The Datum Report

Occupation 6114 · Caring, leisure and other service occupations

Childminders

Half of full-time childminders in the UK earn more than £24,278 a year, and half earn less.

Childminders provide day-to-day care of children in their own homes, and supervise and participate in their play, educational and other activities.

How people enter it

Entry may not depend upon academic qualifications, although employers may expect a candidate to possess a qualification accredited by the Council for Awards in Children’s Care or other qualifications. Childminders must be registered with OFSTED to care for children under the age of 8 years. NVQs/SVQs in Child Care and Education are available at levels 2 and 3. A minimum age limit of 18 years applies, and a DBS check is mandatory.

What the work involves

• changes babies’ nappies and clothes as necessary and makes up bottles for feeds
• plans, prepares and serves children’s meals and supervises children during meals
• provides, supervises and participates in children’s indoor and outdoor play activities to promote their development
• takes children to participate in play groups or on appropriate outings
• takes older children to and from school
• maintains appropriate records of children’s development
• complies with regulations set by OFSTED and their inspection requirements

Also called

Baby sitter · Childminder · Mother’s help · Nurse maid

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for childminders, full-time employees, 2023 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Year-on-year change

The change from each year to the next, in per cent, computed from the figures in the chart above — so the two cannot disagree.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 0 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions

Classified alongside this

Early education and childcare assistants · Educational support assistants · Nannies and au pairs · Playworkers · Teaching assistants