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Official StatisticsMain findings: childcareproviders and inspections asat 31 August 2025Published 19 November 2025Applies to England  MenuHome Parenting, childcare and children's services Childcare and early years Providing childcarePerformance and inspection of childcare providersChildcare providers and inspections as at 31 August 2025Print this pageThis release marks the final official statistics based onOfsted’s previous inspection frameworks, which made anoverall effectiveness judgement. Following our recentconsultation on improving the way we inspect education,all future official statistics will reflect the renewedframework.Reports and data produced under the previousframeworks will remain available on the Ofsted statisticswebsite for reference.This is the main findings report for the childcareproviders and inspections as at 31 August 2025 release.The following are also available:underlying datamethodologypre-release access listSummaryThis release includes:the number of Ofsted-registered childcare providers on 31August 2025 and their most recent inspection outcomesdata on inspections and regulatory activity carried out until 31August 2025ContentsSummarySummary of findingsIntroductionProviders, places andregistersInspections andregulatory activitybetween 1 September2024 and 31 August2025Most recentinspections ofproviders on the EYRChildminder agenciesEarly years provision inthe schools sectorNotesGlossaryFurther informationAnnex: data tables forfiguresSummary of findingsOn 31 August 2025:60,000 childcare providers were registered withOfsted, down by 1,270 (2%) since 31 August 2024.Most of this decline was due to a continued fall in thenumber of childminders.The number of childcare on non-domestic premisesproviders had increased by 260 (1%) since 31 August2024, to 27,500 providers. This is the secondsuccessive academic year in which there has been anincrease.1.29 million childcare places were offered by providersregistered on the Early Years Register (EYR), up by17,700 (1%) since 31 August 2024. Most of thisincrease was due to a rise in the number of placesoffered by childcare on non-domestic premisesproviders, such as nurseries and pre-schools.98% of childcare providers had been judged good oroutstanding at their most recent inspection, anincrease of less than 1 percentage point since 31August 2024.IntroductionThe early years and childcare sector is primarily made up ofprivate nurseries, pre-schools and childminders. The majority ofchildcare provision is registered directly with Ofsted, and theaggregated figures represent this. Data on provision registeredwith childminder agencies can be found in the childminderagencies section of this page.In this publication, we refer to 4 types of early years provision:ChildmindersThese are people who look after children for payment orreward. Childminders have the option to register eitherwith Ofsted or with a childminder agency.In this report, ‘childminders’ includes childminders bothwith and without domestic premises; they are called‘childminders’ and ‘childminders without domesticpremises’ respectively in data files.Childcare on non-domestic premisesThese are nurseries, pre-schools, holiday clubs andother group-based settings.Home childcarersThese are individuals who care for children wholly ormainly in the child’s own home (for example, nannies).Childcare on domestic premisesThese are providers where 5 or more people look afterchildren together in a home that is not the child’s.Providers of childcare on domestic premises have theoption to register either with Ofsted or with a childminderagency.Further information about provider types is available in theglossary.Childcare in early years is also provided in the schools sector. Itis offered in state-funded schools and independent schools. Formore information, see the early years provision in the schoolssector section of this page.Providers, places and registersNumber of providersThere were 60,000 childcare providers registered withOfsted on 31 August 2025, down by 1,270 (2%) sincelast year.The percentage decrease in the number of providers in2024/25 is consistent with the previous academic year(2023/24).Figure 1: Childcare providers registered with Ofsted as at31 August 2025, by provider type1. See Notes for rounding guidelines.View data in an accessible table format.Joiners and leavers in the childcaresector over timeThe number of active providers on our registers has been fallingfor over a decade. This is because more providers are leavingthe childcare sector than joining (see Figure 2) and is mainly dueto a fall in the number of childminders.[footnote 1]In 2024/25, 7,240 childcare providers left the sector and 5,980joined, giving a net decrease of 1,270 providers. Most of thisdecline was due to a continued fall in the number ofchildminders.In 2024/25, 1,640 childminders joined Ofsted’s registers while2,640 left, giving a net decrease of 1,000 (4%), which wassimilar to the decrease seen last year.The number of childcare on non-domestic premises providersregistered has increased by 260 (1%) since 31 August 2024.Figure 2: Joiners and leavers in the childcare sector, byacademic year1. Most leavers are provider resignations, and most joiners are new providerregistrations. Some will be providers moving registers from the EYR to theChildcare Register (CR) or resigning from one register but remaining on the other. View data in an accessible table format.PlacesOn 31 August 2025, there were 1.29 million childcareplaces offered by providers registered on the EYR, up by17,700 (1%) since last year.1.14 