New child care business help needed

[Rav]

Im interested in starting up a child care business and have seen some premisis available. The local area is in need of day care for children as the only other available places are full.

Where do i start?

Any help is appreciated.

[NewNameNeeded]

am not in the line of work and you don't mention scale of your work but off the top of my head...

- you/your staff would need to be suitably qualified to look after children if you are running this business in any official capacity (believe local council checks you out)
- premises may also need to be vetted to be deemed suitable
- insurance? Would imagine it could be extremely costly if you've 20 little toddlers running around...
- staff - likely long days (drop off for parents before the go to work, pick up after work) so do you need to organise staff on a rota (early shift / late shift) ... could mean more staff than you originally considered
- equipment - presume you need to buy lots of toys, art stuff, etc,etc. Not cheap. Soon adds up. No doubt high turnover rate for toys, etc
- cost - check out local competition, how much can you charge?

[Eric Mc]

Local Council checks

CRB checks

Building checks and licences

Insurances

[Chrisgr31]

Are you buying or renting?

You need to check the legislation as to what ratio of staff to children is needed and that changes dependent on the age of the children.

Also need to look at the help the government give as they do now give parents help with nursery care although limit how much they pay.

Staff is going to be a big issue. Parents are paying child care costs in the main out of taxed income. Its expensive to provide child care due to premises costs, staff ratios etc, so as a result salaries are low.

[Plotloss]

Do you mean a Private Nursery?

Good little money spinner if you can make it work, reputation is EVERYTHING.

ETA: Personally, I'd start with insurance quotes.

Edited by Plotloss on Wednesday 23 April 09:51

[Rav]

Thanks for the replies, a few things i didnt consider.

Yep, thats the one, private nursery.

With the economy going the way it is, these are going to be nice little earners with all parents having to work.

[Eric Mc]

Don't bank on it.

Nurseries have taken off to some extent because the current government is hell bent on getting women with children into the workforce.

Any economic decisions which rely on underlying government policies are prone to sudden and abrupt collapse if and when the government of the day changes its mind - which they are very prone to doing.

[Plotloss]

Added to which the private in home childcare route (traditional nannys, mother's helps etc) now falls under the childcare voucher scheme allowing parents to pay their childcare gross so the market isnt as big as it once was.

[mcflurry]

Rav said:

With the economy going the way it is, these are going to be nice little earners with all parents having to work.

I would disagree. The minimum wage is about £6 an hour, and you now pay 20% tax on it. Assuming 8 hours at work that is £48 gross. Take off tax, NI and fares and for many people it's not worth working and paying £35 a day (going rate) for childcare.

[Piglet]

mcflurry said:

Rav said:

With the economy going the way it is, these are going to be nice little earners with all parents having to work.

I would disagree. The minimum wage is about £6 an hour, and you now pay 20% tax on it. Assuming 8 hours at work that is £48 gross. Take off tax, NI and fares and for many people it's not worth working and paying £35 a day (going rate) for childcare.

I'd also disagree, with the economy the way it is you're more likely to see an unemployed parent staying home to look after children rather than stacking shelves and paying for childcare.

[singlecoil]

Piglet said:

mcflurry said:

Rav said:

With the economy going the way it is, these are going to be nice little earners with all parents having to work.

I would disagree. The minimum wage is about £6 an hour, and you now pay 20% tax on it. Assuming 8 hours at work that is £48 gross. Take off tax, NI and fares and for many people it's not worth working and paying £35 a day (going rate) for childcare.

I'd also disagree, with the economy the way it is you're more likely to see an unemployed parent staying home to look after children rather than stacking shelves and paying for childcare.

I should think most of the people paying for nursery places are earning more than shelf stackers' wages

[Chim Girl]

I'm currently doing some consultancy work for a business with 3 nurseries. My initial observations are that the Ofsted requirements for private nurseries are, on the whole, onerous and expensive to administer. For example, Ofsted stipulate the maximum capacity for the nursery, the staff to child ratio. They also specify what kind of facilities children need, such as all-day access to outdoor play, toilets that are separate and specific to each age group (0 to 2yrs, 2 to 3yrs, 3 to 5yrs). It isn't just a matter of finding premises, they have to be deemed as 'suitable' for the provision of Early Years Education.

