Business information for childcare providers
EYFS 2024
The latest Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) was published in November 2024. Help for early years providers - Department for Education provides guidance and practical support to help you with the changes.
Local authority categorisation of childcare settings
Starting a new childcare business
If you are thinking about opening your own Day Nursery, Pre School, Out of School or Holiday Club please email the Cheshire East Early years and Childcare Team and provide details of your business proposal. Your enquiry will be passed to a member of the early years team who can offer pre Ofsted registration support and guidance.
Holiday and after school providers
Providers can find more information about wrap around childcare on our National Wraparound Childcare Programme page.
Information for providers of out of school childcare for children aged four years and over can be found on the Out of School Alliance website.
The Out of School Alliance offers information about setting up and running out of school clubs such as breakfast clubs, after school clubs, holiday clubs and playschemes.
Early Years’ qualification
Check for an early years qualification service – available now!
Early years managers can now use the new check an early years qualification digital service to quickly verify whether staff qualifications meet the requirements for staff: child ratios in England.
The new service can be accessed at Check an early years qualification
This free GOV.UK tool allows managers to check a qualification’s approval status by entering key details such as:
- course start date
- level
- awarding organisation
At the end of the process, a clear outcome is provided, which can be printed for your records.
Using the new service
Using the new Check an early years qualification service:
- saves time during recruitment and HR processes
- supports workforce planning ahead of the September 2025 expansion of funded childcare entitlements
- reduces confusion when checking qualifications
The service is tailored specifically for early years managers. All other user groups (for example practitioners) should continue to use the Early Years Qualifications List (EYQL) to check qualifications, and contact our supplier Ecctis if they are unable to find the qualification on the EYQL .
The Check an early years qualification service is for qualifications achieved in the UK. Holders of non-UK qualifications should continue to contact our supplier Ecctis for an assessment.
If you need help using the service you can contact the Department for Education (DfE).
New early year providers
New Early Year Providers can register as an early years provider to enable the Family Information Service to create an account on the Provider Portal. This will enable you to promote your Childcare service and keep your information up to date on the Cheshire East Live Well directory.
Data protection
Free nursery milk
Every child under the age of five is entitled to a free 189ml serving of milk whilst in attendance at a registered daycare provider for two or more hours a day. The Government’s Nursery Milk Reimbursement Unit (NMRU) manages the Nursery Milk Scheme.
Ofsted registration
Ofsted provides information about becoming a registered childcare provider.
Researching childcare needs in your area
When you are thinking about starting up a new childcare business it is always useful to ‘understand the market’.
HMRC webinar
- Getting payroll information right: Find out how providing accurate employee information to HMRC is important and can save time in this interactive employer webinar. Book 'Payroll information' here.
Other useful links
Page last reviewed: 24 March 2025
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