million of these childcare places were offered byproviders of childcare on non-domestic premises, up by24,000 (2%) since last year.Data on places is reported for the 46,600 providers registeredon the EYR and is first gathered at registration and updated atinspection.The number of childcare places has not changed at the samerate as the number of providers. This is because the decliningnumber of providers is mostly due to the falling number ofchildminders, and childminders offer fewer childcare places thanother providers on average. While the number of providers hasdecreased by 2% since 31 August 2024, the number of placeshas increased by 1%.For methodological notes on places data, see the methodologyand quality report that accompanies this release.Figure 3: Number of childcare places offered by providerson the EYR as at 31 August 2025, by provider type1. See Notes for rounding guidelines. 2. Places include children up to their eighth birthday where providers are registeredon both the EYR and the CR. View data in an accessible table format.RegistersOn 31 August 2025, 46,600 (78%) of Ofsted-registeredchildcare providers were on the EYR. The remaining22% were only registered on the CR.Childcare providers can be registered on one or more of thefollowing registers:Early Years Register (EYR)Childcare Register (CR), which is divided into 2 parts:compulsoryvoluntaryFurther information about these registers is provided in theglossary.Inspections and regulatoryactivity between 1 September2024 and 31 August 2025Around 9,540 events were full inspections of providersregistered on the EYR. The remaining 1,640 inspectionsof providers registered on the EYR were inspections ofout-of-school settings or of providers with no children onroll at the time of inspection.Figure 4: Inspections and regulatory activity between 1September 2024 and 31 August 2025childmindershome childcarers1. See Notes for rounding guidelines. 2. Our agreement with the government is to inspect 10% of providers on the CReach financial year. The number of CR inspections reported above is by academicyear and it may therefore not equal 10%. The regulatory events include face-to-faceevents as well as remote events via telephone call. View data in an accessible table format.Outcomes of full EYR inspectionsbetween 1 September 2024 and 31August 2025Of the 9,540 full inspections of providers registered onthe EYR carried out since 1 September 2024, 90%resulted in a judgement of good or outstanding.Of the inspections that were previously judged requiresimprovement or inadequate, 78% improved to good oroutstanding at their next full inspection.Key judgementsAs part of a full inspection under the education inspectionframework (EIF), an early years provider is graded on 4 keyjudgements:quality of educationbehaviour and attitudespersonal developmentleadership and managementOf the full EYR inspections carried out since 1 September 2024,90% resulted in a judgement of either good or outstandingoverall. All these inspections were good or outstanding for theirquality of education and behaviour and attitudes.Figure 5: Overall effectiveness and key judgementoutcomes of full EYR inspections carried out between 1September 2024 and 31 August 20251. Percentages are rounded and may not add to 100. View data in an accessible table format.Providers’ inspection outcomes are likely to vary, depending ontheir previous overall effectiveness judgement. Providers thatwere previously judged good or outstanding were more likely toreceive a good or outstanding judgement at their nextinspection. Therefore, the overall effectiveness profile ofproviders may vary year on year, depending on which have beenselected for inspection in the year to date.Of the full EYR inspections carried out, 2,490 (26%) were firstinspections, and 820 (9%) were inspections of providerspreviously judged requires improvement or inadequate.SafeguardingOf the 9,540 full EYR inspections carried out since 1September 2024, 9,160 (96%) resulted in a judgementof effective for safeguarding.While inspectors do not give a separate grade for safeguardingpractice, there is a written judgement in the inspection report onwhether arrangements for safeguarding children are effective.Most recent inspections ofproviders on the EYROf the EYR providers that have received a full inspection,98% were judged good or outstanding at their mostrecent one. This is an increase of less than 1 percentagepoint since 31 August 2024.Changes to the proportion of providers judged good andoutstanding are influenced by providers previously judgedrequires improvement or inadequate:improving at their next inspection to good or outstandingceasing to provide childcare, through resignation orcancellationOn 31 August 2025, 36,000 (77%) of eligible providers on theEYR had received a full inspection.Childminder agenciesChildminders and childcare on domestic premises providers canchoose to register with Ofsted or with a childminder agency.Ofsted inspects childminder agencies. The childminderagencies are responsible for carrying out annual qualityassurance visits to the providers who are registered with them.Childminder agencies are only eligible for inspection when theyhave providers on roll. There are only 2 overall effectivenessinspection outcomes: effective and ineffective. On 31 August2025, there were 8 childminder agencies registered with Ofsted.Of these, 4 had providers on roll at the time and were thereforeeligible for inspection. Of these, all have been inspected andwere judged to be effective.Early years provision in theschools sectorEarly years provision can also be offered by state-funded