maximum government contribution of £2,000 per child per year (£4,000 for a disabled child). For this to work, the childminder must be signed up to receive payments through the Tax-Free Childcare online system, using their unique reference number from their regulator. Fees received via Tax-Free Childcare are ordinary trading income to the childminder in the same way as fees paid directly by bank transfer or cash.
Childminding services are exempt from VAT under the welfare exemption for registered childcare, so there is no VAT to charge parents regardless of turnover level, and few if any individual childminders would approach the £90,000 VAT registration threshold in any case.
National Insurance
As self-employed traders, childminders pay Class 4 National Insurance on profits between the lower profits limit and upper profits limit at 6%, and 2% above the upper profits limit. Class 2 National Insurance has largely been abolished as a compulsory charge from April 2024, with those earning above the small profits threshold receiving an automatic National Insurance credit; those below the threshold can still choose to pay Class 2 voluntarily to protect their state pension record.
Sources
- HMRC: Childminders: expenses and simplified expenses
- gov.uk: Become a registered childminder
- gov.uk: Tax-Free Childcare
- gov.uk: Register for Self Assessment
Frequently asked questions
Do registered childminders need to be self-employed?
Most registered childminders work as self-employed sole traders running their own small business from home, rather than being employed by parents or an agency. Some work through a childminding agency, but even then they are typically self-employed rather than an employee of the agency.
How do childminders register for tax purposes?
Once you start trading, you must register as self-employed with HMRC for Self Assessment, normally by 5 October following the end of the tax year in which you started childminding. This is separate from registering with Ofsted (in England) or the relevant childcare regulator elsewhere in the UK, which is a legal requirement to operate at all.
What are simplified expenses for using your home as a childminder?
HMRC publishes specific flat rates for childminders to claim a proportion of household running costs (heating, electricity, water, council tax, mortgage interest or rent, insurance) without detailed calculations, based on the percentage of your home used for childminding and the hours you work. These are different from the general simplified expenses flat rates used by other self-employed people working from home.
Can childminders claim food and toys as expenses?
Yes. Reasonable costs of food and drink provided to minded children, toys, books, arts and craft materials, and equipment such as highchairs, cots and buggies used for the childminding business are allowable expenses, provided they are wholly and exclusively (or apportioned fairly) for the business.
Do childminders charge VAT on their fees?
Registered childminding services provided to parents are exempt from VAT under welfare exemptions, and in any case few individual childminders approach the £90,000 VAT registration threshold, so VAT is rarely relevant to childminder income.
Can childminders claim mileage for the school run and outings?
Yes. Mileage for driving minded children to school, nursery, clubs, and outings such as soft play or the park can be claimed using the standard mileage rates of 45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p per mile thereafter, where the childminder uses their own car.
How does Tax-Free Childcare work with a registered childminder?
Parents using a registered (Ofsted-registered or equivalent) childminder can pay fees using their Tax-Free Childcare account, where the government tops up parental contributions by 20p for every 80p paid, up to £2,000 per child per year (£4,000 for a disabled child). The childminder must be signed up to receive payments through the Tax-Free Childcare system.
Do childminders pay Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance?
Childminders pay National Insurance as self-employed traders. Class 2 has largely been abolished as a compulsory charge from April 2024 (with an automatic credit for profits above the small profits threshold), while Class 4 applies at 6% on profits between the lower and upper profits limits and 2% above, in the same way as other self-employed trades.
Can a childminder claim a proportion of their car insurance and household bills?
Yes, on an apportioned basis. Where a cost such as car insurance, broadband, or a mobile phone is used for both personal and business purposes, only the business-use proportion is an allowable expense, calculated on a fair and reasonable basis such as hours used or mileage split.
What training and registration costs can childminders claim?
Ofsted or regulator registration fees, DBS check costs, mandatory paediatric first aid training, safeguarding courses, public liability insurance, and membership of a professional childminding association are all allowable business expenses.
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