Which rooms to register

[Pauline]

Did you know that if a child has an accident in a room that you have not registered for childminding your insurance could be invalid?

This is the advice from an ex-Ofsted inspector of mine:

It's a good idea to register all your rooms, even if you don't plan to use them for childminding. Then, if you need to take a child in that room with you, you are then covered.

Obviously there might be rooms that it's just not possible to make safe - like a teenager's own bedroom, so you probably wouldn't register that.

Just because a room is registered you don't have to use it but it's worth thinking of the rooms in your house that are not registered where you might forget and take a child with you - utility rooms, second bathrooms etc.

[angeldelight]

Really ?

I had never even thought of this

With my NCMA Insurance I have always been under the impression that your whole house was insured ? I have never been asked what rooms I use for my insurance not even when I renew it each year ? So does that make a difference ?

You have made a valid point though I am going to look into this now

Thanks Pauline

Angel x

[Pauline]

As far as I know your insurance covers whatever is on your certificate i.e. the rooms registered, number of children you can have plus any restrictions.

If a room hasn't been 'passed' by Ofsted for use then taking a child in there could probably invalidate your insurance.

I asked the Ofsted inspector myself if a room wasn't passed if you could still let a child use it occasionally and it was a definite NO!

[heldraincloud]

Thanks Pauline

In all honesty I was only going to register downstairs, as I have a downstairs toilet so though upstairs could be out of bounds, does it affect costs if the hole house is registered?

[Pauline]

No it won't affect the costs you pay Ofsted. The only extra costs you would have would be anything it costs you to make the room safe, such as plug covers, door locks etc.

The way I look at it is this - say you had a tiny baby to care for, it is sick all over you and you want to get changed, you have two options:

a) Leave it unattended downstairs while you go to the bedroom to get changed.

b) Take it with you where you can keep an eye on it.

b is the best option, but if your bedroom is not registered then you should not take the child in there as you would be breaking the terms of your registration.

If your bedroom was registered it doesn't mean that the children will be playing in there, it just mean that they can enter it.

Some Ofsted inspectors also insist that rooms not used have to have locks of some kind on them - i.e. hook and loop catches or bolts. They will want to know how you plan to keep the children out.

I once asked Ofsted about it - I have my computer in one of our bedrooms which is now a study. It isn't registered and I asked the Ofsted inspector if I wanted to print off some activity sheets for a child, could I take the child in there with me as they would be safe as I would be watching them but she said no I could not as the room was not registered and it would be breaking the terms of registration.

Hope that helps.

[angeldelight]

It makes sense what you are saying Pauline and I guess we just sometimes do not think of these things

My insurance document does not say any rooms just that I am insured !! But I will be looking into it

This might seem a daft question ..

What I want to ask though is ....

What do we do if we take the children out?

Do we leave them outside a shop because the shop is not insured for them ?

What about if we go visit a friend or family ?
Do we once again leave them outside because their house is not insured ??

Do you understand what I mean?

I for one think that if one of the babies I care for was sick and I had to get changed then I would most def take them with me.
I would not care if my bedroom was not insured because I would want baby to be safe and being left downstairs unattended well he / she would not be

I bet many childminders all over would do the same ... and who would know ?
I would certainly not call Ofsted and tell them I have just broke one of their " silly rules "

Sorry I just think that some rules are meant to be broken , I mean a child or baby being safe is much more important that a rule for the sake of 10 min or so

Do you know what I mean ?? Who makes these rules?
I can not believe that you were not allowed to take a child into a room to print out some activity sheets what a load of rubbish !!!
Like I say what about if you take them to a friends house ?? Or are we not supposed to do that either? In fact our homes would be safer in the first place due to all our safety checks
You can not wrap children in cotton wool.

I can understand though the point about a teens room or something like that.
My upstairs is not actually used for minding and I would not let the children go into my daughters rooms this could be dangerous, I could just imagine them eating make up or worse haha
So I do understand that these rules are good for things like that
I have been trying to call my insurance this morning though because I do want to get it right and I am very glad that you have pointed it out so I do want to check that my document is ok even if I do not agree with it !!!
Mind you my children are allowed upstairs to where some of the toys are kept so I guess I must be insured for upstairs too
I will def check though

Just that I think sometimes some of the rules are great and I can understand why we need them but some of them are very OTT

Angel xx

[angeldelight]

Just thought I would post this

It is what another childminder told me today about this subject

Here is what she said ...

I've been sicked on and whilst I was cleaning up the baby, pooped on and
peed on at the same time as cleaning up baby too due to baby coming down with d
& s. I had sick in my hair, running down my bra, and poop and pee soaking
through my skirt to my knickers lol, my house isn't insured upstairs apart from
the bathroom as its the only loo we have, I had to bath baby first and get
him cleaned up and then pop baby who promptly fell asleep in a baby seat in my
room which isn't registered and pop in the bath myself. Sometimes things
happen and you can't help it. My upstairs were not registered yet I still used to take
mindies up there to put away washing etc

So it seems other childminders would be guilty of the odd 5 to 10 min of taking a child into an room that was not insured

Hey Pauline what have you started I think this is such a interesting topic !!!

Angel xx

Angel xx

[Pauline]

I agree with you Angel these rules do seem silly at times, I suppose the problem with insurance companies is that they try to get out of paying if they can, don't they!! Any excuse!

As regards other people's houses and shops etc. I suppose you would be covered on their insurance anyway, as you have liability in your home insurance and shops would have to have public liability like childminders do.

I'm not claiming to be an expert on this and am only passing on what I've heard, I'd be interested to hear what the insurance companies say.

I think I will email Morton Michel and ask their views.

[Pauline]

I emailed Morton Michel about this question of whether it would invalidate your insurance to take children into unregistered rooms in your home - I got a lovely response from a very helpful lady which I have copied below:

If the childminder does have restrictions on their childminder registration, confining their childminding activities to certain rooms - i.e. downstairs only - then it would invalidate their insurance if they conducted their childminding business from an unregistered part of the premises. If something happened to a minded child upstairs then for insurance purposes we would view this as the same as minding from an address that they are not registered from - as the upstairs will not have been inspected.
Of course, childminders are covered if they take the child anywhere in the UK - so they are covered for going to the park, or the shops and so forth. However, they must be within the terms of their registration with Ofsted at all times - and obviously if Ofsted has restricted them from using certain rooms as part of their business on a regular and ongoing basis then they need to ensure they comply with that or their insurance will be affected accordingly.

Kind regards,
Samantha




Samantha has also offered to be available to answer any questions relating to insurance, so if you have any simply post them in the Forum and I will let her know there is a question to be answered.