andindependent schools. For more information on schoolinspections and outcomes, see our statistics on state-fundedschool inspections and outcomes. For more information on non-association independent school inspections and outcomes, seeour statistics on non-association independent schools.Please note that Ofsted only inspects non-associationindependent schools. The Independent Schools Inspectorateinspects association independent schools.NotesWe explain the main uses of this data and the arrangements forquality assurance, and provide further contextual information, inthe methodology and quality report accompanying this release.The methodology and quality report also provides information onthe strengths and limitations of the statistics.RoundingNumbers in this report are rounded as follows:numbers under 100 are not roundednumbers between 100 and 1,000 are rounded to 2 significantfiguresnumbers over 1,000 are rounded to 3 significant figuresEducation inspection frameworkOn 1 September 2019, we began inspecting under the EIF. TheEIF helps to support consistency across inspections of earlyyears and childcare providers, maintained schools, academies,non-association independent schools, and further education andskills providers in England. We evaluate the overall quality andstandards of the early years provision in line with the principlesand requirements of the early years foundation stage statutoryframework. Inspectors judge the overall effectiveness of theearly years provision, taking into account 4 judgements:quality of educationbehaviour and attitudespersonal developmenteffectiveness of leadership and managementGlossaryDefinitions of terms are in our statistical glossary.Further informationWe publish the following information on the inspection of earlyyears providers:early years and childcare statisticsEIFframework for the regulation of providers on the ChildcareRegisterContact for comments or feedbackIf you have any comments or feedback on this publication,contact Alison Merrett on 03000 130729 orAlison.Merrett@ofsted.gov.uk, or the early years data andanalysis team at childcaredataqueries@ofsted.gov.uk.Annual reportWe will publish findings from our forthcoming annual report on 3December 2025.AcknowledgementsThanks to the following for their contribution to this statisticalrelease: Richard Smith, Chloe Ainger, Nustret Hoxia, AdamSutton and Venkata Madupuru.Annex: data tables for figuresThis section contains the underlying data in an accessible tableformat for all figures.Data for Figure 1: Childcare providers registered withOfsted as at 31 August 2025, by provider typeProvider type Number of providerson 31 August 2025Change since31 August 2024Childcare on non-domesticpremises27,500 +260Childminders 25,000 -1,000Home childcarers 7,230 -530Childcare ondomesticpremises210 -2See Figure 1.Data for Figure 2: Joiners and leavers in the childcaresector, by academic yearYear Joiners Leavers Total number of providers2020/21 6,990 11,300 71,0002021/22 5,690 11,100 65,6002022/23 6,330 9,650 62,3002023/24 6,490 7,520 61,2002024/25 5,980 7,240 60,000See Figure 2.Data for Figure 3: Number of childcare places offered byproviders on the EYR as at 31 August 2025, by providertypeProvider type Number of placeson 31 August 2025% of totalplaces on theEYRAll providers 1.29 million 100%Childcare on non-domestic premises1.14 million 88%Childminders 152,000 12%Childcare ondomestic premises5,140 less than 1%See Figure 3.Data for Figure 4: Inspections and regulatory activitybetween 1 September 2024 and 31 August 2025ActivitytypeNumberofeventsDetailsEYRinspections11,200 9,540 (85%) of these were fullinspections. 1,010 (9%) were visits toproviders providing out-of-school daycare. 640 (6%) were visits to providerswith no children on roll.CR 1,160 Approximately 5 out of 10 of theseinspections were visits to home childcarers.Registrationvisits3,000 56% of these were visits toprospective childminders intending toregister on the EYR or CR. 26% werevisits to childcare on non-domesticpremises providers. 17% were visits tohome childcarers. 1% were visits tochildcare on domestic premisesproviders.Regulatoryevents9,620 63% of these related to childcare onnon-domestic premises providers.See Figure 4.Data for Figure 5: Overall effectiveness and keyjudgement outcomes of full EYR inspections carried outbetween 1 September 2024 and 31 August 2025Number ofinspections%providersjudgedoutstanding%providersjudgedgood% providersjudgedrequiresimprovementOveralleffectiveness9,540 10 80 5Quality ofeducation9,540 10 81 6Behaviourand attitudes9,540 11 81 5Personaldevelopment9,540 10 80 5Effectivenessof leadership9,540 10 80 5andmanagementSee Figure 5.1. A focus on childminders, Ofsted, September 2023. ↩Services and informationBenefitsBirths, death, marriages and careBusiness and self-employedChildcare and parentingGovernmentactivityDepartmentsNewsGuidance and regulationBack to topIs this page useful?YesNoReport a problem with this pageCitizenship and living in the UKCrime, justice and the lawDisabled peopleDriving and transportEducation and learningEmploying peopleEnvironment and countrysideHousing and local servicesMoney and taxPassports, travel and living abroadVisas and immigrationWorking, jobs and pensionsResearch and statisticsPolicy papers andconsultationsTransparencyHow government worksGet involvedHelp  Privacy  Cookies  Accessibility statement  Contact  Terms and conditionsRhestr o Wasanaethau Cymraeg  Government Digital ServiceAll content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except whereotherwise stated© Crown copyright

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