How to hire
Start with the setting type. A childminder looks after a small group in the carer's own home, or in approved non-domestic premises such as a village hall, and often offers the most flexible hours, including school pickups [6]. Nurseries run full days all year for babies to school age, while pre-schools cover term-time sessions. If you want home-based care with one consistent adult, a childminder fits; if you want classroom scale, look at nurseries instead. Shortlist two or three settings near home, work or the school run.
Check registration before you book. Anyone paid to look after young children for more than two hours a day must register with Ofsted or a childminder agency, and there is a fine for working unregistered [6]. Ask for the Ofsted URN, then type it into the finder on the Ofsted reports site and check the name that comes back matches the setting you are hiring [2]. Read the latest report and its date rather than taking the grade on trust, and check whether any newer setting, such as a second site, carries its own registration.
Sort the money early. Eligible working parents can get funded hours for children from nine months to school age, and Tax-Free Childcare can top up what you pay into a childcare account [1]. Your provider must be registered and signed up to the scheme before you apply, so confirm the setting accepts funded places and is signed up [5]. Ask exactly how funded hours are applied, term-time only or stretched across the year, because the same entitlement can mean very different weekly bills.
In Telford and Wrekin, start with the council's own routes. The Live Well Telford directory lists local childcare services near you [4], and the council's funded-childcare pages set out the local funding offer for working parents alongside the universal hours every three and four year old can claim [8]. The borough's Family Hubs site lists early-years and parenting support for the same families [10]. Use all three before you shortlist, then check each setting's own words against what the council pages say about eligibility and start dates.
Visit before you agree anything. Go to the home setting, meet everyone living there, and watch how the carer speaks to the children already in their care. Ask about the daily routine, food and naps, outings and school runs, how illness and allergies are handled, and what happens when the carer is sick or on holiday. The Live Well Telford community directory lists local services and is a handy way to find settings near you [4]. Trust what you see on the visit over anything in an advert.
Map the setting against your commute and the school run. A Madeley home suits the south of the borough, Snedshill, Hadley or Dawley suits the north and east, and Buildwas suits the rural west toward Shifnal; Wellington, Lawley and Ironbridge parents should test the pickup-time drive before settling on a setting. Ask every setting how school pickups work from your child's school and where you stop at drop-off, since a home setting has no car park with your name on it. The visit is the moment to judge both the drive and the doorstep.
A typical Telford hiring runs like this. First contact is an enquiry with your hours, start date and whether you will use funded hours, by phone, form or email. Then comes the visit, where you meet the carer and see the rooms your child would use. Then settling-in sessions build up over a week or two, with the signed contract and the Ofsted URN for your childcare account exchanged before the first full day. The last step is the first invoice: check it matches the quote line for line, and query anything that drifted before you pay it.
Compare quotes line for line before anyone signs. A proper written quote names the sessions and days, the hourly or session rate, exactly which meals and extras sit inside the price, how funded hours are applied to your bill, and the charges for late pickup, sickness and holidays. It states the notice period, the deposit terms and the VAT position in plain words [7], with a date and a review point. Where two quotes differ, the difference is usually in what each setting left out.
Get the contract in writing. It should state the hourly or session rates, exactly what is included, such as meals, nappies and trips, how funded hours and extra charges work, what you pay for sickness, holidays and bank holidays, the notice period on each side, and the fee for late pickup. A deposit for holding a place is normal; a large non-refundable sum before anything is signed is not. Keep every quote, invoice and receipt together with the contract.
At the end, leave with paperwork, not promises. You should hold a signed contract, the Ofsted URN for your childcare account, and a written settling-in plan with start dates and review points. File the latest inspection report with the contract so every parent or carer can find it. If your arrangements change, tell your childcare account promptly, since eligibility is reconfirmed regularly [1].
Pricing
As of spring 2026, Coram's annual survey puts a part-time childminder place for a child under two at around £155 a week across England for families outside the funded entitlement, and around £143 a week in the West Midlands [3]. After-school care with a childminder into the early evening averages around £85 a week in England [3]. Telford usually sits below the national figure, but treat these as benchmarks for your quotes rather than offers.
Funding changes the bill sharply. Eligible working parents can claim funded hours for children from nine months to school age across most of the year, and Tax-Free Childcare adds government money to what you pay in, up to a yearly limit per child [1] [5]. Confirm the setting accepts funded places and is signed up to the scheme before you rely on either, and ask how the hours are stretched across the holidays.
Age and hours move the price most: babies cost more than older children, full days more than school-hour sessions, and all-year contracts more than term-time only. Meals, nappies, trips and consumables may be charged on top, as may late pickup, overnight stays and retainers for holiday cover. Settings that publish a full fee scale make all of this visible; where nothing is published, costs only emerge on enquiry.
Get the scope in writing before care starts: exactly which sessions, meals and extras are included, how funded hours are applied, what changes the price, and the notice and sickness terms. Day-care services from regulated providers can sit outside VAT under the welfare exemption, so ask for the quote to state the VAT position plainly [7]. Keep every quote, invoice and receipt.
A full weekday of care is the job most parents price first. Babies usually cost more than older children, longer days more than school-hour sessions, and all-year contracts more than term-time only. Ask whether meals, nappies, trips and outings sit inside the session price or land on top, and how the setting charges retainers over your own holidays.
Wraparound care around the school day prices differently. The school pickup distance, the length of the after-school session and cover across the holidays move the figure most. Ask what a school-week term looks like against a holiday week before you compare.
Funded sessions need their own arithmetic. Settings apply the entitlement differently across term-time only and year-round calendars, with meals, consumables and trips sometimes charged outside the funded hours. The council's funded-childcare pages lay out the local offer and who claims what [8]. Take your code and your calendar to the quote, and have the setting show the funded and paid parts on separate lines.
Red flags
Cannot be found on the Ofsted register when paid care of young children needs registration [6] [2].
Will not give you an Ofsted URN you can check yourself on the reports site [2].
Quotes for full-time care without meeting your child or asking about routines, food and allergies.
Offers no written contract covering fees, hours, notice and sickness or holiday charges.
Asks for a large non-refundable deposit before anything is put in writing.
Resists a visit to the home setting before you agree anything.
Cannot say what happens to your child when the carer is sick or on holiday.
Publishes no prices and will not put a quote in writing when asked.
Shows no written complaints process when you ask what happens if something goes wrong [9].
Insists on cash with no receipt, or presses you to decide on the spot.