The client I am working with has been established 19 years, at present they have the lowest attendance level ever experienced, despite being the only nursery in the local area. I should point out that they are based in an 'urban regeneration', area so affordability plays a huge part. Their client base has reduced significantly over the last 3 years; schools take children after their 3rd birthday, childminders now qualify for the childcare allowance paid by the government, and for many, the financial benefits of working are lost due to the cost of childcare.

You may find this Ofsted link useful, it outlines the requirements for fulltime, sessional and after school care.

Finally, and it is just a 'heads-up', all nurseries will need to have Early Years Professional status by 2015, meaning you have to employ someone with post-gradute level certification in Early Years Management, which is the equivalent of a teaching degree.

Hope some of this was useful. Good luck.

[Rav]

Thanks ChimGirl.

The premisis i have seen is a purpose built place that was used by one of the countries leading child care companies.
They closed up as another place started trading nearby.

I would love to provide childcare that i as a parent would be happy for my children to goto.

[Piglet]

singlecoil said:

Piglet said:

mcflurry said:

Rav said:

With the economy going the way it is, these are going to be nice little earners with all parents having to work.

I would disagree. The minimum wage is about £6 an hour, and you now pay 20% tax on it. Assuming 8 hours at work that is £48 gross. Take off tax, NI and fares and for many people it's not worth working and paying £35 a day (going rate) for childcare.

I'd also disagree, with the economy the way it is you're more likely to see an unemployed parent staying home to look after children rather than stacking shelves and paying for childcare.

I should think most of the people paying for nursery places are earning more than shelf stackers' wages

Yes that's exactly my point...if a parent is made redundant from a well paid job (and I'm seeing people going in my industry) and can only replace that job with one at a minimum or low wage they are not going to pay for childcare.

[Chim Girl]

Rav said:

The premisis i have seen is a purpose built place that was used by one of the countries leading child care companies.
They closed up as another place started trading nearby.

I would love to provide childcare that i as a parent would be happy for my children to goto.

If one of the leading nurseries has stopped trading, I would have to question why you think you could make a success from something they couldn't?

Having worked with a nursery establishing the buying motives of their customers, I agree that some parents share your desire for quality childcare, however I also have to say that there are parents who do not share your passion, they simply want good care, at the lowest price. Demographics may dictate what parents choose.

You may want to take a look at CFIS (Children & Family Information Service), you should be able to get statistics on the number of children, registered nursery places, and most importantly, the occupancy rate for your local area.

If I can be of further help, please feel free to email me.

[Chrisgr31]

Chim Girl said:

Rav said:

The premisis i have seen is a purpose built place that was used by one of the countries leading child care companies.
They closed up as another place started trading nearby.

I would love to provide childcare that i as a parent would be happy for my children to goto.

If one of the leading nurseries has stopped trading, I would have to question why you think you could make a success from something they couldn't?

I was going to ask the same question.

The question is are there enough people that want to pay for the same care as you want your child to recieve?

My suspicion is that many parents assume that childcare is all to a standard as set out by the government and therefore it doesn;t matter where they go. There will be a number who investigate more, and are prepared to pay a higher price, but is that number enough. Also you'll need to check into the amount the governement is prepared to pay for nursey fees, as they do know contribute to the costs of nursery once a child tuns 3 I think. But the amount they contribute doesn;t necessarially reflect the costs of providing that serice!

[joscal]

I looked into this a few years back and it is very difficult to make money with one site. The amount of red tape and almost daily changes in rules and regulations are a nightmare to keep on top of.
I think the only way to really make money is to have a serious 5 year plan where you aim to open a "chain" and then flog it on to a larger operator.

Also, A friend opened one recently and it has been going for a year now and it has broken even but it is very hard work and finding good reliable staff is very hard.The staff turnover is high as the wages aren't good.

If you really want to do it there are courses which you can go on which give you all the advice.
(would point you in the right direction but I can't find any details!)

[Brown and Boris]

I had a friend who intended to do this, and run 24 hours a day to cater for shift workers and people on nights out: set up sleeping facilities for the kids of shift workers.


Utter nightmare as the authorities wanted hen to treat her as a care home!

Edited by Brown and Boris on Saturday 26th April 13:03

[insurance_jon]

The wife of my right hand man at work runs a nursery. It's a very cutthroat business with very little profit in it compared to the hours put in. I asked him for advice for you....he said "don't do it!".

[Rav]

Thanks for the feedback all.
Sounds like a minefield. I will tread with care.